MEPs gear up for COP29 climate negotiations

MEPs gear up for COP29 climate negotiations

MEPs gear up today for COP29 climate negotiations.
This morning, the Parliament's Environment Committee is busy with global climate talks. MEPs will meet to shape the EU’s negotiating position ahead of COP29 in Azerbaijan from 11 to 22 November.
With a firm eye on China, parliamentarians are determined to make the country assume its climate finance responsibilities. Nikolaus J. Kurmayer has the story.
It’s D-Day – i.e. Draghi Day
The former Italian Prime Minister’s much-anticipated competitiveness report is expected today.
While the contents have largely remained under wraps, it is worth recalling his sneak preview in an April speech entitled 'Radical Change - Is What Is Needed'.
In that speech, Draghi emphasised the importance of a clear strategy for energy-intensive industries, the challenge posed by global cleantech competitors, and the need for more public goods – like power grids and a single energy market.
These topics then came up repeatedly during the June election campaigns and again during Ursula von der Leyen’s successful re-appointment bid, to the extent that Draghi's points are starting to feel less 'radical' and more 'business as usual'.
So, if his report underwhelms today, maybe it is because he has already won the debate – at least on energy and climate.
Nature protection reality check
Life under the sea was meant to be one of the big winners of the Green Deal – the EU introduced a target to protect 30% of the bloc’s sea areas by 2030.
But Hugo Struna reports on a new study that finds mining, dredging, and bottom trawling are still options in areas formally labelled ‘marine protected areas’.
Nuclear tension in Czechia
Paul Messad and Aneta Zachová report on how key American and French nuclear developers are joining forces in Czechia to take on a South Korean rival.
Green steel obligatory
Von der Leyen promised 'lead markets' for key cleantech industries in her re-election pitch to the European Parliament.
Europe's steel industry took note – and wants the construction and car-making sectors to be forced to buy their green steel. Jonathan Packroff dives into the issue.
Next Energy Commissioner?
Finally, an initial allocation of Commission portfolios emerged this week. It was no surprise to see Czech nominee Jozef Síkela pegged as likely Energy Commissioner and Spanish nominee Teresa Ribera lined up for a senior ‘climate czar’ role.
Síkela has not been shy in pushing for the energy position – read our August piece on his qualifications for the role.

Flamanville nuclear reactor produces. After 17 years of building, including five years of delays, Electricité de France (EDF) announced that the 57th French nuclear reactor produced its first electrons on the evening of Monday, 2 September.
The stability of the facility's nuclear fission reaction is being tested. First power from the 1,600 MW reactor – initially expected in September – will now not be injected into the grid before the end of the year. [Paul Messad]
Putin arrives in Mongolia, key link in planned gas pipeline to China. On Tuesday 3 September, Russian President Vladimir Putin made an official visit to Mongolia, where he was due to meet his Mongolian counterpart Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh.
The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the ‘Power of Siberia 2’ gas pipeline project, which will transport around 50 billion cubic metres of gas a year to China via Mongolia. The pipeline is intended to compensate for the loss of gas sales to Europe since the start of the war in Ukraine. [Nathan Canas]
Brussels greenlights €200 million to expand crucial port for German wind industry. The port of Cuxhaven, Germany's main entry point for wind turbines made elsewhere, will receive €200 million in government support as it aims to establish an additional terminal. A hundred million euros in investment will come from the port authority, and the expansion will be operational from 2028.
The port’s expansion is a long-held desire of the German wind lobby group BWE, who said, “The Energiewende depends on Cuxhaven” in April. This is because the country’s onshore expansion relies completely on imports of turbine parts so large that only the port located in Lower Saxony can land them. [Nikolaus J. Kurmayer]
Latvian airline airBaltic wants to raise €300 million in the stock market. The move will reduce the state's stake in the company from 97.97% to 25%, the Latvian government announced on Friday (30 August).
To cut public spending while allowing the airline to expand, "airBaltic will turn to the international financial markets – and local markets – to raise new funds," Martin Gauss, airBaltic Chairman and CEO, said during a press conference on 3 September.
Transport Minister Briškens said that a continued significant state stake in airBaltic would ensure that it remained based in Latvia and continued to provide jobs and pay taxes.
The Latvian airline was founded in 1995, making it one of the youngest airlines in Europe. [Nathan Canas]
EDF is raising its nuclear generation estimates. The French state-owned energy company EDF now estimates its production will reach 340 to 360 TWh in 2024. Previously, these figures (if there is a more technical term, please replace figures with it) were estimated to reach between 315 and 345 TWh of power. In 2023, production amounted to 320 TWh.
The French electricity transmission network RTE estimates that EDF should be aiming for 400 TWh in the next few years but acknowledges that maintaining an output of around 360 TWh by 2030-2035 is a "prudent and achievable" assumption. [Paul Messad]
EU pays Russia another €500 million for fossil fuels. From 19 to 25 August, EU countries imported more than €500 million in fossil fuels from Russia, more than half of which was pipeline-bound natural gas, alongside a sizable chunk of LNG, according to research by the Centre for Research on Clean Energy and Air (CREA). [Nikolaus J. Kurmayer]

PRAGUE. Czech lawmakers in the European Parliament have made it clear that they oppose the candidacy of Spanish candidate Teresa Ribera for the role of European commissioner responsible for the climate agenda. Read more.

MADRID. Hungarian consortium withdraws Spanish trainmaker bid after Madrid blocks purchase. Hungarian consortium Ganz-MaVag withdrew its €619 million bid for Spanish trainmaker Talgo on Friday, just days after Madrid blocked the acquisition on national security grounds. Read more.

PRAGUE. Czechia renews calls to postpone EU anti-deforestation law. The Czech Agriculture Ministry has asked the European Commission to delay the application of the EU’s new anti-deforestation law, arguing that its impact on businesses is unclear. Read more.

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[Edited by Martina Monti]

The Green Brief is run by Donagh Cagney, Nikolaus J. Kurmayer, Paul Messad, Nathan Canas and Bárbara Machado.