British officials have told government ministers that the country has no chance of meeting its commitments under European Union plans to raise the proportion of energy from renewable sources by 2020, a British daily reported.

Citing an internal briefing paper for ministers, The Guardian said officials believe that Britain can at most produce nine percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020 instead of the 20 percent targeted by the 27-nation bloc.

However Antonia Mochan, spokeswoman for EU Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik, said the 20 percent target had been agreed by all EU member states and that had not yet been cut up into individual national targets.

"What we have heard is people saying they will not be able to reach a target that hasn't been agreed on," she said.

"The UK government has never expressed doubts on the need of or the feasibility of these targets so at this stage we remain confident they will deliver on the commitments they have made and that they will make when the targets are broken down nationally".

According to the internal document cited by The Guardian, Britain is currently on pace to raise its proportion of renewable energy to five percent.

It estimates that raising the proportion to nine percent would cost four billion pounds (5.9 billion euros, 8.1 billion dollars).

It asks ministers to lobby their counterparts in France, Germany, Poland and Italy, as well as European commissioners, for some flexibility, and also suggests ministers examine "what options there are for statistical interpretations of the target that would make it easier to achieve."

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