BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union is overhauling its energy strategy in a way that should put it on track for a 25 percent cut to greenhouse gases by the end of this decade, smashing its own 20 percent target, EU sources say.
The move will be achieved not via a new headline TARGET (TGT.NY)for carbon cuts, but through rigorous energy saving measures and low-cost tweaks to the carbon market, one of the sources said.
The EU's 27 leaders last week agreed to improve their enforcement of the EU's 20 percent energy efficiency strategy, after hearing they were on track to fall halfway short.
Next month energy commissioner Guenther Oettinger is expected to warn EU states that he will push for mandatory energy saving targets in 2012 if they do not improve their performance.
That will be backed by new research from EU climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard showing that the energy-efficiency strategy could boost carbon cuts, currently at 17 percent below the EU's baseline, to 25 percent below by 2020 -- way ahead of the official 20 percent goal.
Heavy industry, such as steel, has previously clashed with the Commission over its climate ambitions, fearing that rising ambitions might drive up the cost for buying carbon emissions permits from the EU's carbon market, known as the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
The new EU strategy is expected to have little impact on the costs of industry, and could actually save the average EU household 1,000 euros ($1,356) per month in avoided energy bills.
(Reporting by Pete Harrison, editing by Rex Merrifield)
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