News
Publish date: June 10, 2015
News
The Conclusions follow those of 19 and 20 March 2015, which confirmed the EU’s commitment to building an Energy Union with a forward looking climate policy. The latest Conclusions now draw focus to the role of the consumer and on incentivising investment, and it is in this second section that CCS is highlighted.
The Council calls for newer low carbon technologies like CCS to be brought to the market, both to achieve climate targets and to secure and promote growth and jobs.
The text agreed upon, Conclusions on the implementation of the Energy Union: empowering consumers and attracting investments in the energy sector, can be found here.
ETS reform update
While intense work is being undertaken in the Commission to progress the proposal for a reform of the EU’s Emission Trading System (ETS) – the EU’s central funding instrument for CCS – the Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Arias Cañete, told press following the Council meeting that the ETS reform proposal is unlikely to be presented before the summer.
The ETS reform proposal was expected to be part of the ‘summer package’ to be presented on 14 July. This package is otherwise set to include a Consultative Communication on Electricity Market Design and on Retail Markets (New Deal for Consumers) as well as a legislative proposal on for the revision of the Energy Labelling Directive.
The ETS reform proposal is now likely scheduled to come following the summer break. The autumn will otherwise continue to be a busy period with the Commission also set to present the first annual State of the Energy Union Report, including country fiches for each country, as well as a proposal on Energy Union Governance.
Work plan of next Presidency
The upcoming Luxembourgish Presidency of the EU Council also presented a preliminary work programme for Energy Council, which apart from implementation of a governance of the Energy Union includes:
Recent attacks on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant "mark the beginning of a new and gravely dangerous front of the war," the UN atomic agency's director general said last week.
After years of inaction, Germany is working on its Carbon Management Strategy to resolve how CCS can play a role in climate action in industry. At the end of February, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action published first key points and a proposal to amend the law Kohlenstoffdioxid Speicherungsgesetz (KSpG). Bellona Deutschland, who was actively involved in the previous stakeholder dialogue submitted a statement in the association hearing.
In the midst of a global discussion on whether natural gas should be used as a transitional fuel and whether emissions from its extraction, production, transport and use are significantly less than those from other fossil fuels, Russia has developed ambitious plans to increase its own production of liquified natural gas (LNG) in the Arctic – a region with 75% of proven gas reserves in Russia – to raise its share in the international gas trade.
In this news digest, we monitor events that impact the environment in the Russian Arctic. Our main focus lies in identifying the factors that contribute to pollution risks and climate change.