As the transition to climate neutrality starts to impact people’s lives and livelihoods, it is no longer possible – or prudent – to see green and social priorities in isolation. Yet, for the EU, there is more to this task than ensuring the European Green Deal manages its social impacts. What remains to be determined are the practical ways in which “the social” and “the green” can positively reinforce each other.
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In accordance with EU State Aid rules, the European Commission has authorised Euro 134 million German initiative to assist BASF SE in producing renewable hydrogen with the objectives of decarbonising its chemical production processes and promoting hydrogen use in the transportation sector.
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While the draft REPowerEU strategy identifies environmental regulation as the main obstacle to the uptake and upscale of renewables in Europe, the real bottlenecks proved to lie elsewhere. European Environmental Bureau analyses in this policy briefing what are the real top 10 barriers to renewable energy, which are related to lack of skilled professionals, grid connections and resource allocation.
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Green public procurement continues to be underutilised in Europe, as several barriers to its application persist. A new EU regulatory action in this field could unlock the potential of green public procurement and add an important element to the European Green Deal toolbox.
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The fundamental problem of discrepancy in demand and supply remains. While the knowledge, capability and capital to provide that additional supply exists, the political will and regulatory frameworks need to widen the bottlenecks and enable all of these to come to market at the earliest. This includes secure supply chains, short permitting processes, provision of land and sea for deploying capacity, and also addressing of social concerns around building these new business opportunities. Thus, removing uncertainties in investment pre-requisites is critical.
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Iberdrola, a Spanish energy company, has committed to invest €3 billion in green hydrogen as part of its initiatives to speed up the European Green Deal. The European Green Deal, first agreed upon in 2020, aims for a 55 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and for Europe to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Iberdrola’s chairman announced the investment plan.
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March is a stress test for the European Green Deal. European and national leaders can endorse it as part of the solution to the current crisis, and send a clear political signal of increased ambitions for the Fit for 55 Package. The invasion of Ukraine by Russia raises the importance of understanding and managing the deep entanglement between energy, security and geopolitics. EU and national leaders will have to show strong leadership to actively shape Europe’s course of destiny, not just respond to incredibly tragic events.
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Europe’s reliance on imported natural gas from Russia has again been thrown into sharp relief by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The IEA’s 10-Point Plan to Reduce the European Union’s Reliance on Russian Natural Gas includes a range of complementary actions that can be taken in the coming months, such as turning more to other suppliers, drawing on other energy sources and accelerating efforts to provide consumers, businesses and industry with the means to use clean and efficient alternatives to natural gas.
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The European Commission has proposed an outline of a plan to make Europe independent from Russian fossil fuels well before 2030, starting with gas, in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This plan also outlines a series of measures to respond to rising energy prices in Europe and to replenish gas stocks for next winter. Europe has been facing increased energy prices for several months, but now uncertainty on supply is exacerbating the problem. REPowerEU will seek to diversify gas supplies, speed up the roll-out of renewable gases and replace gas in heating and power generation.
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Europe’s long-awaited legislation for Sustainable Corporate Governance aims to support long-term value creation for companies and corporations. Postponed three times already, it promises to be a battleground for different interests including industry incumbents and climate ambition supporters. The EU’s corporate governance framework is pressingly calling for enhanced traceability, transparency, and accountability of companies’ operations fit for the not-so-distant future. The hopes and stakes for the new rules are high.
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The European Commission has presented a Taxonomy Complementary Climate Delegated Act on climate change mitigation and adaptation covering certain gas and nuclear activities. The objective is to step up the transition, by drawing on all possible solutions to help us reach our climate goals. Taking account of scientific advice and current technological progress, the Commission considers that there is a role for private investment in gas and nuclear activities in the transition.
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In November 2021, the EC adopted the fifth list of PCIs, which are critical infrastructure projects for achieving the European Union’s (EU) long-term climate-neutrality goals. The key advantages for the projects approved under the list include streamlined permit granting procedures, faster and better streamlined environmental assessment, a single national competent authority (one-stop-shop) coordinating all permit granting procedures, and eligibility for financial assistance under the CEF in the form of grants and innovative financial instruments.
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On 1 January 2022, the revised Guidelines of the European Commission on State aid for climate, environmental protection and energy (CEEAG) entered into force, extending the scope of the previous Guidelines to new areas in order to achieve the goal of reaching climate neutrality by 2050. The CEEAG adapt the conditions which must be met and the processes which must be followed for the Commission to consider state support compatible with EU State aid rules.
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The 14 research projects featured in this CORDIS Results Pack have developed a suite of tools that are able to assess the benefits, costs, risks and trade-offs of climate neutrality strategies. This provides a solid bedrock on which policymakers, business and society can make informed choices about the best route to a greener, cleaner and more equitable future for Europe.
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Our goal is to make sure the EU energy system can provide – whatever happens – reliable supply, as it integrates more renewable energy, and reduces the dependence to external fossil fuels suppliers. For these reasons, energy security as one of the five dimensions of the EU Energy Union is a key element of the European Green Deal but also the EU Security Union Strategy.
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The EU, with its economic power, excellent diplomatic standing, and pre-existing ties when it comes to development cooperation, is in a unique position to help close these COP26 gaps. But how can we use this potential? This study, commissioned by the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament, aims at answering this question.
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Price volatility is reaching new heights as a result of the uncertain output of renewable assets and a tight supply-and-demand balance in the European power system. Navigating this next normal will be a key challenge for utilities, traders, and large power consumers, and that highlights the importance of developing resilient power-asset portfolios and managing risk. The European power market is undergoing major changes. Five trends underpin these developments.
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The European Network of Transmission System Operators (ENTSO-E) published a series of papers to assess the possible solutions to help realise the European Commission’s offshore strategy. It evaluated the key areas of system development, system operation, interoperability and market design in which TSOs have an essential and active role in enabling the achievement of the EU offshore goals. Global Transmission Report presents the key highlights of ENTSO-E’s views and recommendations on offshore grid development.
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The European Commission’s proposals to deliver the European Green Deal are impressive. They are laying out the necessary architecture and measures needed to drive a fair socio-economic transformation to climate neutrality. Key elements of the proposals must however be strengthened through the upcoming negotiations to not only pick up the pace on the transformation of EU heating, power, and industrial sectors, but also boost its social and international credibility.
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The existing vehicle fleet has a small proportion of low- and zero-emission vehicles. To boost the uptake of such vehicles, the commission will propose a revised CO2 standard for cars and vans by June 2021. Secondly, the commission will adopt regulations to ensure that the batteries available in the European market are sustainable and safe for their entire life cycle. Overall, the flagship area focuses on increasing the use of electric and hydrogen fuel technology in all transport fleets.
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