European utilities urge EU to raise green energy targets

MILAN, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Some of Europe's top utilities have called the EU's green energy targets unambitious, urging the bar to be raised in the fight against climate change, a letter seen by Reuters on Monday said.

The letter, signed by six companies including Italy's Enel (Swiss: ENEL.SW - news) , Spain's Iberdrola (Amsterdam: ID6.AS - news) and Britain's SSE (LSE: SSE.L - news) , called for the current target of at least 27 percent of European Union energy consumption to come from renewable sources by 2030 to be raised to 35 percent.

"The proposed EU binding target of at least 27 percent ... lacks ambition and would slow-down the current rate of renewables deployment in the EU," the letter said.

The letter coincides with delegates meeting in Bonn on the first day of talks to try to bolster the Paris climate accord setting a goal of ending the fossil fuel era this century by shifting to renewable energies such as wind and solar.

The 2015 pact has been strained by President Donald Trump's plan to pull out and instead promote the U.S. coal and oil industries.

In the letter the utilities said the new target they proposed could be achieved through increased electrification of transport and heating sectors as well as "a redesigned electricity market fit for renewable".

Many of Europe's leading utilities have been downsizing their coal- and gas-fired power plant portfolios in recent years to focus more on renewable energy to meet changing consumption patterns. (Reporting by Stephen Jewkes, editing by David Evans)