Day: September 14, 2022

Parliament backs boost for renewables use and energy savings

Share of renewable energy to be raised to 45% by 2030

Energy savings targets increased to 40% of final energy consumption, and 42.5% of primary energy consumption

Revision of two laws will help fight climate change and boost energy security

By 2030, the European Parliament wants renewable energy to be used much more, and energy consumption to be greatly reduced.

On Wednesday, MEPs voted to raise the share of renewables in the EU’s final energy consumption to 45% by 2030, under the revision of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) -a target also backed by the European Commission under its “RepowerEU” package.

The legislation also defines sub-targets for sectors such as transport, buildings, and district heating and cooling. In the transport sector, deploying renewables should lead to a 16% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, through the use of higher shares of advanced biofuels and a more ambitious quota for renewable fuels of non-biological origin such as hydrogen. Industry should boost its use of renewables by 1.9 percentage points per year, and district heating networks by 2.3 points.

Each member state will have to develop two cross-border projects for the expansion of green electricity. Member states with an annual electricity consumption of more than 100 TWh will have to develop a third one by 2030.

MEPs also adopted amendments calling for phasing down the share of primary wood counted as renewable energy.

The text was adopted with 418 votes in favour, 109 against and 111 abstentions.

Energy savings

In a separate vote on Wednesday, MEPs backed the revision of the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED), the law that sets energy-saving targets in both primary and final energy consumption in the EU.

MEPs raised the EU target for reducing final and primary energy consumption, so that member states must collectively ensure final energy consumption is reduced by at least 40% by 2030 and 42.5% in primary energy consumption compared to 2007 projections. This corresponds to 740 and 960 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe) for final and primary energy consumption, respectively. Member states should set binding national contributions to achieve these targets.

The targets will be met through measures at local, regional, national and European levels, in different sectors – e.g. public administration, buildings, businesses, data centres.

The text was adopted with 469 votes in favour, 93 against and 82 abstentions.

Quotes

“Only the expansion of renewable energy means true independence” said Markus Pieper (EPP, DE), lead MEP on the renewable energy directive. “We strongly support the increased 2030 target of 45%. We confirm the need for more cross-border cooperation to expand renewable energy deployment, and call for a diversified import strategy for hydrogen. We have also raised the requirements for the sustainability of biomass and fuels, and showed ways in which biogenic materials can make a real economic contribution to the energy transition.”

Niels Fuglsang (S&D, DK), rapporteur on the energy efficiency directive, said: “. We are in a crisis where Putin is shutting off gas. One of our most effective answers to this is energy efficiency. It is crucial Parliament has today voted for ambitious and binding energy efficiency targets for the EU and for individual member states.”

Next steps

MEPs and the Czech Presidency of the Council will now enter into negotiations on the files, on which EU Ministers have set their position in June.

Background

On 14 July 2021, the European Commission adopted the ‘Fit for 55’ package, adapting existing climate and energy legislation to meet the new EU objective of a minimum 55% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030. One element of the package is the revision of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II), which will help the EU deliver the new 55% GHG target. Under RED II currently in force, the EU is obliged to ensure at least 32% of its energy consumption comes from renewable energy sources by 2030.

The “Fit for 55” package also includes the recast of the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED), aligning its provisions to the new 55% GHG target. The EED currently sets out the level of energy savings the EU needs to make to meet the agreed goal of 32.5% energy efficiency improvements by 2030.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

In the annual State of the European Union debate, MEPs quizzed President von der Leyen on the Commission’s work in the past year and its upcoming plans.

Opening the debate, EP President Roberta Metsola said: “It is a special honour to have Olena Zelenska with us on this important day. We are here against an alarming backdrop of an illegal and unjustifiable invasion of sovereign Ukraine, high inflation, energy and electricity price rises, a climate catastrophe, increased food insecurity and rising costs of living. Today our message must be that “Europe will respond”.”

On the war against Ukraine, Commission President von der Leyen stated: “Putin will fail and Europe will prevail.” She added that the sanctions against Russia “are here to stay.” Ms von der Leyen announced €100 million to restore damaged Ukrainian schools as well as bringing Ukraine into the EU’s free roaming area and the Single Market.

On soaring energy prices, the Commission will put forward measures for member states to reduce their electricity consumption and will propose a cap on the revenues of companies that produce electricity at a low cost to raise more than €140 billion to cushion the blow for citizens. She also announced a reform of the electricity market. Von der Leyen made clear that Putin is exclusively to blame for the current energy crisis and the price increases.

On the Conference on the Future of Europe, President von der Leyen promised that the Citizens’ Panels will now become a regular feature and that the moment for a European Convention has arrived.

Further topics the Commission President touched upon include fighting foreign interference to protect our democracies, closer cooperation with countries such as Chile, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia and India, and proposals for a European Sovereignty Fund, a European Critical Raw Materials Act, a European Hydrogen Bank and an SME Relief Package.

You can watch her full speech here (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4).

Interventions by the leaders of the political groups

Manfred Weber (EPP, DE) urged for a “winter of solidarity”: “We can beat Putin and lower people’s electricity bills”. On the new energy proposals, he deplored the Parliament’s diminished role and regretted the Council’s lack of leadership. He also asked for a moratorium on new legislation to avoid an additional burden on farmers and SMEs. Finally, he stressed that there is “no effort to coordinate the EU’s defence activities” and called on the “Commission to launch, before December, a European defence action plan”.

The EU’s commitment to Ukraine’s freedom and integrity must be firm, but besides celebrating wins, we need to support those who are suffering from the social and economic consequences of the war, said Iratxe García (S&D, ES). “If not, we will see populism grow”, she warned. Ms García welcomed the emergency energy proposals, particularly the use of the extraordinary profits made by energy companies, because “it is not acceptable that some become millionaires at the expense of families’ suffering”.

Stéphane Séjourné (Renew, FR), declared that Ukraine’s fight “is a fight for Europe’s values, it is our fight, the fight for the rule of law against the law of the strongest”. The EU has the means to respond quickly and effectively to the consequences of the war on European citizens, he said. He expressed support for measures to reduce energy prices and called for “all our dependencies, on food, raw materials, health, digital and defence infrastructures” to be reduced. Public policies should be aligned with the objective of strategic autonomy, he concluded.

“We must continue to support Ukraine and even scale up those efforts”, insisted Ska Keller (Greens/EFA, DE). However, solidarity within the EU also needs to increase. We must ensure that the costs of these times are carried by those with the broadest shoulders, she stressed. “Ultimately, the only way through this crisis is to use less energy and more renewable energy”. Ms Keller also called on the Commission to make sure that “no money is paid out to Poland and Hungary unless they return to the path of the rule of law.”

Marco Zanni (ID, IT) considered that the proposed measures “are nowhere near enough to bring concrete help to those who are suffering today”. “The cap on the price of gas -the only measure that will somehow help citizens and businesses (…) – is still being discussed”. Mr Zanni urged the Commission to consider that ‘the world has changed since 2019’ and that certain policies are no longer viable, as they have neither helped to protect the climate nor to achieve an industrial and socio-economic transition.

Raffaele Fitto (ECR, IT) called for the Atlantic Alliance to continue being strengthened and for sanctions to be maintained, which are the only means to achieve results. However, he emphasised the need to “ensure true unity” in the EU to be able to tackle “two big issues: that of energy and that of support for families and businesses”. We need clear answers, he insisted on “the gas price cap and the decoupling of the price between gas and energy”.

Manon Aubry (The Left, FR) highlighted that citizens cannot pay their bills any more. Salaries stagnate while prices rise with inflation and energy costs, but dividends go up and billionaires use their private jets, she deplored. Ms Aubry welcomed the announced excess profits tax for energy companies, saying that her group was always the only one to ask for such a tax, which needs to be paid by all enterprises that benefit from the crises.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Ways to reduce delays in the execution of ECHR judgments were discussed during an online meeting, on Wednesday, between the Council of Europe’s Department for the Execution of Judgments and representatives of the Attorney General’s Office of Cyprus.

An announcement by the Department says that the discussions focused on the practice and procedures of the Committee of Ministers related to the supervision of European Court judgments, as well as the outstanding issues on pending cases against Cyprus, in particular in preparation of the meeting of the Committee of Ministers in December 2022.

Among other things, participants shared thoughts on how co-operation between the authorities of Cyprus and the Department for the Execution could be further improved in order to reduce delays in execution, the announcement concludes

Source: Cyprus News Agency