The existing EU Gas Directive regulates issues pertaining to the transmission of gas from third countries to the Union, but is ambiguous. It can be interpreted in such a way that gas pipelines from these countries are not covered by EU energy regulations, leaving room for abuse. The European Commission’s proposal to clarify  the application of the Gas Directive to these pipelines is therefore to be welcomed, writes Szymon ZarÄ™ba, international … [Read more...]
The European Commission’s last-ditch effort to stop Nord Stream 2: how likely is it to succeed?
The European Commission’s proposal to extend the Gas Directive to so-called import pipelines is an obvious attempt to try to block Nord Stream 2, writes Karel Beckman, editor-in-chief of Energy Post. According to Beckman, it is not likely to succeed: the opposition to Nord Stream 2 is political in nature and cannot be stopped through legal means. (This article is part of a two-part response to the Commission’s proposal of 8 November to amend the … [Read more...]
How MEPs misuse energy poverty to water down efficiency legislation
On 28 November, the Industry committee of the European Parliament will deliver a crucial vote on the EU 2030 energy efficiency target. According to ClĂ©mence Hutin, who works for the Climate Justice and Energy Programme of Friends of the Earth Europe, there is cross-party support for an ambitious 40% target, but she warns that two key rapporteurs on the file are no friends of energy efficiency. Both, she says, have incorrectly argued that higher … [Read more...]
COP23: ramping up ambition
In a timely reminder for the national negotiators at the Climate conference in Bonn (COP23), PwC recently released their annual Low Carbon Economy Index, which showed yet again that current emission reduction plans for the global economy do not match the goal of the Paris Agreement, writes David Hone, Chief Climate Change Advisor at Shell. According to Hone, the task that confronts the negotiators is to turn the Agreement into a set of effective … [Read more...]
Lost in regulation: the EU and Nord Stream 2
The European Commission has proposed changing the Gas Market Directive to include import pipelines from third countries. This would make EU regulations, such as unbundling and third-party access rules, applicable to Nord Stream 2. According to Severin Fischer, Senior Researcher at the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zurich, the Commission’s approach to Gazprom’s pipeline project risks getting lost in legal inconsistencies. Fischer … [Read more...]
It is time for the UN climate process to tackle fossil fuels
The word “fossil fuels” does not appear in the Paris Climate Agreement, write Georgia Piggot and Peter Erickson of the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI). They call on leaders to start addressing not just greenhouse gas emissions, but coal, oil and gas production as well. Courtesy Climate Home News. … [Read more...]
What climate change policy puts America first?
The Trump Administration has ordered federal agencies to use a “social cost of carbon” that only takes into account domestic consequences of climate change, writes Meredith Fowlie, Assistant Professor of Agriculture and Resource Economics at the University of California at Berkeley. That translates into a cost of $1-$6 per ton, instead of the $45 per ton that was under the Obama Administration. Fowlie explains the reasoning behind the policy … [Read more...]
Is the Paris climate deal legally binding or not?
“Like hell it’s non-binding,” Donald Trump has said of the 2015 UN deal to cut carbon pollution. Is he right, ask Timmons Roberts and Angelica Arellano? The answer is not black or white. Article courtesy Climate Home News. … [Read more...]
How Romania can become a key player in the European gas market
Romania has the third largest natural gas reserves within the European Union (EU) and new reserves are still being discovered. With domestic gas production within the EU declining, the country could play an important role in the regional market. But for this to happen, interconnections need to be expanded and the liberalization of the market needs to be completed, write Ramona Visenescu and Henry Bartelet of the independent international think … [Read more...]
Value-added electricity services: who should supply them and how?
Berkeley Lab has released a new report that discusses who should supply the new value-added services that are emerging in the electricity market - and what policies and regulations are needed to nurture this new market. The report applies to the U.S., but includes lots of lessons for Europe as well.  … [Read more...]
World greenhouse gas levels make unprecedented leap
Global average carbon dioxide concentrations rose by 0.8% during 2016, the largest annual increase ever observed, write researchers Paul Fraser, Paul Krummel and Zoe Loh of Australia’s national science agency CSIRO. Courtesy The Conversation. … [Read more...]
Shell, BP climate disclosures ‘just a marketing tool’, says ShareAction
Two years after BP and Shell shareholders resoundingly passed resolutions requiring the oil majors to factor climate change risks into their corporate strategy and accounting, the two companies are disclosing no more than bare minimum, a new report from a U.K.-based NGO has found. Article by Kyla Mandel of DeSmog. … [Read more...]
In the growing wave of climate litigation, could the automobile industry be next?
The oil industry is increasingly the focus of climate change litigation, writes Martin Olszynski, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Calgary. Carmakers have so far not been targeted, but Olszynski thinks that could change – especially if they continue to urge lawmakers to relax environmental standards and promote the sales of light trucks and SUVs. … [Read more...]
The Clean Growth Strategy puts faith in energy efficiency – here’s how to do it
The UK government’s new Clean Growth Strategy gives quite a lot of priority to energy efficiency. That’s good news, write Jan Rosenow and Richard Cowart of the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP). What’s needed next is to develop the policies that actually deliver the goods. This can be done by following the principle of Efficiency First. … [Read more...]
Britain’s switch to low-carbon energy could give a £21 billion boost to the economy
The UK’s transition to a low-carbon economy will lead to new markets being created which could generate up to ÂŁ21 billion in value annually for utilities, according to new research from Stephen Hall of the University of Leeds and Jeffrey Hardy of Imperial College London. Their research, which focuses on the effects of energy policy on the creation of new markets, can help companies plan for the future. Courtesy The Conversation. … [Read more...]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 30
- 31
- 32
- 33
- 34
- …
- 79
- Next Page »
![](https://energypost.eu/wp-content/themes/dynamik-gen/images/content-filler.png)