(1)

In the context of the European Green Deal, set out in the communication from the Commission of 11 December 2019 (the ‘European Green Deal’), Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4) established the objective of climate neutrality in the Union by 2050 and an intermediate target of a reduction of net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 % compared to 1990 levels by 2030. The Union’s climate neutrality objective requires a just energy transition which leaves no territory or citizen behind, an increase in energy efficiency and significantly higher shares of energy from renewable sources in an integrated energy system.

(2)

Renewable energy plays a fundamental role in achieving those objectives, given that the energy sector currently contributes over 75 % of total greenhouse gas emissions in the Union. By reducing those greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy can also contribute to tackling challenges related to the environment, such as the loss of biodiversity, and to reducing pollution in line with the objectives of the Commission communication of 12 May 2021, entitled ‘Pathway to a Healthy Planet for All EU Action Plan: “Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil”’. The green transition to a renewable energy based economy will help to achieve the objectives of Decision (EU) 2022/591 of the European Parliament and of the Council (5), which also aims to protect, restore and improve the state of the environment by, inter alia, halting and reversing biodiversity loss. The fact that renewable energy reduces exposure to price shocks compared to fossil fuels can give renewable energy a key role in tackling energy poverty. Renewable energy can also bring broad socioeconomic benefits, creating new jobs and fostering local industries while addressing growing domestic and global demand for renewable energy technology.

(3)

Directive (EU) 2018/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council (6) sets a binding overall Union target to reach a share of at least 32 % of energy from renewable sources in the Union’s gross final consumption of energy by 2030. Under the 2030 Climate Target Plan, set out in the Commission communication of 17 September 2020, entitled ‘Stepping up Europe’s 2030 climate ambition: Investing in a climate-neutral future for the benefit of our people’, the share of renewable energy in gross final consumption of energy would need to increase to 40 % by 2030 in order to achieve the Union’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction target. In that context, in July 2021, as part of the package delivering on the European Green Deal, the Commission proposed to double the share of renewable energy in the energy mix by 2030, compared to 2020, to reach at least 40 %.

(4)

The general context created by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a surge in energy prices across the Union, thus highlighting the need to accelerate energy efficiency and increase the use of renewable energy in the Union. In order to achieve the long-term objective of an energy system that is independent of third countries, the Union should focus on accelerating the green transition and ensuring an emission-reducing energy policy that reduces dependence on imported fossil fuels and that promotes fair and affordable prices for Union citizens and undertakings in all sectors of the economy.

(5)

The REPowerEU Plan set out in the Commission communication of 18 May 2022 (the ‘REPowerEU Plan’) aims to make the Union independent from Russian fossil fuels well before 2030. That communication provides for the front-loading of wind and solar energy, increasing the average deployment rate of such energy as well as for additional renewable energy capacity by 2030 to accommodate the higher production of renewable fuels of non-biological origin. It also invited the co-legislators to consider establishing a higher or earlier target for the increased share of renewable energy in the energy mix. In that context, it is appropriate to increase the overall Union renewable energy target to 42,5 % in order to significantly accelerate the current pace of deployment of renewable energy, thereby accelerating the phase-out of the Union’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels by increasing the availability of affordable, secure and sustainable energy in the Union. Beyond that mandatory level, Member States should endeavour to collectively achieve an overall Union renewable energy target of 45 % in line with the REPowerEU Plan.

(6)

The renewable energy targets should go hand-in-hand with the complementary decarbonisation efforts on the basis of other non-fossil energy sources towards reaching climate neutrality by 2050. Member States should be able to combine different non-fossil energy sources in order to achieve the objective of the Union to become climate neutral by 2050, taking into account their specific national circumstances and the structure of their energy supply. In order to achieve that objective, the deployment of renewable energy in the framework of the increased binding overall Union target should be integrated into complementary decarbonisation efforts involving the development of other non-fossil energy sources that Member States decide to pursue.

(7)

Innovation is key to the competitiveness of renewable energy. The European Strategic Energy Technology Plan set out in the Commission communication of 15 September 2015, entitled ‘Towards an Integrated Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan: Accelerating the European Energy System Transformation (the ‘SET-Plan’) aims to boost the transition towards a climate neutral energy system through actions for research and innovation, which address the whole innovation chain, from research to market uptake. In their integrated national energy and climate plans submitted pursuant to Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council (7), Member States set national objectives and funding targets for public and, where available, private research and innovation relating to the Energy Union, including, where appropriate, a timeframe for when the objectives should be met; reflecting the priorities of the Energy Union Strategy set out in the Commission communication of 25 February 2015, entitled, ‘A Framework Strategy for a Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy’, and, where relevant, of the SET-Plan. To complement their national objectives and funding targets, to promote the production of renewable energy from innovative renewable energy technology and to safeguard the continued leadership of the Union in research and development of innovative renewable energy technology, each Member State should set an indicative target for innovative renewable energy technology of at least 5 % of newly installed renewable energy capacity by 2030.

(8)

In accordance with Article 3 of Directive (EU) 2023/1791 of the European Parliament and of the Council (8) and in line with Commission Recommendation (EU) 2021/1749 (9), Member States should take an integrated approach by promoting the most energy efficient renewable source for any given sector and application, as well as by promoting system efficiency, so that the least energy is required for any given economic activity.

(9)

The amendments set out in this Directive are also intended to support the achievement of the Union’s target of an annual production of sustainable biomethane of 35 billion cubic meters by 2030, set out in the Commission staff working document of 18 May 2022 accompanying the REPowerEU Plan, entitled ‘Implementing the Repower EU Action Plan: Investment needs, hydrogen accelerator and achieving the bio-methane targets’, thereby supporting security of supply and the Union’s climate ambitions.

(10)

There is growing recognition of the need to align bioenergy policies with the principle of the cascading use of biomass. That principle aims to achieve the resource efficiency of biomass use by prioritising, wherever possible, the material use of biomass over its energy use, thus increasing the amount of biomass available within the system. Such an alignment is intended to ensure fair access to the biomass raw material market for the development of innovative, high value-added bio-based solutions and a sustainable circular bioeconomy. When developing support schemes for bioenergy, Member States should therefore take into consideration the available supply of sustainable biomass for energy and non-energy uses and the maintenance of the national forest carbon sinks and ecosystems, as well as the principle of the circular economy, the principle of the cascading use of biomass and the waste hierarchy established in Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (10). In line with the principle of the cascading use of biomass, woody biomass should be used according to its highest economic and environmental added value in the following order of priorities: wood-based products, extending the service life of wood-based products, re-use, recycling, bioenergy and disposal. Where no other use for woody biomass is economically viable or environmentally appropriate, energy recovery helps to reduce energy generation from non-renewable sources. Member States’ support schemes for bioenergy should therefore be directed to such feedstocks for which little market competition exists with the material sectors, and whose sourcing is considered positive for both climate and biodiversity, in order to avoid negative incentives for unsustainable bioenergy pathways, as identified in the 2021 report of the Commission’s Joint Research Centre, entitled ‘The use of woody biomass for energy production in the EU’.

At the same time, in implementing measures ensuring the application of the principle of the cascading use of biomass, it is necessary to recognise the national specificities which guide Member States in the design of their support schemes. Member States should be allowed to derogate from that principle in duly justified circumstances, for example where required for security of energy supply purposes, such as in the case of particularly severe cold conditions. Member States should also be allowed to derogate from that principle where there are no industries or processing facilities that could make higher added value use of certain feedstocks within a geographical perimeter. In such a case, transport beyond that perimeter for the purpose of such a use might not be justified from an economic or environmental point of view. Member States should notify any such derogations to the Commission. Member States should not grant direct financial support for the production of energy from saw logs, veneer logs, industrial grade roundwood, stumps and roots. For the purpose of this Directive, tax benefits are not considered to be direct financial support. Waste prevention, reuse and recycling of waste should be the priority option. Member States should avoid creating support schemes which would be counter to targets on treatment of waste and which would lead to the inefficient use of recyclable waste. Moreover, in order to ensure more efficient use of bioenergy, Member States should not grant new support or renew any support for electricity-only plants, unless the installations are located in regions with a specific use status as regards their transition away from fossil fuels or in the outermost regions referred to in Article 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), or the installations use carbon capture and storage.

(11)

The rapid growth and increasing cost-competitiveness of renewable electricity production can be used to satisfy a growing share of the demand for energy, for instance using heat pumps for space heating or low-temperature industrial processes, electric vehicles for transport, or electric furnaces in certain industries. Renewable electricity can also be used to produce synthetic fuels for consumption in hard-to-decarbonise transport sectors such as aviation and maritime transport. A framework for electrification needs to enable robust and efficient coordination and expand market mechanisms to match both supply and demand in space and time, stimulate investments in flexibility, and help integrate large shares of variable renewable energy generation. Member States should therefore ensure that the deployment of renewable electricity continues to increase at an adequate pace to meet growing demand. To that end, Member States should establish a framework that includes market-compatible mechanisms to tackle the remaining barriers to having secure and adequate electricity systems fit for a high level of renewable energy, as well as storage facilities fully integrated into the electricity system. In particular, that framework should tackle the remaining barriers, including non-financial ones such as the lack, on the part of authorities, of sufficient digital and human resources to process a growing number of permit applications.

(12)

When calculating the share of renewable energy in a Member State, renewable fuels of non-biological origin should be counted in the sector where they are consumed (electricity, heating and cooling, or transport). To avoid double-counting, the renewable electricity used to produce those fuels should not be counted. That would result in a harmonisation of the accounting rules for those fuels throughout Directive (EU) 2018/2001, regardless of whether they are counted for the overall renewable energy target or for any sub-target. It would also allow the real energy consumed to be counted, taking account of energy losses in the process to produce those fuels. Moreover, it would allow renewable fuels of non-biological origin imported into and consumed in the Union to be counted. Member States should be allowed to agree, via a specific cooperation agreement, to count the renewable fuels of non-biological origin consumed in a given Member State towards the share of gross final consumption of energy from renewable sources in the Member State where they were produced. Where such cooperation agreements are put in place, unless agreed otherwise, Member States are encouraged to count the renewable fuels of non-biological origin that are produced in a Member State other than the Member States where they are consumed as follows: up to 70 % of their volume in the country where they are consumed and up to 30 % of their volume in the country where they are produced. Agreements between Member States can take the form of a specific cooperation agreement made via the Union’s renewable development platform, launched on 29 November 2021.

(13)

Cooperation between Member States to promote renewable energy can take the form of statistical transfers, support schemes or joint projects. It allows for a cost-efficient deployment of renewable energy across Europe and contributes to market integration. Despite its potential, cooperation between Member States has been very limited, thus leading to suboptimal results in terms of efficiency in increasing renewable energy. Member States should therefore be obliged to establish a framework for cooperation on joint projects by 2025. Within such a framework, Member States should endeavour to establish at least two joint projects by 2030. In addition, Member States whose annual consumption of electricity exceeds 100 TWh should endeavour to establish a third joint project by 2033. Projects financed by national contributions under the Union renewable energy financing mechanism established by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1294 (11) would meet that obligation for the Member States involved.

(14)

In its Communication of 19 November 2020, entitled ‘An EU Strategy to harness the potential of offshore renewable energy for a climate neutral future’, the Commission introduced an ambitious objective of 300 GW of offshore wind and 40 GW of ocean energy across all the Union’s sea basins by 2050. To ensure that step change, Member States will need to work together across borders at sea-basin level. Regulation (EU) 2022/869 of the European Parliament and of the Council (12) requires the Member States to conclude non-binding agreements to cooperate on goals for offshore renewable energy generation to be deployed within each sea basin by 2050, with intermediate steps in 2030 and 2040. Publishing information on the volumes of offshore renewable energy that the Member States intend to achieve through tenders increases transparency and predictability for investors and supports the achievement of the goals for offshore renewable energy generation. Maritime spatial planning is an essential tool to ensure the coexistence of different uses of the sea. Allocating space for offshore renewable energy projects in maritime spatial plans is needed to enable long-term planning, to assess the impact of those offshore renewable energy projects and to ensure public acceptance of their planned deployment. Enabling the participation of renewable energy communities in joint projects on offshore renewable energy provides a further means by which to enhance public acceptance.

(15)

The market for renewables power purchase agreements is rapidly growing and provides a complementary route to the market of renewable generation in addition to support schemes by Member States or to selling directly on the wholesale electricity market. At the same time, the market for renewables power purchase agreements is still limited to a small number of Member States and large undertakings, with significant administrative, technical and financial barriers remaining in large parts of the Union’s market. The existing measures provided for in Article 15 of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 to encourage the uptake of renewables power purchase agreements should therefore be strengthened further, by exploring the use of credit guarantees to reduce the financial risks of such agreements, taking into account that those guarantees, where public, should not crowd out private financing. In addition, measures in support of renewables power purchase agreements should be extended to other forms of renewable energy purchase agreements, including, where relevant, renewables heating and cooling purchase agreements. In that context, the Commission should analyse the barriers to long-term renewable energy purchase agreements, in particular to the deployment of cross-border renewable energy purchase agreements, and issue guidance on the removal of those barriers.

(16)

Further streamlining of administrative permit-granting procedures may be needed to eliminate unnecessary administrative burdens for the purpose of establishing renewable energy projects and related grid infrastructure projects. Within two years of the entry into force of this Directive and on the basis of the integrated national energy and climate progress reports submitted pursuant to Article 17 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1999, the Commission should consider whether additional measures are needed to further support the Member States in the implementation of the provisions of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 regulating permit-granting procedures, including in view of the requirement of the contact points set up or designated pursuant to Article 16 of that Directive to ensure the fulfilment of the deadlines for the permit-granting procedures set out in that Directive. It should be possible for such additional measures to include indicative key performance indicators on, inter alia, the length of permit-granting procedures regarding renewable energy projects located in and outside renewables acceleration areas.

(17)

Buildings have a large untapped potential to contribute effectively to the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the Union. The decarbonisation of heating and cooling in buildings through an increased share in production and use of renewable energy will be needed to meet the ambition provided for in Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 to achieve the Union objective of climate neutrality. However, progress on the use of renewable energy for heating and cooling has been stagnant over the last decade, largely relying on increased use of biomass. Without the establishment of indicative shares of renewable energy in buildings, it will not be possible to track progress and identify bottlenecks in the uptake of renewable energy. The establishment of indicative shares of renewable energy in buildings provides a long-term signal to investors, including for the period immediately after 2030. Therefore, indicative shares for the use of renewable energy in buildings that is produced on-site or nearby as well as renewable energy taken from the grid should be set to guide and encourage Member States’ efforts to exploit the potential of using and producing renewable energy in buildings, encourage the development of technology which produces renewable energy and helps the efficient integration of such technology in the energy system, while providing certainty for investors and local level engagement as well as contributing to system efficiency. Smart and innovative technology that contributes to system efficiency should also be promoted where appropriate. For the calculation of those indicative shares, when determining the share of renewable electricity taken from the grid used in buildings, Member States should use the average share of renewable electricity supplied in their territory in the two previous years.

(18)

The indicative Union share of renewable energy in the building sector to be reached by 2030 constitutes a necessary minimum milestone for ensuring the decarbonisation of the Union’s building stock by 2050 and complements the regulatory framework related to energy efficiency and the energy performance in buildings. It is key to enabling a seamless, cost-effective phase out of fossil fuels from buildings to ensure their replacement by renewable energy. The indicative share of renewable energy in the building sector complements the regulatory framework for buildings pursuant to Union law on the energy performance of buildings by ensuring that renewable energy technology, appliances and infrastructures, including efficient district heating and cooling, are sufficiently scaled-up in a timely manner to replace fossil fuels in buildings and to ensure the availability of a safe and reliable renewable energy supply for nearly zero-energy buildings by 2030. The indicative share of renewable energy in the building sector also promotes renewable energy investments in long-term national building renovation strategies and plans, thereby enabling the achievement of the decarbonisation of buildings. Furthermore, the indicative share of renewable energy in the building sector provides an important additional indicator to promote the development or modernisation of efficient district heating and cooling networks, thereby complementing both the indicative district heating and cooling target under Article 24 of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 and the requirement to ensure that renewable energy and waste heat and cold from efficient district heating and cooling systems are available to help cover the total annual primary energy use of new or renovated buildings. That indicative share of renewable energy in the building sector is also necessary to ensure the cost-effective achievement of the annual increase in renewable heating and cooling pursuant to Article 23 of Directive (EU) 2018/2001.

(19)

Given the large energy consumption in residential, commercial and public buildings, existing definitions provided for in Regulation (EC) No 1099/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council (13) could be used in the calculation of the national share of energy from renewable sources in buildings as to minimise the administrative burden whilst ensuring progress in realising the Union’s indicative share of renewable energy in the building sector by 2030.

(20)

Lengthy administrative permit-granting procedures are one of the key barriers to investment in renewable energy projects and their related infrastructure. Those barriers include the complexity of the applicable rules for site selection and administrative authorisations for such projects, the complexity and duration of the assessment of the environmental impact of such projects, and related energy networks, grid-connection problems, constraints on adapting technology specifications during the permit-granting procedure, and staffing problems of the permit-granting authorities or grid operators. In order to accelerate the pace of deployment of such projects it is necessary to adopt rules which would simplify and shorten permit-granting procedures, taking into account the broad public acceptance of the deployment of renewable energy.

(21)

Directive (EU) 2018/2001 streamlines the administrative permit-granting procedures for renewable energy plants by introducing rules on the organisation and maximum duration of the administrative part of the permit-granting procedure for renewable energy projects, covering all relevant permits to build, repower and operate renewable energy plants, and for the connection of such plants to the grid.

(22)

A further simplification and shortening of the administrative permit-granting procedures for renewable energy plants, including energy plants which combine different renewable energy sources, heat pumps, co-located energy storage, including power and thermal facilities, as well as the assets necessary for the connection of such plants, heat pumps and storage to the grid and to integrate renewable energy into heating and cooling networks in a coordinated and harmonised manner, is necessary in order to ensure that the Union reaches its ambitious climate and energy targets for 2030 and the objective of climate-neutrality by 2050, while taking into account the ‘do no harm’ principle of the European Green Deal and without prejudice to the internal division of competences within Member States.

(23)

The introduction of shorter and clear deadlines for decisions to be taken by the authorities competent for granting permits for the renewable energy installations on the basis of a complete application is intended to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy projects. The time taken to build the renewable energy plants and their grid connections should not be counted towards those deadlines, except when it coincides with other administrative steps in the permit-granting procedure. It is appropriate, however, to make a distinction between projects located in areas that are particularly suitable for the deployment of renewable energy projects, for which deadlines can be streamlined, namely renewables acceleration areas, and projects located outside such areas. The particularities of offshore renewable energy projects should be taken into account when setting those deadlines.

(24)

Some of the most common problems faced by renewable energy project developers relate to complex and lengthy administrative permit-granting and grid-connection procedures established at national or regional level and a lack of sufficient staffing and technical expertise in permitting authorities to assess the environmental impact of the proposed projects. Therefore, it is appropriate to streamline certain environmental-related aspects of the permit-granting procedures for renewable energy projects.

(25)

Member States should support the faster deployment of renewable energy projects by carrying out a coordinated mapping for the deployment of renewable energy and related infrastructure in their territory in coordination with local and regional authorities. Member States should identify the land, surface, sub-surface and sea or inland water areas necessary for the installation of renewable energy plants and related infrastructure in order to meet at least their national contributions towards the revised overall renewable energy target for 2030 set in Article 3(1) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 and in support of reaching the objective of climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest, in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2021/1119. Member States should be allowed to use existing spatial planning documents for the purpose of identifying those areas. Member States should ensure that such areas reflect their estimated trajectories and total planned installed capacity and should identify specific areas for the different types of renewable energy technology provided for in their integrated national energy and climate plans submitted pursuant to Articles 3 and 14 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1999. The identification of the required land, surface, sub-surface, and sea or inland water areas should take into consideration in particular the availability of energy from renewable sources and the potential offered by the different land and sea areas for renewable energy production of the different types of technology, the projected demand for energy, taking into account energy and system efficiency, overall and in the different regions of the Member State, and the availability of relevant energy infrastructure, storage, and other flexibility tools bearing in mind the capacity needed to cater for the increasing amount of renewable energy, as well as environmental sensitivity in accordance with Annex III to Directive 2011/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (14).

(26)

Member States should designate as a sub-set of those areas, specific land (including surfaces and sub-surfaces) and sea or inland water areas as renewables acceleration areas. Those areas should be particularly suitable for the purpose of developing renewable energy projects, differentiating between types of technology, on the basis that the deployment of the specific type of renewable energy source is not expected to have a significant environmental impact. In the designation of renewables acceleration areas, Member States should avoid protected areas and consider restoration plans and appropriate mitigation measures. Member States should be able to designate renewables acceleration areas specifically for one or more types of renewable energy plants and should indicate the type or types of energy from renewable sources that are suitable to be produced in such renewables acceleration areas. Member States should designate such renewables acceleration areas for at least one type of technology and should decide the size of such renewables acceleration areas, in view of the specificities and requirements of the type or types of technology for which they set up renewables acceleration areas. In doing so, Member States should aim to ensure that the combined size of those areas is significant and that they contribute to the achievement of the objectives set out in Directive (EU) 2018/2001.

(27)

The multiple use of space for renewable energy production and other land, inland water and sea uses, such as food production or nature protection or restoration, alleviates the constraints on land, inland water and sea use. In that context, spatial planning is an essential tool with which to identify and steer synergies for land, inland water and sea use at an early stage. Member States should explore, enable and favour multiple uses of the areas identified as a result of the spatial planning measures adopted. To that end, Member States should facilitate changes in land and sea use where required, provided that the different uses and activities are compatible with one another and can co-exist.

(28)

Directive 2001/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (15) establishes environmental assessments as an important tool with which to integrate environmental considerations into the preparation and adoption of plans and programmes. In order to designate renewables acceleration areas, Member States should prepare one or more plans that encompass the designation of renewables acceleration areas and the applicable rules and mitigation measures for projects located in each of those areas. Member States should be able to prepare a single plan for all renewables acceleration areas and renewable energy technology, or technology-specific plans which designate one or more renewables acceleration areas. Each plan should be subject to an environmental assessment pursuant to Directive 2001/42/EC in order to assess the impact of each renewable energy technology on the relevant areas designated in that plan. Carrying out an environmental assessment pursuant to that Directive for that purpose would allow Member States to have a more integrated and efficient approach to planning, to ensure public participation at an early stage, and to take environmental considerations into account at an early phase of the planning process at a strategic level. That would contribute to ramping up the deployment of different renewable energy sources in a faster and more streamlined manner, while minimising the adverse environmental effects from those projects. Those environmental assessments should include transboundary consultations between Member States if the plan is likely to have significant adverse effects on the environment in another Member State.

(29)

Following the adoption of the plans designating renewables acceleration areas, Member States should monitor any significant adverse environmental effects of the implementation of plans and programmes in order, inter alia, to identify, at an early stage, unforeseen adverse effects and to be able to undertake appropriate remedial action, in accordance with Directive 2001/42/EC.

(30)

To increase public acceptance of renewable energy projects, Member States should take appropriate measures to promote the participation of local communities in renewable energy projects. The provisions of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters (16), signed in Aarhus on 25 June 1998, in particular the provisions relating to public participation and to access to justice, remain applicable.

(31)

In order to streamline the process of designation of renewables acceleration areas and avoid duplication of environmental assessments of a single area, it should be possible for Member States to declare areas which have already been designated as suitable for an accelerated deployment of renewable energy technology under national law as renewables acceleration areas. Such declarations should be subject to certain environmental conditions, ensuring a high level of environmental protection. The possibility of designation of renewables acceleration areas in existing planning should be limited in time, in order to ensure that it does not jeopardise the standard process for designation of renewables acceleration areas. Projects located in existing national designated areas in protected areas which cannot be declared as renewables acceleration areas should continue to operate under the same conditions under which they were established.

(32)

Renewables acceleration areas, together with existing renewable energy plants, future renewable energy plants outside such areas and cooperation mechanisms, should aim to ensure that renewable energy production will be sufficient to achieve Member States’ contribution to the overall Union renewable energy target set in Article 3(1) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001. Member States should retain the possibility to grant permits for projects outside such areas.

(33)

In the renewables acceleration areas, renewable energy projects that comply with the rules and measures identified in the plans prepared by Member States, should benefit from a presumption of not having significant effects on the environment. Therefore, such projects should be exempt from the obligation to carry out a specific environmental impact assessment at project level within the meaning of Directive 2011/92/EU, with the exception of projects where Member State has determined to require an environmental impact assessment in its national mandatory list of projects and of projects which are likely to have significant effects on the environment in another Member State or where a Member State that is likely to be significantly affected so requests. The obligations under the Convention on environmental impact assessment in a transboundary context (17), signed in Espoo on 25 February 1991, should remain applicable to Member States where the project is likely to cause a significant transboundary impact in a third country.

(34)

The obligations set out in Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (18) remain applicable regarding hydropower plants, including where a Member State decides to designate renewables acceleration areas related to hydropower, with a view to ensuring that a potential adverse impact on the water body or water bodies concerned is justified and that all relevant mitigation measures are implemented.

(35)

The designation of renewables acceleration areas should allow renewable energy plants and co-located energy storage, as well as the connection of such plants and storage to the grid, to benefit from predictability and streamlined administrative permit-granting procedures. In particular, projects located in renewables acceleration areas should benefit from accelerated administrative permit-granting procedures, including a tacit approval in the case of a lack of reply by the competent authority on an intermediary administrative step by the established deadline, unless the specific project is subject to an environmental impact assessment or where the principle of administrative tacit approval does not exist in the national law of the Member State concerned. Those projects should also benefit from clear deadlines and legal certainty as regards the expected outcome of the permit-granting procedure. Once an application for a project in a renewables acceleration area is submitted, the Member State should carry out a fast screening process with the aim of identifying whether the project is highly likely to give rise to significant unforeseen adverse effects in view of the environmental sensitivity of the geographical area where it is located and which were not identified during the environmental assessment of the plans designating renewables acceleration areas carried out pursuant to Directive 2001/42/EC and whether the project falls within the scope of Article 7 of Directive 2011/92/EU on the basis of the likelihood of its having significant effects on the environment in another Member State or on the basis of a request of a Member State which is likely to be significantly affected. For the purpose of such a screening process, the competent authority should be able to request the applicant to provide additional available information without requiring a new assessment or data collection.

All projects located in renewables acceleration areas that comply with the rules and measures identified in the plans prepared by Member States should be deemed to be approved at the end of such a screening process. Provided that Member States have clear evidence to consider that a specific project is highly likely to give rise to such significant unforeseen adverse effects, Member States should, following such a screening process, subject the project to an environmental impact assessment pursuant to Directive 2011/92/EU and, where relevant, an assessment pursuant to Council Directive 92/43/EEC (19). Member States should provide reasons for their decisions to subject projects to such assessments before those assessments are carried out. Such assessments should be carried out within six months of such decisions, with the possibility of extending that deadline on the ground of extraordinary circumstances. It is appropriate to allow Member States to introduce derogations from the obligation to carry out such assessments for wind and solar photovoltaic projects in justified circumstances, because such projects are expected to provide a vast majority of the renewable electricity by 2030. In such a case, the project developer should adopt proportionate mitigation measures or, if not available, compensatory measures, which, if other proportionate compensatory measures are not available, may take the form of monetary compensation, in order to address those significant unforeseen adverse effects identified during the screening process.

(36)

In view of the need to accelerate the deployment of energy from renewable sources, the designation of renewables acceleration areas should not prevent the ongoing and future installation of renewable energy projects in all areas available for renewable energy deployment. Such projects should remain subject to the obligation to carry out a dedicated environmental impact assessment pursuant to Directive 2011/92/EU and should be subject to the permit-granting procedures applicable to renewable energy projects located outside renewables acceleration areas. To speed up permit-granting procedures on a scale necessary for the achievement of the renewable energy target set out in Directive (EU) 2018/2001, also the permit-granting procedures applicable to projects outside renewables acceleration areas should be simplified and streamlined with the introduction of clear maximum deadlines for all steps of the permit-granting procedure, including dedicated environmental assessments per project.

(37)

The construction and operation of renewable energy plants can result in the occasional killing or disturbance of birds and other species protected under Directive 92/43/EEC or under Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (20). However, such killing or disturbance of protected species should not be considered to be deliberate within the meaning of those Directives if the project for the construction and operation of those renewable energy plants provides for appropriate mitigation measures to avoid such killing, to prevent disturbance, to assess the effectiveness of such measures through appropriate monitoring and, in the light of the information gathered, to take further measures as required to ensure that there are no significant adverse impact on the population of the species concerned.

(38)

In addition to installing new renewable energy plants, repowering of existing renewable energy power plants has significant potential to contribute to the achievement of the renewable energy targets. Since the existing renewable energy power plants have, for the most part, been installed in sites with significant renewable energy source potential, repowering can ensure the continued use of those sites while reducing the need to designate new sites for renewable energy projects. Repowering includes further benefits such as the existing grid connection, a likely higher degree of public acceptance and knowledge of the environmental impact.

(39)

Directive (EU) 2018/2001 introduces streamlined permit-granting procedures for repowering. In order to respond to the increasing need for the repowering of existing renewable energy power plants and to make full use of the advantages it offers, it is appropriate to establish an even shorter permit-granting procedure for the repowering of renewable energy power plants located in renewables acceleration areas, including a shorter screening process. For the repowering of existing renewable energy power plants located outside renewables acceleration areas, Member States should ensure a simplified and swift permit-granting procedure not exceeding one year, while taking into account the ‘do no harm’ principle of the European Green Deal.

(40)

In order to further promote and accelerate the repowering of existing renewable energy power plants, a simplified permit-granting procedure for grid connections should be established where the repowering results in a limited increase in total capacity compared to the original project. The repowering of renewable energy projects entails changes to or the extension of existing projects to different degrees. The permit-granting procedure, including environmental assessments and screening, for the repowering of renewable energy projects should be limited to the potential impact resulting from the change or extension compared to the original project.

(41)

When repowering a solar installation, increases in efficiency and capacity can be achieved without increasing the space occupied. The repowered installation thus does not have a different impact on the environment than the original installation, provided that the space used is not increased in the process, and the originally required environmental mitigation measures continue to be complied with.

(42)

The installation of solar energy equipment and related co-located energy storage, as well as the connection of such equipment and storage to the grid, in existing or future artificial structures created for purposes other than solar energy production or energy storage with the exclusion of artificial water surfaces, such as rooftops, parking areas, roads and railways, do not typically raise concerns related to competing uses of space or environmental impact. It should therefore be possible for those installations to benefit from shorter permit-granting procedures and be exempt from the obligation to carry out an environmental impact assessment pursuant to Directive 2011/92/EU, while allowing Member States to take into account specific circumstances relating to the protection of cultural or historical heritage, national defence interests, or safety reasons. Self-consumption installations, including those for collective self-consumers, such as local energy communities, also contribute to reducing overall demand for natural gas, to increasing resilience of the system and to achieving the Union’s renewable energy targets. The installation of solar energy equipment with a capacity below 100 kW, including installations of renewables self-consumers, is not likely to have significant adverse effects on the environment or the grid and does not raise safety concerns. In addition, small installations do not generally require capacity expansion at the grid-connection point. In view of the immediate positive effects of such installations for consumers and the limited environmental impact they may give rise to, it is appropriate to further streamline the permit-granting procedure applicable to them, provided that they do not exceed the existing capacity of the connection to the distribution grid, by introducing the concept of administrative positive silence in the relevant permit-granting procedures in order to promote and accelerate the deployment of those installations and to be able to reap their benefits in the short term. Member States should be allowed to apply a threshold lower than 100 kW on the basis of their internal constraints, provided that the threshold remains higher than 10,8 kW.

(43)

Heat pump technology is key to producing renewable heating and cooling from ambient energy, including from wastewater treatment plants and geothermal energy. Heat pumps also allow the use of waste heat and cold. The rapid deployment of heat pumps which mobilises underused renewable energy sources such as ambient energy or geothermal energy, as well as waste heat from industrial and tertiary sectors, including data centres, makes it possible to replace natural gas and other fossil fuel-based boilers with a renewable heating solution, while increasing energy efficiency. That will accelerate a reduction in the use of gas for the supply of heating, in buildings as well as in industry. In order to accelerate the installation and use of heat pumps, it is appropriate to introduce targeted shorter permit-granting procedures for such installations, including a simplified permit-granting procedure for the connection of smaller heat pumps to the electricity grid where there are no safety concerns, no further works are needed for grid connections and there is no technical incompatibility of the system components, unless no such permit-granting procedure is required by national law. Thanks to a quicker and easier installation of heat pumps, the increased use of renewable energy in the heating sector, which accounts for almost half of the Union’s energy consumption, is intended to contribute to security of supply and help tackle a more difficult market situation.

(44)

For the purposes of the relevant Union environmental law, in the necessary case-by-case assessments to ascertain whether a renewable energy plant, the connection of that plant to the grid, the related grid itself or storage assets are of overriding public interest in a particular case, Member States should presume those renewable energy plants and their related infrastructure to be of overriding public interest and serving public health and safety, except where there is clear evidence that those projects have significant adverse effects on the environment which cannot be mitigated or compensated for, or where Member States decide to restrict the application of that presumption in duly justified and specific circumstances, such as reasons related to national defence. Considering such renewable energy plants to be of overriding public interest and serving public health and safety would allow such projects to benefit from a simplified assessment.

(45)

In order to ensure a smooth and effective implementation of the provisions laid down in this Directive, the Commission supports Member States by means of the Technical Support Instrument established by Regulation (EU) 2021/240 of the European Parliament and of the Council (21), which provides tailor-made technical expertise to design and implement reforms, including those increasing the use of energy from renewable sources, fostering better energy system integration, identifying specific areas particularly suitable for the installation of renewable energy plants, and streamlining the framework for authorisation and permit-granting procedures for renewable energy plants. The technical support, for example, involves strengthening of administrative capacity, harmonising the legislative frameworks, and the sharing of relevant best practices such as enabling and favouring multiple uses.

(46)

Energy infrastructure needs to be in place to support the significant scaling up of renewable energy generation. Member States should be able to designate dedicated infrastructure areas where the deployment of grid or storage projects that are necessary to integrate renewable energy into the electricity system is not expected to have a significant environmental impact, such an impact can be duly mitigated or, where not possible, compensated for. Infrastructure projects in such areas may benefit from more streamlined environmental assessments. If Member States decide not to designate such areas, the assessments and rules applicable under Union environmental law remain applicable. In order to designate infrastructure areas, Member States should prepare one or more plans, including by means of national legislation, encompassing the identification of the areas and the applicable rules and mitigation measures for projects located in each infrastructure area. The plans should clearly indicate the scope of the dedicated area and the type of infrastructure projects covered. Each plan should be subject to an environmental assessment pursuant to Directive 2001/42/EC in order to assess the impact of each type of project on the relevant designated areas. Grids projects in such dedicated infrastructure areas should avoid to the extent possible Natura 2000 sites and areas designated under national protection schemes for nature and biodiversity conservation, unless, due to the specificities of grid projects, there are no proportionate alternatives for the deployment of such projects. When assessing proportionality, Member States should take into account the need to ensure the economic viability, the feasibility and the effective and accelerated implementation of the project with a view to ensuring that the additional generation capacity of renewable energy deployed can be promptly integrated into the energy system, or whether infrastructure projects of various types already exist in the specific Natura 2000 site or protected area, which would allow to bundle different infrastructure projects in a site resulting in lower environmental impact.

Dedicated plans for storage projects should always exclude Natura 2000 sites since there are less constraints on where to place them. In such areas, Member States should, under justified circumstances including where needed to accelerate the grid expansion to support the deployment of renewable energy to achieve the climate and renewable energy targets, be able to introduce exemptions from certain assessment obligations provided for in Union environmental law under certain conditions. If Member States decide to make use of such exemptions, the specific projects should be subject to a streamlined screening process similar to the screening process provided for renewables acceleration areas, which should be based on existing data. Requests of the competent authority to provide additional available information should not require a new assessment or data collection. If such a screening process identifies projects that are highly likely to give rise to significant unforeseen adverse effects, the competent authority should ensure that appropriate and proportionate mitigation measures, or if not available, compensatory measures, are applied. In the case of compensatory measures, the project development can be pursued while compensatory measures are being identified.

(47)

Insufficient numbers of skilled workers, in particular installers and designers of renewable heating and cooling systems, slows down the replacement of fossil fuel heating systems by renewable energy based systems and is a significant barrier to integrating renewable energy in buildings, industry and agriculture. Member States should cooperate with social partners and renewable energy communities to anticipate the skills that will be needed. A sufficient number of high-quality and effective upskilling and reskilling strategies and training programmes and certification possibilities that ensure proper installation and reliable operation of a wide range of renewable heating and cooling systems and storage technology, as well as electric vehicles recharging points, should be made available and designed in a way to attract participation in such training programmes and certification systems. Member States should consider what actions should be taken to attract groups currently under-represented in the occupational areas in question. A list of trained and certified installers should be made publicly available to ensure consumer trust and easy access to tailored installer and designer skills guaranteeing proper installation and operation of renewable heating and cooling.

(48)

Guarantees of origin are a key tool for consumer information as well as for the further uptake of renewable energy purchase agreements. It should therefore be ensured that the issue, trade, transfer and use of guarantees of origin can be carried out in a uniform system with appropriately standardised certificates that are mutually recognised throughout the Union. Furthermore, to provide access to appropriate supporting evidence for persons concluding renewable energy purchase agreements, it should be ensured that any associated guarantees of origin can be transferred to the buyer. In the context of a more flexible energy system and growing consumer demand there is a call for a more innovative, digital, technologically advanced and reliable tool to support and document the increasing production of renewable energy. To facilitate digital innovation in that field, Member States should, where appropriate, enable issuing guarantees of origin in fractions and with a closer to real time timestamp. In view of the need to improve consumer empowerment and contribute to a higher share of renewable energy in the gas supply, Member States should require network gas suppliers who disclose their energy mix to final consumers, to use guarantees of origin.

(49)

Infrastructure development for district heating and cooling networks should be stepped up and steered towards harnessing a wider range of renewable heat and cold sources in an efficient and flexible way in order to increase the deployment of renewable energy and deepen energy system integration. It is therefore appropriate to update the list of renewable energy sources that district heating and cooling networks should increasingly accommodate and to require the integration of thermal energy storage as a source of flexibility, greater energy efficiency and more cost-effective operation.

(50)

With more than 30 million electric vehicles expected in the Union by 2030 it is necessary to ensure that they can fully contribute to the system integration of renewable electricity, and thus allow reaching higher shares of renewable electricity in a cost-optimal manner. The potential of electric vehicles to absorb renewable electricity at times when it is abundant and feed it back into a grid when there is scarcity, contributing to the system integration of variable renewable electricity while ensuring a secure and reliable supply of electricity, has to be fully utilised. It is therefore appropriate to introduce specific measures on electric vehicles and information about renewable energy and about how and when to access it which complement those in Regulations (EU) 2023/1804 (22) and (EU) 2023/1542 (23) of the European Parliament and of the Council.

(51)

Regulation (EU) 2019/943 of the European Parliament and of the Council (24) and Directive (EU) 2019/944 of the European Parliament and of the Council (25) require Member States to allow and foster the participation of demand response through aggregation, as well as to provide for dynamic electricity price contracts to final customers where applicable. In order to allow demand response more easily to provide further incentives for the absorption of green electricity, it needs to be based not only on dynamic prices but also on signals about the actual penetration of green electricity in the system. It is therefore necessary to improve the signals that consumers and market participants receive regarding the share of renewable electricity and the intensity of greenhouse gas emissions of the electricity supplied, through the dissemination of dedicated information. Consumption patterns can then be adjusted on the basis of renewable energy penetration and the presence of zero carbon electricity, in conjunction with an adjustment made on the basis of price signals. That serves the objective of further supporting the deployment of innovative business models and digital solutions, which have the capacity to link consumption to the level of renewable energy in the electricity grid and thus provide incentives for the right network investments to underpin the clean energy transition.

(52)

In order for flexibility and balancing services from the aggregation of distributed storage assets to be developed in a competitive manner, real-time access to basic battery information such as state of health, state of charge, capacity and power set point should be provided under non-discriminatory terms, in accordance with the relevant data protection rules and free of charge to the owners or users of the batteries and the entities acting on their behalf, such as building energy system managers, mobility service providers and other electricity market participants. It is therefore appropriate to introduce measures that address the need of access to such data for facilitating the integration-related operations of domestic batteries and electric vehicles, that complement the provisions on access to battery data related to facilitating the repurposing of batteries laid down in Regulation (EU) 2023/1542. The provisions on access to the battery data of electric vehicles should apply in addition to any provisions laid down in Union law on the type approval of vehicles.

(53)

The increasing number of electric vehicles in road, rail, maritime and other transport modes will require recharging operations to be optimised and managed in a way that does not cause congestion and takes full advantage of the availability of renewable electricity and low electricity prices in the system. Where smart and bi-directional recharging would assist further penetration of renewable electricity by electric vehicle fleets in the transport sector and in the electricity system in general, such functionality should also be made available. In view of the long life span of recharging points, requirements for recharging infrastructure should be kept updated in a way that would cater for future needs and would not result in negative lock-in effects to the development of technology and services.

(54)

Recharging points where electric vehicles typically park for extended periods of time, such as where people park for reasons of residence or employment, are highly relevant to energy system integration. Smart and, where appropriate, bi-directional recharging functionalities therefore need to be ensured. In that regard, the operation of non-publicly accessible normal recharging infrastructure is particularly important for the integration of electric vehicles in the electricity system as it is located where electric vehicles are parked repeatedly for long periods of time, such as in buildings with restricted access, employee parking or parking facilities rented out to natural or legal persons.

(55)

Demand response is pivotal to enabling the smart recharging of electric vehicles and thereby enabling the efficient integration of electric vehicles into the electricity grid, which will be crucial for the process of decarbonising transport and for the purposes of facilitating energy system integration. In addition, Member States should encourage, where relevant, initiatives promoting demand response through interoperability and data exchange for heating and cooling systems, thermal energy storage units and other relevant energy related devices.

(56)

Electric vehicle users entering into contractual agreements with electromobility service providers and electricity market participants should have the right to receive information and explanations on how the terms of the agreement will affect the use of their vehicle and the state of health of its battery. Electromobility service providers and electricity market participants should explain clearly to electric vehicle users how they will be remunerated for the flexibility, balancing and storage services provided to the electricity system and market by the use of their electric vehicle. Electric vehicle users also need to have their consumer rights secured when entering into such agreements, in particular regarding the protection of their personal data such as location and driving habits, in connection to the use of their vehicle. Electric vehicle users’ preference regarding the type of electricity purchased for use in their electric vehicle, as well as other preferences, can also be part of such agreements. For those reasons, it is important to ensure that the recharging infrastructure deployed is used as effectively as possible. In order to improve consumer confidence in e-mobility, it is essential that electric vehicle users can use their subscription at multiple recharging points. That will also allow the electric vehicle user’s service provider of choice to optimally integrate the electric vehicle in the electricity system, through predictable planning and incentives on the basis of electric vehicle user preferences. That is also in line with the principles of a consumer-centric and prosumer-based energy system, and the right of supplier choice of electric vehicle users as final customers as per the provisions of Directive (EU) 2019/944.

(57)

Distributed storage assets, such as domestic batteries and batteries of electric vehicles have the potential to offer considerable flexibility and balancing services to the grid through aggregation. In order to facilitate the development of such devices and services, the regulatory provisions concerning connection and operation of the storage assets, such as tariffs, commitment times and connection specifications, should be designed in a way that does not hamper the potential of all storage assets, including small and mobile ones and other devices for example, heat pumps, solar panels and thermal storage, to offer flexibility and balancing services to the system and to contribute to the further penetration of renewable electricity, in comparison with larger, stationary storage assets. In addition to the general provisions preventing market discrimination laid down in Regulation (EU) 2019/943 and Directive (EU) 2019/944, specific requirements should be introduced to address holistically the participation of those assets and to remove any remaining barriers and obstacles to unleash the potential of such assets to help the decarbonisation of the electricity system and empower the consumers to actively participate in the energy transition.

(58)

As a general principle, Member States should ensure a level playing field for small, decentralised electricity generation and storage systems, including through batteries and electric vehicles, so they are able to participate in the electricity markets, including congestion management and the provision of flexibility and balancing services in a non-discriminatory manner as compared to other electricity generation and storage systems, and without disproportionate administrative or regulatory burden. Member States should encourage self-consumers and renewable energy communities to actively participate in those electricity markets by providing flexibility services through demand response and storage including through batteries and electric vehicles.

(59)

Industry accounts for 25 % of the Union’s energy consumption, and is a major consumer of heating and cooling, which is currently supplied 91 % by fossil fuels. However, 50 % of demand for heating and cooling is low-temperature (< 200 °C) for which there are cost-effective renewable energy options, including through electrification and direct use of renewable energy. In addition, industry uses non-renewable sources as raw materials to produce products such as steel or chemicals. Industrial investment decisions today will determine the future industrial processes and energy options that can be considered by industry, so it is important that those investments decisions are future-proof and avoid the creation of stranded assets. Therefore, benchmarks should be put in place to provide industry with incentives to switch to production processes based on renewable energy, which are not only fuelled by renewable energy, but also use renewable-based raw materials such as renewable hydrogen. Member States should promote the electrification of industrial processes where possible, for instance for low temperature industrial heat. Moreover, Member States should promote the use of a common methodology for products that are labelled as having been produced partially or fully using renewable energy or using renewable fuels of non-biological origin as feedstock, taking into account existing Union product labelling methodologies and sustainable product initiatives. That would avoid deceptive practices and increase consumer trust. Furthermore, given consumer preference for products that contribute to environmental and climate change objectives, it would stimulate market demand for those products.

(60)

To reduce the Union’s dependence on fossil fuels and fossil fuel imports, a Union strategy for imported and domestic hydrogen should be developed by the Commission on the basis of data reported by Member States.

(61)

Renewable fuels of non-biological origin can be used for energy purposes, but also for non-energy purposes as feedstock or raw material in industries such as the steel industry or the chemical industry. The use of renewable fuels of non-biological origin for both purposes exploits their full potential to replace fossil fuels used as feedstock and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in industrial processes which are difficult to electrify and should therefore be included in a target for the use of renewable fuels of non-biological origin. National measures to support the uptake of renewable fuels of non-biological origin in those industrial sectors that are difficult to electrify should not result in net pollution increases due to an increased demand for electricity generation that is satisfied by the most polluting fossil fuels, such as coal, diesel, lignite, oil peat and oil shale. The consumption of hydrogen in industrial processes whereby the hydrogen is produced as or derived from a by-product which is difficult to replace with renewable fuels of non-biological origin should be excluded from that target. Hydrogen consumed to produce transport fuel is covered under the transport targets for renewable fuels of non-biological origin.

(62)

The Union’s hydrogen strategy, set out in the Commission communication of 8 July 2020, entitled ‘A hydrogen strategy for a climate-neutral Europe’, recognises the role of existing hydrogen production plants retrofitted to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in achieving the increased 2030 climate ambition. In light of that strategy, and within the framework of the call for projects organised under the Union’s Innovation Fund established by Article 10a(8) of Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (26), early movers have taken investment decisions with a view to retrofitting pre-existing hydrogen production facilities based on steam methane reforming technology with the aim of decarbonising hydrogen production. For the purpose of calculating the denominator in the contribution of renewable fuels of non-biological origin used for final energy and non-energy purposes in industry, hydrogen produced in retrofitted production facilities based on steam methane reforming technology for which a Commission decision with a view to the award of a grant under the Innovation Fund has been published before the date of entry into force of this Directive and that achieve an average greenhouse gas reduction of 70 % on an annual basis, should not be taken into account.

(63)

Moreover, it should be acknowledged that the replacement of hydrogen produced from the steam methane reforming process might pose specific challenges for certain existing integrated ammonia production facilities. It would necessitate the rebuilding of such production facilities, which would require a substantial effort by Member States depending on their specific national circumstances and the structure of their energy supply.

(64)

In order to achieve the objective of the Union to become climate neutral by 2050 and to decarbonise Union’s industry, Member States should be able to combine the use of non-fossil energy sources and renewable fuels of non-biological origin in the context of their specific national circumstances and energy mix. In that context, Member States should be able to reduce the target for the use of renewable fuels of non-biological origin in the industry sector, provided that they consume a limited share of hydrogen or its derivatives produced from fossil fuels and that they are on track towards their expected national contribution in accordance with the formula of Annex II to Regulation (EU) 2018/1999.

(65)

Increasing ambition in the heating and cooling sector is key to delivering the overall renewable energy target given that heating and cooling constitutes around half of the Union’s energy consumption, covering a wide range of end uses and technology in buildings, industry and district heating and cooling. To accelerate the increase of renewable energy in the heating and cooling sector, a minimum annual percentage point increase at Member State level should be made binding on all Member States. The minimum annual average binding increase of 0,8 percentage points between 2021 and 2025, and of 1,1 percentage points between 2026 and 2030 in heating and cooling applicable to all Member States should be complemented with additional indicative increases or top-up rates calculated specifically for each Member State in order to reach an average increase of 1,8 percentage points at Union level. Those Member State-specific additional indicative increases or top-ups aim to redistribute the additional effort needed to achieve the desired level of renewable energy in 2030 among Member States on the basis of gross domestic product and cost-effectiveness and to guide Member States as regards what could be a sufficient level of renewable energy to deploy in that sector. Member States should carry out, in accordance with the energy efficiency first principle, an assessment of their potential energy from renewable sources in the heating and cooling sector and of the potential use of waste heat and cold. Member States should implement two or more measures from the list of measures to facilitate increasing the share of renewable energy in heating and cooling. When adopting and implementing those measures, Member States should ensure that those measures are accessible to all consumers, in particular those living in low-income or vulnerable households.

(66)

To ensure that the increased importance of district heating and cooling is accompanied by better information for consumers, it is appropriate to clarify and strengthen transparency as regards the share of renewable energy and the energy efficiency of district heating and cooling systems.

(67)

Modern renewable-based efficient district heating and cooling systems have demonstrated their potential to provide cost-effective solutions for integrating renewable energy, increased energy efficiency and energy system integration, while facilitating the overall decarbonisation of the heating and cooling sector. To ensure that that potential is harnessed, the annual increase of renewable energy or waste heat and cold in district heating and cooling should be raised from 1 to 2,2 percentage points without changing the indicative nature of that increase, reflecting the uneven development of that type of network across the Union.

(68)

To reflect the increased importance of district heating and cooling and the need to steer the development of those networks towards the integration of more renewable energy, it is appropriate to encourage operators of district heating or cooling systems to connect third party suppliers of renewable energy and waste heat and cold with district heating or cooling networks systems above 25 MW.

(69)

Heating and cooling systems, in particular district heating and cooling systems, increasingly contribute to the balancing of the electricity grid by providing additional demand for variable renewable electricity, such as wind and solar, when such renewable electricity is abundant, cheap and would be otherwise curtailed. Such balancing can be achieved by means of the use of highly efficient electrically driven heat and cold generators, such as heat pumps, especially when those heat and cold generators are coupled with large thermal storage, in particular in district heating and cooling or in individual heating, where the economies of scale and system level efficiencies of district heating and cooling are not available. The benefits of heat pumps are twofold, first, to significantly increase energy efficiency, saving considerable energy and costs for consumers, and second, to integrate renewable energy through allowing a greater use of geothermal and ambient energy. In order to provide further incentives for the use of renewable electricity for heating and cooling and heat storage, with the deployment of heat pumps in particular, it is appropriate to allow Member States to count renewable electricity driving those heat and cold generators, including heat pumps towards the binding and indicative renewable energy annual increase in the heating and cooling and district heating and cooling.

(70)

Despite being widely available, waste heat and cold is underused, leading to a waste of resources, lower energy efficiency in national energy systems and higher than necessary energy consumption in the Union. Provided it is supplied from efficient district heating and cooling, it is appropriate to allow waste heat and cold to count towards partial fulfilment of the targets for renewable energy in buildings, industry, heating and cooling and towards complete fulfilment of the targets for district heating and cooling. That would allow synergies between renewable energy and waste heat and cold in district heating and cooling networks to be harnessed by increasing the economic rationale for investing in the modernisation and development of those networks. Specifically including waste heat in the industrial renewable energy benchmark should be acceptable only as regards waste heat or cold delivered via a district heating and cooling operator from another industrial site or another building, thus ensuring that such operators have heat or cold supply as their main activity and that the waste heat counted is clearly differentiated from internal waste heat recovered within the same or related enterprise or buildings.

(71)

To ensure district heating and cooling participate fully in energy sector integration, it is necessary to extend the cooperation with electricity distribution system operators to electricity transmission system operators and to widen the scope of cooperation to grid investment planning and markets in order to better utilise the potential of district heating and cooling for providing flexibility services in electricity markets. Further cooperation with gas network operators, including hydrogen and other energy networks, should also be made possible to ensure a wider integration across energy carriers and their most cost-effective use. Furthermore, requirements for closer coordination between district heating and cooling operators, industrial and tertiary sectors, and local authorities could facilitate the dialogue and cooperation necessary to harness cost-effective waste heat and cold potentials via district heating and cooling systems.

(72)

The use of renewable fuels and renewable electricity in the transport sector can contribute to the decarbonisation of the Union transport sector in a cost-effective manner, and improve, amongst other matters, energy diversification in that sector while promoting innovation, economic growth and jobs in the Union and while reducing reliance on energy imports. With a view to achieving the increased target for greenhouse gas emissions savings set by Regulation (EU) 2021/1119, the level of renewable energy supplied to all transport modes in the Union should be increased. Allowing the Member States to choose between a transport target expressed as a greenhouse gas intensity reduction target or as a share of the consumption of renewable energy provides the Member States with an appropriate degree of flexibility to design their policies to decarbonise transport. Furthermore, introducing a combined energy-based target for advanced biofuels and biogas and renewable fuels of non-biological origin, including a minimum share for renewable fuels of non-biological origin would ensure an increased use of the renewable fuels with smallest environmental impact in transport modes that are difficult to electrify such as maritime transport and aviation. To kick start the fuel shift in maritime transport, Member States with maritime ports should endeavour to ensure that from 2030 the share of renewable fuels of non-biological origin in the total amount of energy supplied to the maritime transport sector is at least 1,2 %. The achievement of those targets should be ensured by obligations on fuel suppliers as well as by other measures laid down in Regulations (EU) 2023/1805 (27) and (EU) 2023/2405 (28) of the European Parliament and of the Council. Dedicated obligations on aviation fuel suppliers should be imposed only pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2023/2405.

(73)

In order to encourage the uptake of the supply of renewable fuels to the hard-to-decarbonise sector of international marine bunkering, for the calculation of the transport targets, renewable fuels supplied to international marine bunkers should be included in the final consumption of energy from renewable sources in the transport sector and, accordingly, fuels supplied to international marine bunkers should be included in the final consumption of energy sources in the transport sector. However, maritime transport represents a large share of the gross final consumption of energy for some Member States. In view of the current technological and regulatory constraints that prevent the commercial use of biofuels in the maritime transport sector, it is appropriate, by way of derogation from the requirement to include all energy supplied to the maritime transport sector, for the purpose of calculating specific transport targets, to allow Member States to cap the energy supplied to the maritime transport sector at 13 % of the gross final consumption of energy in a Member State. For insular Member States, where the gross final consumption of energy in the maritime transport sector is disproportionally high, namely more than a third of that of the road and rail sectors, the cap should be 5 %. However, for the calculation of the overall renewable energy target, considering the specific characteristics of international marine bunkers, regarding fuels supplied to them, they should be included in the gross final consumption of energy of a Member State only if they are renewable.

(74)

Electromobility will play an essential role in decarbonising the transport sector. To foster the further development of electromobility, Member States should establish a credit mechanism enabling operators of recharging points accessible to the public to contribute, by supplying renewable electricity, towards the fulfilment of the obligation set up by Member States on fuel suppliers. Member States should be able to include private recharging points in that credit mechanism, if it can be demonstrated that the renewable electricity supplied to those private recharging points is provided solely to electric vehicles. While supporting electricity in the transport sector through such credit mechanisms, it is important that Member States continue to set a high level of ambition for the decarbonisation of their liquid fuel mix, particularly in hard-to-decarbonise transport sectors, such as maritime transport and aviation, where direct electrification is much more difficult.

(75)

Renewable fuels of non-biological origin, including renewable hydrogen, can be used as feedstock or as a source of energy in industrial and chemical processes and in maritime transport and aviation, decarbonising sectors in which direct electrification is not technologically possible or competitive. They can also be used for energy storage to balance, where necessary, the energy system, thereby playing a significant role in energy system integration.

(76)

The Union’s renewable energy policy aims to contribute to achieving the Union’s climate change mitigation objectives in terms of the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. In the pursuit of that goal, it is essential to also contribute to wider environmental objectives and in particular the prevention of biodiversity loss, on which the indirect land use change associated with the production of certain biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels has a negative impact. Contributing to those climate and environmental objectives constitutes a deep and longstanding intergenerational concern for Union citizens and the Union legislators. The Union should thus promote those fuels in quantities which balance the necessary ambition with the need to avoid contributing to direct and indirect land-use change. The way the transport target is calculated should not affect the limits established on how certain fuels produced from food and feed crops on the one hand and high indirect land-use change-risk fuels on the other hand count towards that target. In addition, in order not to create an incentive to use biofuels and biogas produced from food and feed crops in transport and considering the impact of the war against Ukraine on food and feed supply, Member States should continue to be able to choose whether to count biofuels and biogas produced from food and feed crops towards the transport target. If they do not count them, Member States should be able to choose to reduce the energy-based target or to reduce the greenhouse gas intensity reduction target accordingly, assuming that biofuels produced from food and feed crops save 50 % greenhouse gas emissions, which corresponds to the typical values set out in an annex to this Directive for the greenhouse gas emissions savings of the most relevant production pathways of biofuels produced from food and feed crops as well as the minimum greenhouse gas emissions savings threshold that applies to most installations producing such biofuels.

(77)

In order to ensure that the use of biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels saves an increasing amount of greenhouse gas emissions and to address potential indirect effects of the promotion of such fuels, such as deforestation, the Commission should review the level of the maximum share of the average annual expansion of the global production area in high carbon stocks based on objective and scientific criteria, taking into consideration the Union’s climate targets and commitments, and should, where necessary, propose a new threshold on the basis of the results of its review. Further, the Commission should assess the possibility of designing an accelerated trajectory to phase out the contribution of such fuels to renewable energy targets in order to maximise the amount of greenhouse gas emissions savings.

(78)

Setting the transport target as a greenhouse gas intensity reduction target makes it necessary to provide for a methodology that takes into consideration that different types of energy from renewable sources save different amounts of greenhouse gas emissions and, therefore, contribute differently to a given target. Renewable electricity should be considered to have zero greenhouse gas emissions, meaning it saves 100 % of greenhouse gas emissions compared to electricity produced from fossil fuels. That will create an incentive for the use of renewable electricity since renewable fuels and recycled carbon fuels are unlikely to achieve such a high percentage of greenhouse gas emissions savings. Electrification relying on renewable energy sources would therefore become the most efficient way to decarbonise road transport. In addition, in order to promote the use of renewable fuels of non-biological origin in the aviation and maritime transport modes, which are difficult to electrify, it is appropriate to introduce a multiplier for fuels supplied in those modes of transport when counting them towards the specific targets set for those fuels.

(79)

The direct electrification of end-use sectors, including the transport sector, contributes to system efficiency and facilitates the transition to an energy system based on renewable energy. It is therefore in itself an effective means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The creation of a framework on additionality which applies specifically to renewable electricity supplied to electric vehicles in the transport sector is therefore not required. Furthermore, solar-electric vehicles can make a crucial contribution to the decarbonisation of the Union’s transport sector.

(80)

Since renewable fuels of non-biological origin are to be counted as renewable energy regardless of the sector in which they are consumed, the rules to determine their renewable nature when produced from electricity, which were applicable only to those fuels when consumed in the transport sector, should be extended to all renewable fuels of non-biological origin, regardless of the sector in which they are consumed.

(81)

Renewable fuels of non-biological origin are important to increasing the share of renewable energy in sectors that are expected to rely on gaseous and liquid fuels in the long-term, including for industrial applications and in heavy-duty transport. By 1 July 2028, the Commission should assess the impact of the methodology defining when electricity used for producing renewable fuels of non-biological origin can be considered to be fully renewable, including the impact of additionality and temporal and geographical correlation on production costs, greenhouse gas emissions savings, and the energy system and should submit a report to the European Parliament and the Council. The report should assess in a particular the impact of that methodology on the availability and affordability of renewable fuels of non-biological origin for industry and transport sectors and on the ability of the Union to achieve its targets for renewable fuels of non-biological origin, taking into account the Union strategy for imported and domestic hydrogen while minimising the increase in greenhouse gas emissions in the electricity sector and the overall energy system. If that report concludes that the methodology falls short of ensuring sufficient availability and affordability and does not substantially contribute to greenhouse gas emissions savings, energy system integration and the achievement of the Union targets for 2030 for renewable fuels of non-biological origin, the Commission should review the Union methodology and, where appropriate, adopt a delegated act to amend the methodology to provide the necessary adjustments to the criteria in order to facilitate the ramping-up of the hydrogen industry.

(82)

To ensure higher environmental effectiveness of the Union sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions saving criteria for solid biomass fuels in installations producing heating, electricity and cooling, the minimum threshold for the applicability of such criteria should be lowered from the current 20 MW to 7,5 MW.

(83)

Directive (EU) 2018/2001 strengthened the bioenergy sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions savings framework by setting criteria for all end-use sectors. It set out specific rules for biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels produced from forest biomass, requiring the sustainability of harvesting operations and the accounting of land-use change emissions. In line with the objectives to preserve biodiversity and prevent habitat destruction pursuant to Directive 92/43/EEC, Directive 2000/60/EC, Directive 2008/56/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (29) and Directive 2009/147/EC, it is necessary to achieve the enhanced protection of especially biodiverse and carbon-rich habitats, such as primary and old-growth forests, highly biodiverse forests, grasslands, peat lands and heathlands. Therefore, exclusions and limitations to the sourcing of forest biomass from those areas should be introduced, in line with the approach for biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels produced from agricultural biomass, except where the risk-based approach provides for the necessary exclusions and limitations and operators provide the necessary assurances. In addition, subject to appropriate transition periods for investment security purposes, the greenhouse gas emissions saving criteria should also gradually apply to existing biomass-based installations to ensure that bioenergy production in all such installations leads to greenhouse gas emission reductions compared to energy produced from fossil fuels.

(84)

The sustainability criteria concerning forest biomass harvesting should be further specified, in line with the principles of sustainable forest management. Those specifications should aim to strengthen and clarify the risk-based approach for forest biomass, while providing Member States with proportionate provisions allowing for targeted adaptations for practices that can be locally appropriate.

(85)

Member States should ensure that their use of forest biomass for producing energy is compatible with their obligations pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2018/841 of the European Parliament and of the Council (30). To that end, Member States should conduct forward-looking assessments and implement necessary measures that complement their obligations pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2018/1999.

(86)

In view of the specific situation of the outermost regions referred to in Article 349 TFEU and characterised in the energy sector by isolation, limited supply and dependence on fossil fuels, provision should be made to extend the derogation that allows Member States to adopt specific criteria in order to ensure eligibility for financial support for the consumption of certain biomass fuels in those regions to also cover bioliquids and biofuels. Any specific criteria should be objectively justified on the grounds of energy independence of the outermost region concerned and of ensuring a smooth transition to the sustainability criteria, the energy efficiency criteria and the greenhouse gas emissions saving criteria in the outermost region concerned in accordance with Directive (EU) 2018/2001.

(87)

The Union is committed to improving the environmental, economic and social sustainability of biomass fuel production. This Directive is complementary to other Union legislative acts, in particular any legislative act on corporate sustainability due diligence which lays down due diligence requirements in the value chain with regard to adverse human rights or environmental impact.

(88)

In order to reduce the administrative burden for producers of renewable fuels and recycled carbon fuels and for Member States, where voluntary or national schemes have been recognised by the Commission through an implementing act as giving evidence or providing accurate data regarding compliance with sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions saving criteria as well as other requirements laid down in the amending provisions set out in this Directive, Member States should accept the results of the certification issued by such schemes within the scope of the Commission’s recognition. In order to reduce the burden on small installations, Member States should be able to establish a simplified voluntary verification mechanism for installations with a total thermal input of between 7,5 MW and 20 MW.

(89)

To mitigate the risks and better prevent fraud in the supply chains for bioenergy and recycled carbon fuels, Directive (EU) 2018/2001 provides for valuable additions in terms of transparency, traceability and supervision. In that context, the Union database to be set up by the Commission aims at enabling the tracing of liquid and gaseous renewable fuels and recycled carbon fuels. The scope of the database should be extended from transport to all other end-use sectors in which such fuels are consumed. Such an extension is intended to make a vital contribution to the comprehensive monitoring of the production and consumption of those fuels, mitigating risks of double-counting or irregularities along the supply chains covered by the Union database. In addition, to avoid any risk of double claims on the same renewable gas, a guarantee of origin issued for any consignment of renewable gas registered in the database should be cancelled. The database should be made publicly available in an open, transparent and user-friendly manner, while also respecting the principles of private and commercially sensitive data protection. The Commission should publish annual reports about the information reported in the Union database, including the quantities, geographic origin and feedstock type of biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels. The Commission and Member States should endeavour to work on the interconnectivity between the Union database and existing national databases, enabling a smooth transition as well as enabling the bi-directionality of the databases. Complementary to that strengthening of the transparency and the traceability of individual consignments of raw materials and fuels in the supply chain, recently adopted Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/996 (31) enhanced the requirements on auditing for certification bodies and increased the powers for public supervision of certification bodies, including the possibility for competent authorities to access documents and premises of economic operators in their supervisory controls. The integrity of the verification framework of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 has accordingly been significantly strengthened by complementing the auditing by certification bodies and Union database with verification and supervisory capacity of the competent authorities of the Member States. It is strongly recommended that Member States make use of both possibilities for public supervision.

(90)

The Commission and the Member States should continuously adapt to best administrative practices and take all appropriate measures to simplify the implementation of Directive (EU) 2018/2001, and thus reduce compliance costs for involved actors and affected sectors.

(91)

Adequate anti-fraud provisions must be laid down, in particular in relation to the use of waste-based raw materials or of biomass that is identified as representing a high indirect land use change risk. As the detection and prevention of fraud is essential to prevent unfair competition and rampant deforestation, including in third countries, full and certified traceability of those raw materials should be implemented.

(92)

Directive (EU) 2018/2001 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(93)

Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 makes several references to the Union-level binding target of at least 32 % for the share of renewable energy consumed in the Union in 2030. As that target needs to be increased in order to contribute effectively to the ambition to decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 55 % by 2030, those references should be amended. Any additional planning and reporting requirements set will not create a new planning and reporting system, but should be subject to the existing planning and reporting framework under that Regulation.

(94)

The scope of Directive 98/70/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (32) should be amended in order to avoid a duplication of regulatory requirements with regard to transport fuel decarbonisation objectives and to align with Directive (EU) 2018/2001.

(95)

The definitions laid down Directive 98/70/EC should be aligned with those laid down in Directive (EU) 2018/2001 in order to avoid different definitions being applied pursuant to those two acts.

(96)

The obligations regarding the greenhouse gas emissions reduction and the use of biofuels in Directive 98/70/EC should be deleted in order to streamline and avoid double regulation with regard to the strengthened transport fuel decarbonisation obligations which are provided for in Directive (EU) 2018/2001.

(97)

The obligations regarding the monitoring of and reporting on the greenhouse gas emission reductions set out in Directive 98/70/EC should be deleted to avoid duplicating the regulation of reporting obligations.

(98)

Council Directive (EU) 2015/652 (33), which provides the detailed rules for the uniform implementation of Article 7a of Directive 98/70/EC, should be repealed as it becomes obsolete with the repeal of Article 7a of Directive 98/70/EC by this Directive.

(99)

As regards bio-based components in diesel fuel, the reference in Directive 98/70/EC to diesel fuel B7, that is diesel fuel containing up to 7 % fatty acid methyl esters (FAME), limits available options to attain higher biofuel incorporation targets as set out in Directive (EU) 2018/2001. That is due to the fact that almost the entire Union supply of diesel fuel is already B7. For that reason, the maximum share of bio-based components should be increased from 7 % to 10 %. Sustaining the market uptake of B10, that is diesel fuel containing up to 10 % FAME, requires a Union-wide B7 protection grade for 7 % FAME in diesel fuel due to the sizeable proportion of vehicles not compatible with B10 expected to be present in the fleet by 2030. That should be reflected in Article 4(1), second subparagraph, of Directive 98/70/EC.

(100)

Transitional provisions should allow for an ordered continuation of data collection and the fulfilment of reporting obligations with respect to the articles of Directive 98/70/EC deleted by this Directive.

(101)

Since the objectives of this Directive, namely reducing greenhouse gas emissions, energy dependence and energy prices, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States but can rather, by reasons of the scale of the action, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives.

(102)

In accordance with the Joint Political Declaration of 28 September 2011 of Member States and the Commission on explanatory documents (34), Member States have undertaken to accompany, in justified cases, the notification of their transposition measures with one or more documents explaining the relationship between the components of a directive and the corresponding parts of national transposition instruments. With regard to this Directive, the legislators consider the transmission of such documents to be justified, in particular following the judgment of the European Court of Justice in Case Commission vs Belgium (35) (case C-543/17).

(103)

In order to offset the regulatory burdens introduced by this Directive on citizens, administrations and undertakings, the Commission should review the regulatory framework in the sectors concerned in line with the ‘one in, one out’ principle, as set out in the Commission communication of 29 April 2021, entitled ‘Better Regulation: Joining forces to make better laws’,

(1)

in Article 2, the second paragraph is amended as follows:

(2)

Article 3 is amended as follows:

(3)

Article 7 is amended as follows:

(4)

Article 9 is amended as follows:

(5)

Article 15 is amended as follows:

(6)

the following articles are inserted:

(*12)  Directive 2014/89/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 establishing a framework for maritime spatial planning (OJ L 257, 28.8.2014, p. 135)."

(*13)  Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora (OJ L 206, 22.7.1992, p. 7)."

(*14)  Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 on the conservation of wild birds (OJ L 20, 26.1.2010, p. 7)."

(*15)  Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy (OJ L 327, 22.12.2000, p. 1)."

(*16)  Directive 2001/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 June 2001 on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment (OJ L 197, 21.7.2001, p. 30)."

(*17)  Directive 2011/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment (OJ L 26, 28.1.2012, p. 1).’;"

(7)

Article 16 is replaced by the following:

(8)

in Article 18, paragraphs 3 and 4 are replaced by the following:

(9)

Article 19 is amended as follows:

(10)

in Article 20, paragraph 3 is replaced by the following:

(11)

the following Article is inserted:

(*18)  Regulation (EU) 2018/858 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on the approval and market surveillance of motor vehicles and their trailers, and of systems, components and separate technical units intended for such vehicles, amending Regulations (EC) No 715/2007 and (EC) No 595/2009 and repealing Directive 2007/46/EC (OJ L 151, 14.6.2018, p. 1).’;"

(12)

the following articles are inserted:

(*19)  Commission Recommendation (EU) 2021/2279 of 15 December 2021 on the use of the Environmental Footprint methods to measure and communicate the life cycle environmental performance of products and organisations (OJ L 471, 30.12.2021, p. 1).’;"

(13)

Article 23 is amended as follows:

(14)

Article 24 is amended as follows:

(15)

Article 25 is replaced by the following:

(16)

Article 26 is amended as follows:

(17)

Article 27 is replaced by the following:

(18)

Article 28 is amended as follows:

(19)

Article 29 is amended as follows:

(20)

the following Article is inserted:

(21)

Article 30 is amended as follows:

(22)

the following article is inserted:

(*21)  Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/996 of 14 June 2022 on rules to verify sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions saving criteria and low indirect land-use change-risk criteria (OJ L 168, 27.6.2022, p. 1).’;"

(23)

Article 33 is amended as follows:

(24)

Article 35 is amended as follows:

(25)

the Annexes are amended in accordance with the Annexes to this Directive.

(1)

Article 2 is amended as follows:

(2)

in Article 4, point (a)(2) is replaced by the following:

(3)

in Article 5, paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:

(4)

in Article 29, paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:

(1)

Article 1 is replaced by the following:

(2)

in Article 2, points 8 and 9 are replaced by the following:

(*25)  Directive (EU) 2018/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (OJ L 328, 21.12.2018, p. 82).’;"

(3)

Article 4 is amended as follows:

(4)

Articles 7a to 7e are deleted;

(5)

Article 9 is amended as follows:

(6)

Annexes I, II, IV and V are amended in accordance with Annex II to this Directive.