The European Commission Tuesday adopted a roadmap for transforming the European Union into a competitive low carbon economy by 2050.

At the same time, the Commission said if business continues as usual, the EU will achieve only half its target of 20 percent improvement in energy efficiency above 2005 levels by 2020.

The roadmap describes what the Commission calls "the cost-effective pathway" to reach the EU's objective of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80-95 percent of 1990 levels by 2050. But environmentalists warn that deeper emissions cuts must be made much earlier, at least 40 percent by 2020 to avoid dangerous climate change.

The Commission today also adopted an energy efficiency plan it said would strengthen Europe's competitiveness and reduce energy dependence, while decreasing the level of emissions. Over the past two decades, emissions have gone down by 16 percent, and the EU economy has grown by 40 percent over the same period.

European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said, "Despite progress, our estimates show that we need a further decisive and coordinated action on energy efficiency, without which the EU will not meet its objective of 20 percent energy savings by 2020."

The energy efficiency plan proposes a new binding target requiring governments to refurbish at least three percent of their buildings each year and introduces energy efficiency criteria in public procurement.

It encourages energy efficiency renovations for private buildings and upgrades in energy performance of appliances, industrial equipment, power and heat generation.