Assumptions and Implementation of Climate and Energy Policy under the Europe 2020 Strategy

Purpose: The essence of the "Europe 2020" initiative, that is, the strategy for smart, sustainable, and inclusive growth, is an attempt at creating conditions fostering long-term sustainable economic growth in the European Union. To this end, economies based on knowledge, promoting environment-friendly technologies must be built in the member states of the Community, at the same time taking care to maintain social and territorial cohesion. Design/Methodology/Approach: This paper contains a long-term analysis of selected indicators concerning climate policy in the period 2000-2018 and an assessment of their accomplishment. This paper aims at verifying the hypothesis that prolonged problems in accomplishing “20/20/20” targets related to climate and energy, that is, decreasing greenhouse gas emissions by 20% in comparison to 1990, increasing the share of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption to 20% and increasing the energy efficiency by 20%, undermine the success and timely accomplishment of certain priorities of the Strategy. Findings: Due to the relatively high level of greenhouse gas emissions and a high consumption of conventional energy in comparison to renewable energy, the Strategy requires a longer time horizon to be implemented successfully. In the European Community one can see a division into western countries of the Community and countries of the former Eastern bloc. Delayed technological, social, and financial development in the countries of the former Eastern bloc and insufficient awareness of the European and global climate policy may postpone the common efforts to accomplish the objectives of Europe 2020 Strategy beyond the projected time horizon. Originality/Value: It has boosted the process of building a knowledge-based economy and attempting to create conditions to reduce the share of greenhouse gases, reduce energy consumption and improve climate and energy indicators.