About: Claude Turmes Archives

Lawmakers will vote on Thursday (7 December) on a new energy regime that is meant to ensure the European Union meets its Paris Agreement goals. But much disagreement remains.

The European Parliament says the EU’s proposed 2030 target for renewable energy needs to be raised in order to speed up deployment early in the next decade. But EU member states have a different idea.

The ‘Clean Energy for all Europeans’ package of legislation is the EU’s response to the Paris Agreement on climate change, setting out the bloc’s energy and climate policies for 2030.

Europe’s energy transition is irreversible and France is poised to become its leader, European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic said at an event in Paris on Thursday (5 October).

A European Commission proposal aimed at capping fossil fuel subsidies across the EU could have perverse effects by promoting investment in new gas-fired fossil fuel power instead of renewable energies, according to a new study.

Doubts about the effectiveness of the European Union’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) resurfaced on Tuesday (19 September) at an energy conference in Estonia, as a low carbon price continues to stymie energy market efforts.

Environmental groups and MEPs were left disappointed by Jean-Claude Juncker’s State of the Union address on Wednesday (13 September), after the Commission president only mentioned climate change anecdotally.

The European Parliament’s environment committee (ENVI) adopted on Thursday (7 September) a resolution condemning the Commission’s plans to relax controls on the radioactivity of Japanese food and feed imports following the 2011 Fukushima disaster.

The European Parliament’s energy committee confirmed on Monday (4 August) that MEPs want renewable energy targets to be more ambitious than the proposal put forward by the Commission.

MEPs are expected to pass on Thursday (6 July) the new European Fund for Sustainable Development (EFSD), a key element to a plan to raise as much as €88 billion, blending EU funds with national and private financing, bringing African development to a new level.

The EU's 28 energy ministers on Monday (26 June) agreed on a general approach to the revisions of two key energy efficiency directives. But the European Commission lamented a “significant reduction” in ambition compared with its original proposals.

Governance is not about imposing new obligations to member states. It is about mobilising and coordinating all relevant actors, including cities and regions. Europe is changing. Europe is greening. Let’s embrace this change rather than falter, write Michèle Rivasi and Claude Turmes.

EXCLUSIVE / The EU claims to be promoting an ambitious agenda at the Marrakesh climate conference, but its latest piece of energy legislation could subsidise new coal capacity and undermine market access for renewables. EURACTIV France reports.

The “active participation” of citizens and local communities in the supply and demand of electricity will be “the leitmotiv” of new energy proposals the European Commission is preparing for the end of the year, according to a senior EU official who ruled out harmonisation of national support schemes for renewables at this stage.

MEP Claude Turmes (Greens, Luxembourg), sharply criticised the European Commission for disregarding social aspects in energy efficiency and for not providing technical assistance for such projects.

Members of the European Parliament fear they will be swamped by a sudden flood of energy-related legislative proposals this year, with some urging their colleagues to take a step back and avoid the temptation to “optimise” laws in endless negotiating rounds.

The European Commission has climbed down over the ‘Modelgate’ controversy about preliminary research for new energy efficiency laws, with Climate Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete promising EU officials will analyse higher efficiency goals for 2030 than originally planned.

If the EU is to reap the benefits that the northern seas have to offer, a concerted effort is required both by the European institutions and the member states, write Claude Turmes, Theresa Griffin and Jeppe Kofod.

The association of power companies working under the 'Magritte Group' umbrella, called on Tuesday (8 December) for carbon pricing, rather than renewable energy targets, to be the main tool for fighting climate change.

EXCLUSIVE/ MEPs have stepped up pressure on the European Commission over its decision to effectively cap any increase to the EU’s 2030 energy efficiency targets, just days before the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) begins.

EXCLUSIVE / The European Commission’s decision to effectively cap any increase to the EU’s energy efficiency targets was branded a “pre-emptive strike” today (18 November) against the European Parliament, which would curb any effort by MEPs to boost the 2030 goals.

The European Parliament’s energy committee today (10 November) rejected a push by MEPs to increase the EU’s 2030 climate and energy targets and to make them legally binding.