IATE Term of the Week: Clean Energy

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It’s only just begun, but 2018 is looking brighter for the future of the planet: this year will probably be the one in which the Clean Energy Package, a series of measures outlined by the European Commission to enable the EU to deliver on its Paris Agreement commitments, will be agreed upon by the Parliament and Council, therefore finally becoming a reality for our Union.     In the plenary session held at the Parliament in Strasbourg last week, the MEPs voted on three important aspects of the Clean Energy Package: the Energy Efficiency Directive, the Renewable Energy Directive and the Governance of the Energy Union. The vote established the EP position on EU energy goals; the matter is now to be discussed in the trilogue.    According to all these facts, we decided to pick “clean energy” as current Term of the Week; as shown in the table, the term is covered by almost all official European languages.

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In IATE the term “clean energy” is defined as “all types of non-polluting energy including, but not limited to, renewable energy”. Despite the definition, we decided to focus this article on renewable energies; this is because last week the Parliament has set a new, ambitious target for cleaner and more efficient energy use. Binding targets will be negotiated with EU ministers to boost energy efficiency by 35%, and the share of renewable sources in the total energy mix by 35% by 2030; the previous goal was set to a 30% energy efficiency target to be reached by 2030. This agreement was reached with 492 votes to 88 and 107 abstentions; the choice is due to some studies predicting that the current target, supported by the European Council and Commission, would be too low to meet the EU’s commitments under the Paris climate agreement. To meet these overall targets, EU member states are asked to set their own national targets to be monitored and achieved in line with a draft law on the governance of the Energy Union.

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Overall, the proposals are aimed at providing a strong market pull for new technologies, to set the right conditions for investors, to empower consumers, to make energy markets more efficient and to help us meet our climate targets.

You might also be interested in these environment-related articles and Terms of the Week:    

  Enjoy your terminology learning and have a nice weekend!


MEPs set ambitious targets for cleaner, more efficient energy use, press release, available here (accessed on January 25, 2018)

  • European Commission communication, official website, available here (accessed on January 24, 2018)
  • European Commission communication, official website, available here (accessed on January 25, 2018)
  • European Commission communication, official website, available here (accessed on January 25, 2018)

Written by Carolina Quaranta – Schuman Trainee at the Terminology Coordination Unit of the European Parliament. Completed a Master in Public and Political Communication in the University of Torino, Italy; communication specialist and journalist.