A green revolution to make EU energy almost totally carbon-free by 2050 would generate 3 trillion euros ($3.9 trillion) in fuel savings, a report commissioned by environmental campaigners said.

The energy shift would already create around half a million extra jobs by 2020, researchers from German aerospace center DLR, which also specializes in energy and transport, found.

The European Union has legislated to ensure that 20 percent of the energy mix is green by 2020, as part of a set of three main environmental goals.

But it has yet to achieve agreement on binding targets beyond 2020, even though non-binding roadmaps have laid out the need for a virtually carbon-free electricity mix by 2050.

Commissioned by Greenpeace and the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC), the 2012 Energyevolution report lays out steps towards almost carbon-free energy. They include curbing energy demand through greater efficiency, increasing investment in wind and solar power and phasing out subsidies for carbon-intensive energy, such as coal.

via Green energy would save EU trillions by 2050: report | Reuters.