This was the title of the speech I gave recently during the annual Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan) Conference held in Stockholm. I was speaking to all the main actors from the Member States, industry and the research community and, in advance of the upcoming Copenhagen conference, this was a good opportunity to discuss how Europe should address climate change issues and invest strategically in clean energy technologies.

Concern about climate change is not just the hot topic for today. It is an issue that will have a direct impact on future generations. One day, our children and grand-children may well ask the question: “what did we do to fight climate change and global warming?”. I want to be able to give them an answer.

As you know, Europe has already taken the political lead, through the Climate Change and Energy Package, setting out the so-called “20/20/20 objectives” to reduce CO₂ emissions and speed up the development of alternative sources energy. This has already established us as the leader in some energy technologies, but we must now step up our efforts on the technological front. Our SET-Plan is the technological piece of the comprehensive policy jigsaw formed by the Energy and Climate Package.
It is all about developing a world-class portfolio of affordable, efficient and clean technologies. Things like wind, solar and bio-energy, carbon capture and storage, electricity networks and nuclear fission. I strongly believe it is crucial for Europe to accelerate research in these areas because this is the only way we can break our energy dependency on oil and coal; and let’s not forget that they are promising sources of growth and jobs, too!

At the conference in Stockholm we realized that our main objectives have remained unchanged: technology still lies at the heart of the climate change challenge and Europe still needs to do more to transfer technology and knowledge into tangible marketable results. I’m happy to note that there is an increasing awareness of the need to reinvent our energy system and a strong sense - from everyone – that we need to roll up our sleeves and get on with it.

What we need now is money and a working structure to make it happen. On the financial side, on 7 October 2009, the Commission announced the need for an additional €50bn investment in the next 10 coming years from the public and private sectors to meet our objectives. This would mean tripling the annual investment of the European Union on technology energy research, going from €3bn to more than €8bn. For the structure, this will mean a collective effort between Member States, the private sector and the research community. It is a shared responsibility, and with the SET-Plan we believe we have provided the blueprint and the vision.

So, governments, companies and researchers have been asked to “bring some coherence” and work in closer cooperation in order to avoid wasteful duplication of research programme work and funds.

Where will the funds come from? Well, the bulk of the funds will have to come from where the bulks of the funds are: from Member States and from the private sector. The EU budget will be used to leverage new investments. This does not mean an increase in EU funding. However, and this is my firm belief, the SET Plan gives us the rationale to reinforce our common activities at EU level when we decide on how we can use that EU budget in the future.

I am not ignoring the fact that during an economic crisis, such a call might seem a little utopian. But utopias come in all shapes and sizes – and this is a concrete one which will put Europe on the right track to address the challenges we had before the crisis, and which remain today. It is exactly the illustration of the smart investments we have been calling for in the European Economic Recovery Plan, a kind of “smart Marshall Plan”. This should help restarting our economies with a long-term sustainability in mind!

PS: for those of you, who want to keep up to speed with the latest developments in this area, visit the “SETIS”, the online Strategic Energy Technologies (SET-Plan) Information System. This has the up-to-date information on Europe’s “state of the art” and potential on low carbon technologies. It includes data and figures on R&D investments which will help in monitoring the further implementation of the SET Plan.

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