Last March, the European Union's member countries agreed to a binding target to boost overall renewable energy use by 20% before 2020.

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During the New Energy Finance Conference, Stern said binding international treaties are unnecessary because only national laws and regulations ultimately prove binding.

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Later this year, they are hoping to launch a new climate and energy package that would set tough binding emissions reductions targets through 2030.

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Its strategy is determined by the UK's legally binding EU target of achieving 15% of total energy from renewable sources by 2020.

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These included an evaluation of whether voluntary agreements made by the energy companies in April should be "made binding" through legislation.

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In an energy-efficiency plan released with its road map, the commission talks of making the goals binding in 2013.

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Such a group could not impose legally binding directives on any country (especially not countries like France that are 75-percent reliant on domestic nuclear energy generation).

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