With elections in May, the balance of opinion in Parliament is a climate policy risk factor on the minds of many in Brussels. The national draft 10-year energy plans, just in to the Commission, project widespread growth in costlier renewables. But populists who see climate as a globalist rather than nationalist-first agenda may prove hard to bring on side with an expensive and disruptive transition. The public will be influenced by climate … [Read more...]
Can Teresa Ribera transform Spain into a green champion?
In a draft bill released on 13 November, the Spanish government is proposing to ban fossil fuel subsidies and fracking, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2030 (37% compared to current levels) and 90% by 2050, boost the share of renewables to 35% (70% of power generation) in 2030 and discourage diesel and petrol cars. Natalie Sauer of Climate Home News portrays the woman behind the plan, ecological transition minister Teresa Ribera, and … [Read more...]
Energy Community sets stage for clean energy transition in South-East Europe
While the European Union has been busy with the new Clean Energy Package and discussing full decarbonisation by 2050, some important developments are also taking place in its closest neighborhood - in South-East Europe, where the Energy Community Treaty operates. Journalist and energy expert Oleg Savitsky attended the Energy Community Sustainability Forum in June and explains how policymakers are trying to transform the energy markets of the … [Read more...]
The irony of Italy’s election for energy
Should the Italian government decide to halt the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), the last leg of the Southern Gas Corridor - meant to reduce the EU's dependence on Russia - may be in jeopardy, writes John Roberts, a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center. Ironically, the Russians may want to save the project, according to Roberts. Courtesy: the EnergySource blog of the Atlantic Council. … [Read more...]
Ukraine’s power sector is set for a major transition
As the pillars of Ukraine’s power sector – coal and nuclear – are shaking, the country is on the point of a major energy transformation, writes Oleg Savitsky, climate and energy policy expert and journalist. But some crucial steps still need to be taken to make it possible. … [Read more...]
Europe needs a fresh approach to climate strategy
The EU needs a new approach to long-term climate strategy to ensure that EU climate policy is brought in line with the goals of Paris and takes into account recent technological and political changes, write Andrei Marcu of the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) and Georg Zachmann of think tank Bruegel. According to Marcu and Zachmann, climate policy can only succeed if it does not come out of a bureaucratic ‘black … [Read more...]
Commission’s gas market proposal is an attempt to gain more control of energy policy
The European Commission’s proposed amendment to the Gas Directive is viewed by many as an attempt to block Nord Stream 2. But according to Danila Bochkarev, Senior Fellow, EastWest Institute, the Commission is thinking further ahead: it is using the proposal to try to increase its power over the EU energy market. … [Read more...]
Southeast Europe needs more nuclear power to head off energy crisis
Southeast Europe is headed for an energy crisis. The region has an energy infrastructure that is unreliable, inefficient, and unsustainable, while at the same time it is faced with the need to reduce dependence on external sources and conform to EU climate and air quality regulations. The best way out, argues Tim Yeo, Chairman of the New Nuclear Watch Institute, is to invest in new nuclear capacity. … [Read more...]
A grand bargain with Gazprom?
Can Europe, including the Eastern part, continue to profit from cheap Russian gas without succumbing to Russian energy dominance? According to a new paper from the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES), the EU should not shy away from “countervailing measures”. But these should preferably take the form of a “grand bargain” with Russia rather than a confrontation. … [Read more...]
The EU wants to fight climate change – so why is it spending billions on a gas pipeline?
By funding the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), the European Investment Bank (EIB) is hardly signalling to the private sector that governments are committed to a green energy transition, writes Aled Jones, Professor and Director at the Global Sustainability Institute of Anglia Ruskin University. Article courtesy The Conversation. … [Read more...]
A step backwards – European Member states threaten to reverse progress on the Single Electricity Market
The European Council’s proposals on the internal energy market fundamentally weaken the framework that is needed to deliver an integrated market that will benefit European energy consumers, write Philip Baker and Christos Kolokathis from the global energy policy advisors Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP). They may even legalise practices that are currently – and should remain – illegal. The authors call on European policymakers to support the … [Read more...]
Europe’s biggest fossil fuel project gets €1.5bn public loan
The European Investment Bank has approved a loan to the Southern Gas Corridor, in a move environmentalists described as a “historical mistake”, writes Karl Mathiesen of Climate Home News. The move brings the total public backing for Europe's biggest fossil fuel project to $3.5 billion. Courtesy Climate Home News. … [Read more...]
Exclusive interview Maros Šefčovič: Energy Union is “deepest transformation of energy systems since Industrial Revolution”
Before the next European elections in 2019, Maroš Šefčovič , the European Commission’s Vice-President for the Energy Union, wants to have a new legal framework in place which will “bring in the most comprehensive and deepest transformation of energy systems in Europe, since the [industrial revolution] one hundred and fifty years ago.” In an exclusive interview with Energy Post, he says that the success of the Energy Union project “will decide the … [Read more...]
Ukraine: energy transition could work wonders, but policies are “the least ambitious in the world”
Ukraine can reduce its energy dependence and build a strong economy on clean and safe renewable energy, a new study shows. Unfortunately, the latest Energy Strategy adopted by the government in August shows a complete lack of ambition to pursue a low-carbon transition. Ukraine’s “nationally determined contribution” under the Paris Agreement is the least ambitious in the world, according to an independent analysis. … [Read more...]
The Polish energy problem – the Ukrainian nuclear solution
Poland can’t continue to rely on coal, because it’s dirty, inefficient and increasingly has to be imported from Russia. But is there an alternative? Yes, there is, writes Mike Parr of consultancy PWR: Poland could import excess nuclear power from Ukraine. In fact, the interconnections for this have been in place for years. But Polish politicians have not taken action. … [Read more...]
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