The overwhelming majority of countries in the world, including the European Union's 28 member states, have been striving for decades to lower their greenhouse gas emissions and shift to less harmful energy sources. With ample sunshine and wind resources, especially offshore, Portugal has long been onboard in fighting climate change and taking action domestically to be part of the solution.
Both EU-wide and national initiatives provide a carrot-and-stick approach to adaptation and innovation in energy use. Under the latest EU-wide directive, the bloc is obliged to ensure that at least 32% of its energy supply is generated by renewables by 2030, with each country mandated to draft 10-year National Energy & Climate Plans by the end of 2019, to ensure compliance by each state.
Under its previous government, which was intent on slashing costs to meet strict austerity targets, Portugal was off-track to meet its target for 2020 of producing 31% of its energy consumed through renewables. However, in
