Tag: energy keyword

Europe's electricity companies have published a new report setting out a number of scenarios for shifting Europe's electricity supply towards a carbon-neutral path by 2050.

Energy, trade, investment and security will be at the heart of EU-Russia partnership negotiations, according to Russian academic Andrei V. Zagorski. The expert, from the Moscow State Institute for International Relations, told EurActiv Slovakia in an interview that he expected progress to be slow, but expressed optimism that the outcome would be successful.

Serbia's Deputy Prime Minister Božidar Ðelić said yesterday (24 March) that the EU had gone "a bit too far" by giving five billion euro for the stimulus plan to its member states, and "not a single euro cent to any of the south-east European countries".

The French power transmission operator RTE and its Belgian counterpart Elia will inaugurate on 18 February a coordination centre in Brussels, in a bid to strengthen the security of electricity flows in Western Europe, EurActiv France reports.

Russia and Ukraine have sought support from Brussels in a bid to resolve a week-long dispute over gas supplies, which has seen six European countries start to experience gas shortages. EU national envoys will meet today in the Belgian capital under the auspices of the Czech EU Presidency to develop a common response.

A conference organised by UCTE, the Union for the Coordination of Transmission of Electricity, will try to fill a communication gap between policymakers and technicians, Dr. Klaus Kleinekorte, managing director of German energy giant RWE, told EurActiv in an interview.

A decision by EU energy ministers to phase out the sale of all incandescent and poorly-performing light bulbs by 2010 was welcomed by environmental organisation WWF as a long-awaited first step towards improving energy efficiency in Europe.

"There is still some way to go" to translate the progress made by EU energy policy in recent years into "efficient policy responses," writes Jørgen Henningsen, senior advisor on energy and environmental issues at the European Policy Centre (EPC).

Questions are being raised about the quality and effectiveness of evaluating the costs, risks and benefits of the Commission's impact assessment on the third energy liberalisation package, says Jacopo Torriti in a May 2008 report for the European University Institute.

A thorough reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is necessary to allow the EU to respond more effectively to rising food prices and internal pressures, according to Ivo Hlavac, the Czech state secretary in charge of agriculture, who spoke to EurActiv France in an interview.

The current high prices for oil and foodstuffs are indicators of an imminent crisis in the world economic order, which fails to internalise ecological limits and resource scarcity, says Luxembourg Green MEP Claude Turmes.

Despite its current opposition to the idea, the French government will eventually support 'ownership unbundling' in a "diplomatic manoeuvre" designed to protect price regulation, argues Charles Beigbéder, the CEO of Poweo, a firm competing on the French energy market, in an interview with EurActiv France.

The incoming French EU Presidency is confident that it will be able to shepherd a deal on the EU's climate and energy package through to adoption before the end of the year. But the 'weight' of the legislative agenda is unprecedented, and member states' views diverge on a number of key points.

The rising cost, increased demand and limited supply of oil as well as the slow development of alternatives are all leading to a new world order that will be based on supply and demand economics - with power resting with oil and gas-abundant states, argues Professor Michael T. Clare of Hampshire College in a 17 April commentary for Middle East Online.

Aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020 will not be enough to allow the EU to assume a leadership role during upcoming global climate negotiations, argues Yannick Jadot of Greenpeace in an interview with EurActiv France.

Containing energy demand is as important as developing new sources of supply, despite fears that this will require "large costs and economic sacrifices", according to a new study from management consultants McKinsey. Indeed, additional annual investments of $170 billion between now and 2020, shared between the industrial, commercial, residential and transport sectors, would be enough to "capture the energy productivity opportunity", the study argues.

Ensuring the smooth ratification of the EU's new Reform Treaty, pushing ahead with ambitious energy and climate goals and stabilising the Western Balkan region, notably through the prospect of EU accession, will be among the top priorities for Slovenia as it takes over the reins of the 27-country bloc for the coming six months.

Meeting the external challenge posed by Russia requires a major re-orientation of EU energy policy and a robust approach to security of supply, writes Dieter Helm in a 3 September paper.

Commenting on the European Commission's third energy package, Philippe de Ladoucette, president of the 'Commission de régulation de l'énergie', the French energy regulator, says that he is in favour of an EU agency for cooperation between European energy regulators. He spoke to EurActiv France in an interview.

Despite the obvious advantages of natural gas, it has had to overcome many obstacles before playing its major role on the international energy scene, writes Alain Beltran in an article for Energies magazine, a publication by French oil company Total.

Following the failure of the May EU Summit in Samara, the Kremlin's withdrawal from the CFE Treaty suggests a further deterioration in dialogue between the EU and Russia. In an interview with EurActiv France, Thomas Gomart, Russian programme director for the Institut Français des Relations Internationales (IFRI), reconsiders the possibility of a new energy relationship.

The Commission announced the opening of antitrust procedures on 26 July against the leading French energy company, EDF, and the Belgian branch of Suez, Electrabel - saying that it suspected both energy providers of foreclosure of the Belgian and French electricity markets. 

Europe has embarked on an ambitious plan to cut its energy consumption by 20% by 2020 in a bid to reduce its dependency on imported oil and gas and slash its energy bill by an estimated 100 billion euro every year. If it delivers, the plan would also prevent 780 million tonnes of CO2 from being emitted in the atmosphere, or twice the amount the EU agreed to under the Kyoto Protocol.

Commission President José Manuel Barroso and EU President José Sócrates spoke out in favour of a joint EU-Africa strategy with a special focus on development, migration, as well as energy and climate change.