News

Vote on de-carbonising power sector still to be held

Publish date: January 22, 2009

PRESS RELEASE: A foreseen vote on key amendments to the proposed Industrial Emissions Directive that could pave the way for de-carbonisation of power generation in the EU did not take place on Thursday because the chair of the European Parliament’s Environment Committee, Miroslav Ouzky, refused to let the committee vote on them.

The amendments proposed a limit to the number of grams of CO2 to be emitted per kilowatt-hour electricity produced at any large power plant. Such a CO2 emission performance standard (EPS) has already been introduced in several US States, and a broad industry-NGO coalition – the US Climate Action Partnership – has recently called for it to be introduced at the federal level in the US. It would force power plants with high CO2 emissions to either capture and store their CO2 or close down.

“The decision of Mr Ouzky to rule these crucial amendments inadmissible is democratically doubtful and in any case shameful for the chairman of the environment committee,” said Eivind Hoff of Bellona Europa.

Mr Ouzky blocked the amendments on the grounds that the proposed Industrial Emissions Directive consists of a review and consolidation of seven existing directives, through the so-called re-cast technique. This technique is defined in an inter-institutional agreement whereby the Parliament and the Council have committed to amending only those parts of legislation where the Commission has proposed changes – unless “necessary”. The Commission did not propose an EPS.

“But the EPS amendments are clearly necessary to reach the EU’s commitment to limit global warming to 2°C. The revised Emission Trading Scheme points to zero emissions of the power sector only around 2070 – but we need to achieve this much earlier in the EU, around 2030,” said Hoff, pointing to a recent report of the UK House of Common’s Climate Change Committee.

The EPS amendments blocked by Mr Ouzky were supported by representatives of all the main political groups, and similar amendments were supported by a ¾ majority of the Parliament’s environment committee on October 7th 2008, when they were tabled under the directive on geological storage of CO2.

This morning before the vote, the admissibility of amendments was extensively discussed and it was agreed that it would be re-examined ahead of the Parliament’s 1st reading of the proposed directive, which is scheduled for March 24th. In any case, the proposed Industrial Emissions Directive is likely to continue into 2nd reading after the European elections in June. This means that the EPS amendments can be re-tabled by the new Parliament.

“De-carbonising the power sector is amongst the most cost-effective options to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The question is not whether a CO2 EPS will be introduced, but when,” Hoff said.

Contacts:
Eivind Hoff
Director
Bellona Europa
+32 473 48 05 56