EU Member States have inadvertently supported with their own subsidies the renewable energy targets of other Member States, a practice that violates EU internal market rules, explains Kim Talus at UEF Law School. He looks at how Denmark subsidised Danish biomethane producers who exported to Sweden, where Swedish consumers were benefitting from subsidies already. This promoted Danish biomethane producers at the expense of rivals. In December 2022 … [Read more...]
Germany, Italy + 10 others not on track to meet their 2030 climate targets, costing them €billions in carbon credits
12 EU countries are on track to miss their 2030 national climate targets by a large margin, according to a study by T&E. That means they will have to buy carbon credits on such a large scale there will be few left for others to buy their way out of missing their own targets (leaving them facing court cases). Germany and Italy are the two worst performing countries, with France on track by a very close margin. Germany will have to pay … [Read more...]
Carbon Pricing annual receipts are almost $100bn globally and rising
About one-quarter of global emissions are, to varying degrees, covered by carbon pricing schemes. They’ve raised over $500bn from polluters to date. Andrew Reid at NorthStone Advisers, writing for IEEFA, summarises his report which says the annual amount raised, now almost $100bn, is set to increase with two-thirds of nations planning to use carbon pricing in their Nationally Defined Contributions. And the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism … [Read more...]
Digitalisation of the Energy sector: are Utilities hiring the skilled workers they now need?
Like many other sectors, the energy sector needs employees with digital skills. They need to create the new tools that can match power supply with demand, predict and detect faults in networks, and give greater control to consumers. It’s an essential part of the new world of decarbonisation, with digitalisation enabling the faster integration of renewables, improving grid stability and unlocking greater energy savings. Aloys Nghiem, Marc … [Read more...]
The EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism still has 5 serious flaws
Taxing carbon at the border is a lot more complicated than you may think, explains James Bushnell at the Energy Institute at Haas. The EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) imposes a tax on imported goods that is designed to reflect the carbon content of those goods. But CBAM has flaws that must be addressed. It taxes the carbon in imported inputs supplied to EU producers, but not the carbon of those same inputs if they are imported as … [Read more...]
June deadline for EU nations’ NECPs: will this year’s plans show they’re taking the climate seriously?
On June 30th, EU Member States have to submit the final revision of their updated National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) to the European Commission. NECPs specify their climate and energy targets and trajectories up to 2030, with an outlook to 2040 and the longer term. NECPs must also feature the policies and measures planned to achieve these targets, as well as their funding needs and sources. But, as Federico Mascolo at CAN Europe explains, … [Read more...]
After the EU elections: what should be Europe’s energy and climate priorities for 2024-29?
After June’s European Parliament elections the new Commission will be tasked with setting the agenda for EU energy and climate policy. What should its priorities be? Maciej Jakubik at Forum Energii summarises their paper that sets out six. Energy security, improving access to data and therefore planning, energy market reforms and grid development, protecting and supporting vulnerable citizens, establishing an Energy Transformation Fund, global … [Read more...]
Analysis of Clean Technology Manufacturing around the world: solar PV, wind, batteries, electrolysers, heat pumps
For every nation, clean technology manufacturing can bring economic security, employment, and resilience to clean energy transitions, says the IEA. The sector is now so significant that it’s also impacting overall GDP performance: in 2023, clean technology manufacturing alone accounted for around 4% of global GDP growth and nearly 10% of global investment growth. Here, the IEA summarises its first-of-its-kind “Energy Technology Perspectives … [Read more...]
EU Elections 2024: the Green Deal is being sidelined. What can be done?
In the run-up to the EU elections this June, Andrea Renda at CEPS, writing for IDDRI, says the Green Deal is being ousted from the public debate. Protests against important elements of the Green Deal – including environmental regulations, wind and solar farm installations, a ban on combustion engines – are being used by populists to scare mainstream politicians away from openly championing Europe’s green and clean energy ambitions. Proponents of … [Read more...]
EU Carbon Prices halved in a year. But they should rise again
European carbon allowances (EUAs) are trading at around €60/t. One year ago, it was at an all-time high of €100/t. Hæge Fjellheim at Veyt explains why, and why prices should recover. Economically, the drop is due to two main factors: lower gas prices and shrinking energy demand from industry. Politically, additional supply of EUAs came from the EU’s REPowerEU plan to accelerate the energy transition and break dependency on Russian gas by partly … [Read more...]
Two years on, how is Russia’s invasion of Ukraine driving energy security and decarbonisation?
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has boosted anxiety and therefore action on energy security and dependence on oil and gas. Sanctioning Russian oil and gas imports is an opportunity to replace fossil fuels with low or no carbon alternatives, an opportunity that is being taken. And renewables like wind and solar are by their nature local and therefore good for energy security (though with notable exceptions). Charles Hendry, Ellen Wald, Olga Khakova, … [Read more...]
The link between global GDP growth and CO2 emissions is weakening rapidly. Will emissions peak well before 2030?
Economic growth has been closely tied to rising greenhouse gas emissions since the industrial age. But data now clearly shows that that GDP growth and CO2 emissions are diverging. Siddharth Singh at the IEA presents the numbers. In advanced economies that divergence now seems locked in, with 2007 marking the moment of peak emissions (and not simply because of offshoring manufacturing). Even in developing economies GDP growth is far outpacing … [Read more...]
EU ETS or national climate targets? We need both
The choice between using the EU ETS or national climate targets to decarbonise is a false dilemma. We need both, explains Chiara Corradi at T&E writing for the Florence School of Regulation. There are plenty of examples where a carbon market and national targets have delivered good results together, as in Germany, Finland, Denmark and Portugal. And, looking ahead over the next few decades, the right policies should be able to cope with ETS … [Read more...]
U.S. and EU: vastly different approaches to trade and climate put a transatlantic deal at risk
Uncertainty over the results of this year’s elections in the U.S. and the EU have effectively postponed trade deals between the two blocks. That means when talks restart in 2025 there will be even less time to find the best compromises. As Gautam Jain, Noah Kaufman, Chris Bataille and Sagatom Saha at the Center on Global Energy Policy explain, it’s why this time should be taken to better understand the differences and lay out the possible … [Read more...]
EU Elections 2024: the Green Deal can be an emblem of what Europe is for
It’s a European election year, which means all of us - not just the politicians and policy-makers – need to get our heads around what the EU is for. SĂ©bastien Treyer at the IDDRI lays out the challenges faced in a moment of climate crises, war and high inflation, when voters are prone to polarisation and manipulation. He asks the difficult questions over economic security, inequalities between Member States, global influence, engagement with … [Read more...]
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