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Energy, Environment & Transport Pro Brief |
| Wed 16 October 2024 | View online
Estimated reading time: 4-5 minutes |
| Good morning , And welcome toWednesday 15 October’s daily Energy, Environment and Transport Pro Brief.
This morning we present Wopke Hoekstra’s ‘cheat sheet’ – the 120 page briefing that the incoming climate commissioner will be banking on, to survive his 7 November grilling by MEPs.
Meanwhile his likely future colleagues, nuclear-skeptics Teresa Ribera and Dan Jørgensen, will be delighted to learn that pro-nuclear states are coordinating with MEPs, ahead of their own turn in the hot seat.
Finally, the IEA is bullish on electrification rates, in a new report out this morning.
Here are our other top stories for the day: German Industries’ Climate Congress: ‘We are on a path to defeat’Green cement advocates push for EU market rules updateCommission: Get serious on NECPs, or elsePro-nuclear EU states urge massive policy overhaulNGO claims Commission backing in Norwegian fjord legal battleExisting PPA templates are fit for purpose, ACER concludes |
| | Hoekstra’s prep notes for his Parliament audition |
| Euractiv has obtained a briefing note for the incoming Commissioner for Climate, Net-Zero and Clean Growth Wopke Hoekstra, ahead of his hearing before the European Parliament on 7 November.
The undated document was prepared by officials in the European Commission's Directorate-General for Climate.
The briefing contains background details and suggested responses to 120 anticipated questions from MEPs.
The full story is on our website, with a copy of the document. It also highlights some of the more interesting lines that Hoekstra is advised to take, on everything from geo-engineering, ‘bad’ landlords to pink hydrogen and missing NECPs.
Commission services also have guidance on what Hoekstra should reveal – or not reveal – if asked about his own personal carbon footprint. [DC] |
| Pro-nuclear states and MEPs team up for Commissioner hearings |
| The next meeting of the Nuclear Alliance, will dial in the more than 120 MEPs who also support nuclear, French Energy Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher told the press. Pannier-Runacher was speaking in Luxembourg at the end of yesterday’s (15 October) meeting of pro-nuclear EU countries.
The MEPs are part of an informal group in the European Parliament, which is led by French MEP Christophe Grudler (Renew).
The meeting is scheduled “in the coming days or weeks,” according to her office.
Dan Jørgensen and Teresa Ribera, the respective incoming commissioners for energy and the clean transition, will be interested to hear that the nuclear ‘alliance of alliances’ will coordinate ahead of the Parliament’s grilling of commissioners in November. Both have historically been sceptical of nuclear energy. [PM] |
| | Germany grants billions for climate-friendly industry projects |
| At an event in Berlin yesterday German Economics Minister Robert Habeck announced the 15 companies which will receive a total of €2.8 billion, to help them convert to climate-friendly production methods.
Winners came from mainly from six industries: chemical, cellulose and paper, heat, gypsum, metallurgy and glass, and ceramics.
The ministry highlighted the selection of several hydrogen-based projects, all of which were part of the ‘hydrogen core grid’ across Germany, due to be completed in 2032.
Jasper Steinlein was present at the consequential announcement, which gives fresh insight into Europe’s next industrial decarbonisation steps, and which was described by Habeck as a "a rocket launch.” |
| German Industries’ Climate Congress: ‘We are on a path to defeat’ |
| The Federation of German Industries (BDI) kicked off its climate congress in Berlin yesterday within 1,000m of the economy ministry, and at the exact same time as Economy Minister Robert Habeck was announcing a €2.8 billion payment to decarbonising German companies.
But none of Habeck’s optimism spilt over.
“The situation is critical (…) we are on a path to defeat,” Siegfried Russwurm warned in his opening speech. Russwurm is the president of the umbrella organisation representing 100,000 German companies.
He said that “the rest of the world will not follow suit on us,” and calling for urgent investments and policy reforms. The sentiment was echoed throughout the packed auditorium in Berlin-Mitte and in subsequent interventions from industry leaders.
Russwurm also commented on the Carbon Contracts. In an interview with Berlin public radio RBB Inforadio, he deemed the auction program a “good idea” but “incredibly complicated.” [JS] |
| Green cement advocates push for EU market rules update |
| In order to sell construction products in the Union’s single market, producers must confirm to set standards, if they want their product category to be recognised.
When it comes to cement, responsible for about 4% of EU CO2 emissions, reforming the standard has proven thorny for advocates of more sustainable products. Incumbents cement suppliers wish to preserve a narrow definition – which keeps out greener products.
Twenty-three groups this morning (16 October) sent a letter, seen by Euractiv, which urges the European Commission “to stay committed to the development of a technology-neutral and performance-based approach to cement standardisation in Europe.”
European cement standards allow for higher clinker contents than elsewhere, driving up its emission intensity. The groups say the EU should tighten its clinker content allowances.
“Performance-based cement standards are the only ones capable of offering an agile and technology neutral framework,” the letter adds. [NK] |
| | IEA: Brave new electric world upon us |
| In its annual World Energy Outlook released today, the International Energy Agency (IEA), is predicting countries will add each year at minimum “the equivalent of Japanese demand to global electricity use.”
Compared to last year’s edition, the IEA now sees global power demand in 2035 6% higher, “driven by light industrial consumption, electric mobility, cooling, and data centres and AI.”
The IEA is also expecting 24% more solar in 2030, compared to last year’s forecast, and 54% more batteries.
The report paints a picture of medium-term fragility in global oil and gas markets, due to ongoing conflicts in the Middle East near the Strait of Hormuz, where 20% of global shipments must pass through.
The Paris-based agency also wonders who will buy the incoming LNG supply glut.
“An increase of nearly 50% in global LNG export capacity is on the horizon, led by the United States and Qatar, but the prices that many suppliers need to recover their investments may not entice developing economies to switch to natural gas at scale: something has to give,” the report states. [NK] |
| Renewed push on biofuels fraud |
| In the ongoing issue of imported, potentially fraudulent biofuels, EU countries have long pushed for Brussels to boost surveillance and certification efforts.
After Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and Ireland raised the issue at yesterday’s Energy Council, Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson announced that a new working group of member states, which will operate under the committee on the sustainability of biofuels, bio-liquids and biomass fuels.
While the industry welcomed the move, it is also betting on a parallel scheme operational since January – the EU’s biofuel database (UDB).
“Our members are investing a significant amount of resources to be compliant with this system and we expect that once it becomes operational it will bring a new era of transparency and traceability to the EU biofuels markets,” said biofuel industry association EWABA. [NK] |
| Commission: Get serious on NECPs, or else |
| With 14 of 27 long-term climate plans (NECPs) still not submitted, Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson threatened the laggards – mostly Eastern European countries, but also Spain – with legal action, as part of either the October or November infringement packages.
“Several ministers presented me with indicative timelines after that,” she told journalists in Luxembourg after the energy ministers’ meeting on Tuesday.
NECPs are key as they provide a reference document for the international climate community – and are the definitive way for Brussels to track whether the EU is on track towards its climate goals. [NK] |
| | Pro-nuclear EU states urge massive policy overhaul |
| During yesterday’s meeting of the Nuclear Alliance in Luxembourg, 10 states - France, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden, Romania, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Slovenia and Bulgaria - called on the EU to no longer 'discriminate' against nuclear power, in existing or future European texts or funds.
According to Alliance members, nuclear power must be “duly integrated into the forthcoming proposals” from the EU Commission, such as the Clean Industrial Deal, due within 100 days of the new Commission taking office.
The communiqué also calling for a “specific action plan, which should include an update of the Nuclear Illustrative Programme (PINC)”, a document which the Commission is legally mandated to periodically publish.
The document was last updated in 2016, and is designed to “stimulate action” and "facilitate coordinated development of their investment" in nuclear power, according to the European nuclear treaty Euratom.
Paul Messad followed the meeting, and noted the difference of approach, between the Nuclear ALliance and a parallel meeting of the ‘Friends of Renewables’ member states. |
| Parliament’s nuclear group: Far-right MEPs want in |
| Yesterday evening some thirty MEPs, from the far-right Patriots (PfE) for Europe and ECR groups, sent a letter to MEP Christophe Gruder, demanding to be let into his informal group of 120+ pro-nuclear MEPs.
The initiative was led by French MEP Aleksandar Nikolic MEP (PfE).
“As the Patriots for Europe Group is the third largest group in the European Parliament and represents millions of European voters, we feel it is necessary and desirable for it to take part in discussions between all the groups interested in defending the civil atom,” the letter read. [PM] |
| | NGO claims Commission backing in Norwegian fjord legal battle |
| Today, the EFTA Court will consider a legal case that NGO Friends of the Earth Norway has taken against the Norwegian state.
The dispute concerns the dumping of mining waste in Førdefjorden – a fjord on the country’s west coast. The EFTA Court, which has judicial authority on the EU’s agreement with Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, will determine whether the dumping violates the EU's Water Framework Directive.
According to the NGO, the EU Water Directive allows the dumping of mining waste, if the activity “is of overriding public interest.” However, the NGO claim the Norwegian government allowed the mining mainly because of the future profits for shareholders and employees, as well as the tax revenue for the public sector.
Friends of the Earth Norway is confident in this case, and cite opinions from the European Commission and the EFTA Surveillance Authority, which they say supports their case. [NC] |
| | Existing PPA templates are fit for purpose, ACER concludes |
| As part of the EU’s response to the 2022 energy crises, the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) investigated whether new templates were needed for voluntary power purchase agreement (PPA) contract.
PPAs are private contracts struck between energy buyers and sellers. Authorities prize them for their stabilising influence on electricity prices.
Yesterday, ACER stated that the existing templates were “largely sufficient for current market needs”, and suggested that “addressing critical market barriers, such as project development bottlenecks, would have a more meaningful impact on fostering the PPA market.” [JS] |
| French energy industry speak against proposed electricity tax hike |
| A proposed doubling of the excise duty on electricity would “call into question the industrial policy underlying the challenges of decarbonization” and would “weaken all the economic players,” according to 16 French energy associations and trade federations.
The statement came in a joint letter sent to MPs this morning, with signatories including the French electricity association (UFE), French hydrogen lobbyists and the renewables unions.
The letter comes as MPs today begin debating the government's budget proposal for 2025, which includes an increase in electricity taxes to around twice the current €21/MWh.
The majority of MP groupings have already voiced their opposition to the proposed hike – as have some members of the government, including Ecology and Energy Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher. The letter’s main purpose is to make sure these political opponents of the hike are well aware of “the position of the entire industry,” the UFE told Euractiv.
The French government is seeking to find €60 billion to reduce the country's public deficit, including €6 to €7 billion in revenue from an energy tax increase. [PM] |
| French Communist senator preparing two energy bills |
| The first proposal from Fabien Gay revives the idea of an integrated state energy company, bringing together the production, transport and distribution of gas and electricity. It will be debated in the coming weeks.
A €193 billion operation which could “be amortised in 7 to 10 years,” Gay said. But such a deal is likely to fall foul of European law. “We are France. We have to fight," the senator told Euractiv.
“It is an ideological battle, which then allows me to table a small text on the protection of [electricity] consumers,” Gay stated, adding that he thinks this second text “can enter into law.”
Gay told Euractiv that this second proposal, which has not yet been tabled, is being drafted in conjunction with the French energy regulator, alternative operators, consumer associations in particular.
He hopes for the text to be debated before the end of the year. [PM] |
| | | | | | | Today’s brief was brought to you by Euractiv’s Energy, Environment & Transport team |
| | | | | Today’s briefing was prepared by the Energy, Environment and Transport team: Donagh Cagney, Nathan Canas, Paul Messad, Nikolaus J.Kurmayer and Bárbara Machado, but not with the keen eyes of any proofreaders. Share your feedback or information with us at [email protected]. |
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