UK Faces Large Increase in Renewable Targets from EU

The EU is expected to announce next week that the UK must greatly increase its use of renewable energy in order to reach increased targets by 2020.
The European Union is sponsoring different target rates for each of its different member states.  For the average EU country, the goal is to reach 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.  The typical EU member receives 8.5 percent of its energy from sustainable sources currently.
The UK currently ranks near the bottom of the list of countries that exploit renenewable resources.  Malta and Luxembourg are the only countries that use less renewable sources.  The target goal of 20 percent was agreed upon by Jacques Chirac and Tony Blair in March 2007.
The new target means that Britain will have to increase renewable use to 13-14 per cent by 2020, although the agreement has yet to be passed by member states.  The UK has an interim target of ten percent of its electricity should be derived from renewable targets by 2010.
The country by country targets are expected to be highly contentious.  Nicolas Sarkozy has commented that the targets are unfair and not economically sustainable.
The UK is expected to focus on renewable electricity generation. Any new goals for the UK could increase political support for a tidal barrage across the Severn Estuary.