Recently, Luxembourg set a new renewable energy target due to the Revised Directive EU/2023/2413,1 which is the legal framework for the development of clean energy across all sectors of the EU economy, supporting cooperation between EU countries toward this goal.
The Paris Agreement, which was unanimously adopted on 12 December 2015, established a new basis for global climate action. At the center of the Paris Agreement is the target of limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius compared to preindustrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Given the EU objectives set forth above in the “CO2 and energy targets” section, Luxembourg’s integrated national energy and climate plan (PNEC) for the period 2021-2030 was adopted in 2020. However, as part of the 2018-2023 coalition agreement, the government further decided to do its utmost to comply with the Paris Agreement and to take into account the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Against this background, the PNEC was duly amended to integrate the national energy and climate plan, defining the framework for Luxembourg’s energy and climate policy up to 2030.2
Luxembourg is likely to aim for a 35% renewable energy goal by 2030, up from the current 25% in the 2020 PNEC. Luxembourg met its 11% target in 2020 and reached 11.7% of renewable energy in its total energy consumption in 2021 according to Eurostat figures.3 This figure should be considered in the context of Luxembourg’s small size and the significant role of the transport sector, particularly fuel tourism, in its energy consumption.
Moreover, to encourage real estate investment projects aimed at producing electricity from renewable energy sources, the state may grant an incentive to private individuals, municipalities and municipal syndicates, companies, and associations, as set out in the GDR 7 April 2022 amended by the GDR of 24 February 2023.4
[2] Commission Recommendation (EU) 2024/631 of 18 December 2023.
[3] Statistics | Eurostat (europa.eu).
[4] Grand-Ducal Regulation of 24 February 2023 — Legilux (public.lu).