“In renewables there are more investments today in the US and China”, says Gonzalo Saenz de Miera, Director of Climate Change at Iberdrola, a world leader in renewables, in an interview with Energy Post. “Europe is losing its leadership.” Saenz de Miera calls for a binding target for 2050, not just 2030, and for it to be more ambitious than the current 80-95% greenhouse gas emission reduction. He also advocates “polluter pays” taxation that puts … [Read more...]
The new EU electricity market design: more market – or more state?
As a new regulatory design for the EU electricity market is taking shape, there are grave concerns in the sector that the new rules will not advance the internal energy market very much. Or might even undermine it. Energy Post editor-in-chief Karel Beckman talked to a number of key players in the sector who will debate the proposed market design rules at an Energy Post event in Brussels on 20 March. … [Read more...]
California shows auction reserve prices could be good idea for the EU Emission Trading System
In California, the reserve price in auctions of emission allowances has proved successful in maintaining a minimum carbon price. This should encourage others, especially the EU, to introduce similar arrangements, writes climate change economist Adam Whitmore. The Californian experience does show the importance of political commitment and stability, Whitmore adds.  … [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...]
New German government adopts coal phase-out in all but name
The coalition accord between Angela Merkel and Martin Schulz includes an increase in the renewables target in the electricity mix from 50% to 65% by 2030. Jon Berntsen and Anders Nordeng of Thomson Reuters Point Carbon have analysed how this will impact the German energy sector and conclude that it is a coal phaseout policy in all but name. … [Read more...]
Eon chief puts carbon tax back on the agenda [Energy Post Weekly]
As the EU institutions wrap up a climate policy framework for 2030, the CEO of one of Europe’s biggest energy companies has issued a fresh call for a carbon tax for the transport and heating sectors as well as a carbon floor price for the industry and power sectors. What is more, Johannes Teyssen, CEO of German utility Eon, says the European Commission has done all it can to push climate policy – now it’s the turn of the Member States – Germany … [Read more...]
Emissions reductions from carbon pricing can be big, quick and cheap
The UK carbon tax on fuel for power generation provides the most clear-cut example anywhere in the world of large scale emissions reductions from carbon pricing, writes climate change economist Adam Whitmore. These reductions have been achieved by a price that, while higher than in the EU ETS, remains moderate or low against a range of other markers, including other carbon taxes. … [Read more...]
The climate solution no one in Davos will be talking about
Economists say a global carbon tax would efficiently shift the world to safer energy production. So why is it barely mentioned, ask Ian Lefond and Timmons Roberts of Brown University? Article courtesy of Climate Home News. … [Read more...]
China just launched the world’s largest carbon market. Here are 3 ways it can succeed
On December 19, China formally launched its national carbon market. By setting a carbon price on the country’s largest greenhouse-gas emitters, China has launched a new, crucial endeavor in its efforts to tackle pollution and climate change, write Hal Harvey and Hu Min of the San Francisco-based think tank Energy Innovation. … [Read more...]
The quiet power market transformation behind the new carbon market in China
In December, the Chinese government announced the launch of a national carbon emissions trading scheme (ETS), which is expected to become the largest ETS in the world. This is a major development, writes Max Dupuy, senior associate at the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP), but its success depends on an even deeper power sector transformation that is taking place in China, which gets much less attention. This reform effort promises to completely … [Read more...]
A fresh start for climate change mitigation in New Zealand
The election of the sixth Labour-led government, in a coalition with the Greens, heralds a new direction for climate change policy in New Zealand, writes professor Robert McLachlan of Massey University. That is high time, according to McLachlan: the country’s emission trading system has not delivered, greenhouse gas emissions have risen. Courtesy The Conversation. … [Read more...]
The case for additional actions within the EU ETS has just become stronger
It is sometimes thought that total emissions in the EU ETS (Emission Trading System) are equal to the cap, and so any additional actions, such as phase-out of coal power, increasing energy efficiency and deploying more renewables, have no effect. But this is not true, writes climate change economist Adam Whitmore. Indeed, according to Whitmore, recently agreed reforms to the EU ETS strengthen the case for additional actions. For policymakers, … [Read more...]
Energy traders sound alarm: “electricity borders in the EU are closing instead of opening”
Regulations governing the EU wholesale electricity market have become so complex that the integration of the market is regressing instead of progressing, says Peter Styles, Chairman of the Electricity Committee of the European Federation of Energy Traders (EFET), in an interview with Energy Post. He notes TSOs (transmission system operators) on average now make less cross-border electricity transmission capacity available on the EU high voltage … [Read more...]
Interview David Hone, Chief Climate Change Advisor Shell: “Net zero emissions are achievable. The timing is challenging”
EU climate and energy policy is “reasonably effective”, but it could achieve more for the climate if it focused purely on reducing CO2-emissions, says David Hone, Chief Climate Change Advisor at Shell, in an interview with Energy Post. “There are too many goals and too many targets.” Hone also argues that first generation biofuels are needed to make advanced biofuels work and that a “new approach” towards CCS is urgently needed. Globally, Hone … [Read more...]
Divestment will not block German lignite
Stock divestment strategies have been widely proposed to undercut financial support for fossil fuels. The German lignite industry, however, cannot be tackled in this way, writes independent energy expert Jeffrey Michel in a highly informative analysis. Lignite stations and mines are owned by regional communities in the west and a Czech consortium in the east. Although some power plants are being phased out against government-arranged subsidies, … [Read more...]
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