Energy, Environment & Transport Pro Brief

Mon 4 November 2024 | View online
Estimated reading time: 4-5 minutes

Good morning

And welcome toMonday 4 November’s daily Energy, Environment and Transport Pro Brief.

It’s Commissioner hearing week! We’ll be closely following the key sessions.

First up - Transport Commissioner hopeful Apostolos Tzitzikostas. Below we dig into his past and the issues he’ll face in Parliament this evening.

And be sure to follow our live blog of his hearinghere - it all kicks off at 18:30 CET.

Here are our other top stories for the day:

The multi-billion EU fund which could fix Europe’s power billsBrussels bubble divided by 'technology neutrality' principleCOP16 ends abruptly with key decisions outstandingNGOs to Hoekstra: Shut out fossil fuel lobbyists from COP29Podcast: EPP power play and the Commissioner hearings

We’re extending your free trial of Euractiv Pro until 15 November! But be sure to reach out before then to continue your subscription.

🟡Agenda

Monday 04/11

Tuesday 05/11

Wednesday 06/11

Thursday 07/11

Friday 08/11

🟡Commissioner hearings

Incoming transport commissioner Tzitzikosta faces MEPs today

Greek Apostolos Tzitzikosta will face MEPs from the Parliament’s Transport Committee at 18:30 today.

The shrewd political operator, who goes by ‘Tzitzi’, has long been building up to this day.

Bárbara Machado charts how Tzitzikosta carefully cultivated networks and personal popularity at a local, national and EU level over the past years, and explains why the Greek Prime Minister might be happy to see Tzitzi’s attention focused on Brussels, rather than Athens.

Euractiv will be live blogging Tzitzikostas' hearing from 18:30 CET - you can follow here.

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🟡Grids

The multi-billion EU fund which could fix Europe’s power bills

Today Nikolaus J. Kurmayer drills into the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), which may just be in for a major funding boost, once EU budget discussions are wrapped up.

In the 2010s, the EU created the CEF to physically tie together the transport and energy networks of its member countries. Initially equipped with almost €50 billion, the CEF was cut down to some €30 billion due to austerity, and then down to €20 billion.

Currently, it can spend around €6 billion.

But boosting grid connections between EU countries is again becoming a political priority – this time to slash electricity bills.

The fund may therefore finally be in line for more money, rather than less, as Brussels gears up for the 2025 negotiations on the long-term budget (MFF).

Think-tank Bruegel says a better-connected grid across countries will make power cheaper and more stable. Advice from recent reports authored by Italy’s Letta and Draghi points in the same direction.

The Balts have emerged as the biggest champion of more interconnection spending.

“We have had a good experience with the Connecting Europe Facility, and we would like to see a funding instrument based on similar principles continue in the next MFF,” said Estonia’s minister for climate, Yoko Alender, speaking at a mid-October meeting of European energy ministers in Luxembourg.

Belgium is also throwing its weight behind the drive.

“I have indicated many times that the Connecting Europe Facility is a very effective instrument, but it is severely underfunded,” said Belgium's energy minister, Tinne Van der Straeten, at the same meeting.

However few other countries are willing to take a stance so early.

One EU diplomat explained that any discussion of funding for CEF would be part of the MFF negotiations, which are a “complex puzzle which still has to be laid out.”

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🟡 Have your say

Brussels bubble divided by 'technology neutrality' principle

The Brussels bubble is is deeply divided on the ‘technology neutrality’ principle, according to an informal polling of Euractiv readers last week.

Stakeholders’ opinions on the usefulness of the principle were split – either they thought the principle was very useful for EU policymaking, or not at all.

Companies and industry associations gave the principle a 'usefulness' score of 6.4 out of 10.

In contrast, NGOs are far more skeptical. They gave the concept an average usefulness score of just 2 out of 10, with none rating it above 5.

Benjamin Krieger, secretary general of the car parts supplier association CLEPA, robustly defends the technology neutrality approach. He calls it “a fundamental principle in a market economy,” and insists it should be preserved.

The Methanol Institute supports the principle because the challenges of the energy transition are “multifaceted,” and “no single solution can tackle all aspects of the problem.”

On the other hand, Anke Herold, director at the Oeko Institut, warns against technology neutrality.

He says that he “had many meetings with scientists from China,” who “talk about technology priorities, not about technology neutrality.”

NGO Food and Water Action Europe distrusts how the technology neutrality term is used in policymaking, saying that the concept is becoming “increasingly synonymous with technologies that protect a fossil fuel status quo.”

German MEP Jens Gieseke (EPP) robustly defended technology neutrality, and linked it to the recent experiences of European carmakers.

He says that "our engineers will know better than some green and left politicians in Brussels how to reach climate neutrality” and that there is “no need to forbid the combustion engine if it runs on climate-neutral fuels.”

Check out the full breakdown of responses in the longer article.

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🟡 Nature

COP16 ends abruptly with key decisions outstanding

Two weeks of global biodiversity talks ended abruptly on Saturday.

After a 10-hour debate the final plenary session was suspended as the talks lacked the necessary quorum to make decisions, due to country delegates heading back home.

“(T)his outcome jeopardizes the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Nobody should be okay with this – because it will impact us all,” said Kirsten Schuijt, Director General at WWF International in a press release.

With this sudden end, crucial decisions were not made on the establishment of a new biodiversity fund, nor the setting of a progress monitoring framework. These and other discussions should be resumed next year at intersessional talks.

The final number of submitted national biodiversity strategies remains at just 44 out of 196.

Nevertheless, 119 countries submitted revised national targets.

On a positive note, the parties reached an agreement on the implementation of the ‘Cali Fund’ - a fund for sharing the benefits of genetic resources.

Delegates also agreed to better align climate and biodiversity agendas - specifically national biodiversity strategies and the Paris Agreement’s climate ‘Nationally Determined Contributions’ climate targets. [BM]

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🟡 Climate

NGOs to Hoekstra: Shut out fossil fuel lobbyists from COP29

This morning more than 100 civil society organisations have written an open letter to incoming climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra, calling on him to exclude fossil fuel industry representatives from the EU’s delegation to the COP29 global climate talks, due to kick off on 11 November.

Citing data from the Kick Big Polluters Out campaign, the NGOs say that the EU and national EU governments brought more than 130 fossil fuel lobbysts to last year’s COP28 talks in the UAE.

NGOs are trying to make it personal for the Dutchman, who will audition in front of MEPs tnext Thursday, and who previously worked for oil giant Shell.

The letter says that Hoekstra’s own Commission team brought senior representatives from BP, Eni and ExxonMobil to COP28 talks, and rhetorically asks whether the EU would bring tobacco lobbyists to a global health conference. [DC]

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Glacial progress on climate action in the North

Norway and Iceland, who with Switzerland and Liechtenstein comprise the EU’s extended ‘EFTA’ economic area, are not on track to cut their 2030 emissions by at least 40% relative to 1990 levels, warns the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) released on Thursday.

EU countries must reduce their 2030 emissions by 55%, but ESA can legally only check if EFTA countries will hit the lower 40% target.

Due to significant land use and transport emissions, Norway is on track to overshoot its targets by 8 percentage points, the report finds. Iceland is heading for a small overshoot , due to an insufficient reduction of transport emissions. [NK]

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EU’s emissions drop 8.3% in 2023

The EU’s total greenhouse gas emissions dropped by a whopping 8.3% last year, according to a new comprehensive report, released by the Commission on Thursday.

While emissions from aviation were up 9%, the power sector reduced its CO2 output by 24%. Even the EU’s natural environment increased its CO2 sequestration by 8.5%. European economic stagnation in 2023 also helped curb emissions.

“As we head off soon to COP29, we demonstrate to all that it is possible to take climate action and invest in growing our economy at the same time,” said Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra on X. [NK]

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🟡 Gas

EU gas stores are ready for the winter

European gas storage facilities are 95% full, according to the latest figures from Gas Infrastructure Europe. EU’s two largest reservoirs, Germany (251 TWh) and Italy (200 TWh), are 98% full.

The EU's storage capacity totals around 100 billion m3, covering a third of its annual gas consumption.

The EU is thus comfortably exceeding the 90% target it set itself following 2022 energy crisis. [PM]

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🟡 Across the Capitals

Czech competition office rejects EDF, Westinghouse nuclear complaint

Aneta Zachová and Paul Messad report on the latest development in EDF and Westinghouse’s efforts to overturn the award of a major nuclear power contract in Czechia to their South Korean rival KHNP.

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🟡 Podcast

Podcast: EPP power play and the Commissioner hearings

The European Parliament hearings of Commissioner-designates start today, and the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) seems to have the upper hand.

As the largest group in parliament, the EPP is poised to leverage its position to push through favoured candidates and ultimately shape both the composition and agenda of the incoming Commission.

To look into the hearings, host Evi Kiorri is joined by Euractiv's politics reporters Magnus Lund Nielsen and Nicoletta Ionta.

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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, Paul Messad, Nikolaus J.Kurmayer and Bárbara Machado. Share your feedback or information with us at [email protected].

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