"27 percent of energy to be from renewable sources by 2020"

And our goal is to be using 27 percent of renewable energy by 2020, Antic said on Monday, Beta agency reported.

He told the Energy and Climate Change conference, organized by the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences, that Serbia's contribution to the fight against climate change should be strong, but sustainable in terms of economic capacity.

"The fight against climate change is taking place in a situation where neither Serbia's energy bottom line, or the ratio of available energy sources are great.

In order to take in the challenges ahead, it is necessary to start from where Serbian energy is today and to develop it even more in future," Antic said.

According to him, Serbia's global share in greenhouse emissions is only 0.13 percent because it is not an industrially developed country and has little impact on global pollution.

He said EU goals in reducing greenhouse emissions were very ambitious, predicting reductions of 80 to 95 percent by 2050 compared to 1990.

The EU also plans to increase the use of renewable energy sources by 2050 to 75 percent, or 97 percent when it comes to power.

"The production of electrical energy in our country relies most on coal around 65 percent of energy comes from thermal power plants," the minister said, adding that some EUR 300 million had been invested in thermal power plants in Serbia in recent years.

"Serbia is entitled to use coal as its most important resource, but responsibly and in line with the highest environmental standards," Antic said.