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Energy is crucial not only because of the scarcity of the
resources (the world energy mix is based on non-renewable
energy carriers), but also because of the environmental
concerns. Indeed, world environmental degradation is, to
a large extent, due to the effects of energy use and transformation.
The former issue (related to security of supply, stability
of prices and shock avoidance) has been in the past at the
focal point of the debate. The latter (associated first
to local environmental problems such as acid rain, but currently
also to the global greenhouse effect) is gaining importance.
Europe at night (from Defense Meteorological
Satellite Program - Operational Linescan System). 
The Energy, Transport, and Climate Change group of IPTS
focuses on a number of activities around these issues, always
with the main goal of supporting environmental-protection
policies promoted by the EC in the framework of the Sustainable
Development Strategy adopted in the European
Council of Gothenburg 2001 as well as to reinforce EC
Energy policy (EU
implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, in particular
the EU
Emission Trading scheme, and follow-up of the Green
Paper on Security of Energy Supply):
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Support to the European policymakers by providing an analysis
of the possible contributions from technologies on the supply
and demand side:
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to reduce the primary energy external dependency of
the EU under various policy-relevant scenarios, and
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to fulfill the EU international obligations on environmental
protection, including compliance with the Kyoto Protocol
to reduce CO2 emissions.
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Provision of a description of the main energy technology
developments expected to occur up to 2030 and beyond, together
with a comprehensive economic assessment.
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