Tag: energy

In its EU Energy Roadmap 2050, the European Commission recognises that Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is the only technology available to mitigate CO2 emissions from large-scale fossil fuel use. The EU badly needs a successful CCS programme by 2020 and can no longer afford delays, writes Graeme Sweeney.

A French government advisory body has suggested that the European Central Bank create money - via loans to other financial institutions - in order to support the transition to renewable energies, claiming the proposed system would not necessarily fuel inflation.

Greek natural gas distributor DEPA has asked Russia's Gazprom to lower supply prices by about a fifth, to align them with those paid by natural gas users in western Europe, Greek energy industry sources said.

If biofuels received no EU policy support, the price of food stuffs such as vegetable oil would be 50% lower in Europe by 2020 than at present – and 15% lower elsewhere in the world – according to new research by the EU’s Joint Research Centre (JRC).

Germany should not dismiss gas fracking technology that has boosted US industry, nor unilaterally overexpose itself to climate protection efforts, European Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger said on Tuesday (3 September).

The European Union admired Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa’s now-abandoned radical conservation effort to keep Yasuní’s vast oil reserves untapped but did not want to foot the bill, preferring more traditional forms of aid.

An expert study has uncovered vast differences in the ambition and nature of energy efficiency policies implemented across the 28 EU member states.

The European Union has warned Beijing over evidence that Chinese solar companies benefited from illegal subsidies, sources close to the issue said on Tuesday (27 August), but Brussels will delay taking action following a deal to defuse the row.

Moldova will take its first steps towards diversifying its energy supplies today (27 August) when it inaugurates a gas pipeline with the EU, so ending its energy dependence on Russia.

The Czech power utility ČEZ has complained to the European Commission about delays by Romania in paying green energy subsidies, saying they may cost it up to €66 million a year.

A shale gas deal in Ukraine hit a setback yesterday (20 August) when a local council rejected the government's draft production-sharing agreement with US energy company Chevron amid warnings by nationalists regarding likely damage to the environment.

Energy-rich Turkmenistan yesterday (15 August) launched a $2 billion project to build a new port on the Caspian Sea designed to boost exports.

The European Commission has attempted to fast-track strategic electric power transmission projects by streamlining planning procedures. But that initiative, proposed in 2011, could itself perhaps be speeded up, writes Gerard Wynn.

The European Commission has decided not to impose provisional duties on Chinese solar panels but plans to continue its anti-subsidy investigation.

Germany will reduce exemptions that big power-using firms have enjoyed from grid fees following EU criticism that they might amount to state aid and anger among consumers that industry was not sharing the cost of a shift to renewable energy.

An acrimonious split has developed between Brussels and EU ProSun, an alliance of solar panel manufacturers, after EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht announced a ‘targeted and innovative’ settlement to a dispute with China.

As the shale gas revolution influences how the United States views its long-term strategic interests in the Middle East, Europeans should also be asking themselves what these changes mean for their geostrategic relations. They should further be asking how they could use shale gas to reduce their dependence on Russian energy, writes Judy Dempsey.

China has agreed to discuss dropping its inquiry into whether Europe is dumping wine, the EU's trade chief said on Monday (29 July), after EU and Chinese officials made a deal to avoid tariffs on solar panels from China.

Squads of insulators and energy efficiency experts are to be sent house to house around the UK, in the latest stage of the government's bid to plug the gaps in Britain's leaky homes and curb rising bills.

Indonesian palm oil has been blamed for deforestation, transcontinental smog, greenhouse gas emissions, forced evictions, child labour and modern day slavery. But if the EU imposes punitive duties on it before 2014, it will be for tax reasons.

With the EIB set to approve a new energy lending policy and the EBRD presenting its new energy strategy, the timely signal sent by the World Bank on the need to quit coal can factor importantly in discussions taking place right now at the European public banks, writes Kuba Gogolewski.

On 11th July, the Environment Committee of the European Parliament voted in favour of accounting for scientifically proven ‘indirect emissions’ (known as ILUC) from European biofuels. This type of accounting is the best available option to reduce negative climate impacts from biofuels, says Chris Malins.

The European Investment Bank’s draft lending policy guidelines offer a significant step forward for environmentally responsible practice and must be supported, writes Ingrid Holmes.