Although there is a fairly strong consensus amongst the players when remote time horizons are involved (cf. ‘’factor 4’’ – F4 - by 2050), said consensus tends to weaken when shorter horizons supposedly geared to implementing factor 4, like the “3x20” in 2020, are considered and is virtually non-existent when it comes to establishing next year’s budget (the energy-climate tax for 2010 is a good example of this). In fact, such overlapping time frames raise a number of issues and lead to confusion.

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