A foretaste of EU climate policy debates to come - EURACTIV

A foretaste of EU climate policy debates to come - Euractiv
By Frédéric Simon | EURACTIV Est. 12min 14-02-2024 (updated: 14-02-2024 ) Content-Type: News News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Green Brief Euractiv is part of the Trust Project >>> Print Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Hello and a big welcome to our new subscribers from the Global CCS Institute, First Solar, the European Commission, and more. Euractiv’s Green Brief brings you a roundup of energy and environment news from across Europe. You can subscribe here. Sneak peek. Far-right and nationalist parties are expected to make big gains at the expense of Greens, liberals, and left-wing parties in the June European Parliament elections. That much we knew already. But what could this mean for the EU’s climate policies? The EU got a foretaste last week when lawmakers in Parliament debated the European Commission’s recommended climate target for 2040 – a 90% cut in greenhouse gas emissions compared to 1990 levels. Read Fred Simon’s rundown of what each party said. Conservative rebellion. Taking the floor at the Parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg, hardline conservative and far-right groups warned about the social consequences and risk of de-industrialisation associated with higher EU climate goals. “Have you told farmers and the people that energy, transport, housing, meat and other basic foodstuffs will be more expensive?” said Czech MEP Alexandr Vondra, speaking on behalf of the nationalist European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group. “I think it’s a serious risk to make such a proposal before the elections, without knowing the real socio and economic impact,” he warned. Far-right insurrection. On the far-right, the way forward is radical: abolish the Green Deal. Last week, MEPs received an e-mail from their Belgian colleague Tom Vandendriessche of the Vlaams Belang party in Flanders inviting them to sign his resolution calling for the Green Deal to be “abolished”. “The goal is to signal that instead of expanding the Green Deal with even more regulation as proposed, [it] should be renegotiated to abolish the framework as it stands now,” Vandendriessche told Euractiv France. Paul Messad has the story. It’s the economy, stupid. Socialists and Democrats (S&D), meanwhile, made the business case for continued cuts in carbon emissions. “This is what the business world is calling for,” argued Mohammed Chahim, a Dutch MEP, who warned about the risk of lagging behind China and the US in the race for green technologies. His views were echoed by the centrist Renew Europe group of French MEP Pascal Canfin, who called on the EU to take example on the US Inflation Reduction Act and its green subsidies, estimated at $1.2 trillion over ten years. “That should be an inspiration to us,” Canfin said, urging the new crop of politicians who will be elected in June to “seriously talk about our collective capacity to fund the green transition in Europe”. Green shake-up. The Greens, meanwhile, are being challenged to their left by fringe radical parties entering the EU election race. In Germany, the climate movement ‘Last Generation’ (Letzte Generation) announced their intention to run for the June elections, saying they want to “shake up” the political system. The movement has attracted media attention over the past years as its activists glued themselves to the streets and spray-painting luxury shops orange. After calling an end to the “glueing chapter” at the end of January, the group are now planning to continue protesting in a different form. “We want to bring the voice of the street, the voice of the movement into Parliament,” said spokesperson Carla Hinrichs. “That’s why we want to really shake up the EU Parliament this year.” Kjeld Neubert reports. Climate adaptation. The 2040 climate debate is not just about mitigating emissions, it’s also about adapting to the inevitable changes brought by a warming climate. Belgium is well placed to testify, with the deadly floods that hit the Wallonia region in the summer of 2021 claiming the lives of 39 people. Last week in Liège, the Belgian Presidency of the EU Council organised a special summit on the topic, which culminated with the adoption of the Liège Declaration on adaptation to climate change. Signed by 70 organisations, including local governments and environmental groups, the declaration calls on all EU-level decision-makers to make adaptation “a key priority in the development of future policies” on climate change. Nathan Canas has more. Focus on industry. Meanwhile, calls are growing louder for the next European Commission that will be appointed after the June EU election to focus more on industrial policy, and less on target-setting. Équilibre des énergies (EdEn), a French think tank, urged the next breed of EU decision-makers to reconcile industry and climate policy objectives in order to meet the EU’s 2030 target. The Commission’s communication on a climate target for 2040 also emphasises the importance of an “industrial decarbonisation deal” to replace the Green Deal, echoing calls from its President Ursula von der Leyen in her last State of the Union address in September. The think tank also warns about the financing aspect of the transition, saying implementing the EU’s climate objectives is likely to cost a whopping €1 trillion per year. Paul Messad has the details. No fresh money... However, finding those trillions is proving a tall order for the EU. Last week, EU legislators reached agreement on a scaled-back version of what von der Leyen initially pitched as an EU sovereignty fund to support green technologies in the face of the multi-billion Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in the US. But the end result was underwhelming to observers, who noted that no fresh money will be allocated to the initiative, called the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP). “We were expected to get an EU fund to strategically invest in clean tech after the IRA, and what we get basically is a website,” quipped Simone Tagliapietra, a senior fellow at the Bruegel economic think tank in Brussels. In the absence of new funding, EU member states will be left to finance the transition out of their own pocket, Tagliapietra warned, meaning the green transition could become unaffordable to many EU countries which don’t have the necessary fiscal room for manoeuvre – except maybe for Germany and France. “This will need to be revived and put at the core of the agenda after the elections,” Tagliapietra told Euractiv.” Fred Simon has more. … and little additional fiscal space. EU member states won’t be helped much by the EU’s revised public spending rules, agreed over the weekend. Even though the revised Stability and Growth Pact will bring additional wiggle room for EU countries to spend on the green and digital transition, the revised rules broadly confirm the previous limits put on public debt and budget deficits, which are capped at 60% and 3% of GDP respectively. Germany and its “frugal” allies even managed to tighten the rules by imposing a quantifiable minimum effort to reduce debt and deficits for all EU countries, despite the reluctance of France and Italy. Read the reactions in this story by Thomas Moller-Nielsen. Top stories Austria’s dependence on Russian gas rises to 98%, two years after Ukraine war Austria’s dependence on Russian gas has grown from 80% to 98% in two years, prompting the country’s energy minister to ring the alarm bell ahead of a national election in the Autumn. Climate-change-driven migration seen as bigger threat than Russia – MSC report Respondents fear climate-change-driven migration more than the security threat posed by Russia, according to a fresh survey for the Munich Security Conference (MSC) published on Monday (12 February). Nuclear power officially labelled as 'strategic' for EU’s decarbonisation The Council of EU member states and the European Parliament agreed on Tuesday (6 February) to label nuclear power as a strategic technology for the EU’s decarbonisation, following months of intense negotiations in Brussels over the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA). Must reads EU-Mercosur unlikely to be finalised before the EU elections – By Paul Messad EU’s new rules to protect children from harmful chemicals in toys – By Marta Iraola Blockade lifted: Germany gives way on EU’s 2040 truck CO2 rules – By Jonathan Packroff and Nikolaus J. Kurmayer Hydrogen for industry: Germany gets serious with Algeria – By Nikolaus J. Kurmayer EU delays corporate transparency rules for mining, oil and gas firms – By Frédéric Simon EU aims to deploy Europe’s first small nuclear reactor ‘by 2030’ By Nathan Canas and Paul Messad News from the capitals PARIS / BRUSSELS. Von der Leyen: Putin sped up EU green transition. Speaking at the 50th anniversary of the International Energy Agency (IEA) at the OECD on Tuesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine had forced the EU to speed up its energy transition. Read more. SOFIA. Bulgaria’s two US nuclear reactors to cost under $14 billion. Bulgaria is insisting on a fixed price for constructing two new Westinghouse AR-1000 nuclear reactors, which should not exceed $14 billion, according to an intergovernmental agreement on nuclear cooperation between Bulgaria and the US signed in Sofia on Monday night. Read more. MADRID. Spain suggests simplifying CAP, strengthening Mercosur ‘mirror clauses’. Spain will present a proposal to streamline administrative rules under the Common Agricultural Policy and strengthen mirror clauses in free trade agreements, such as the EU-Mercosur deal, to ensure that trading partners respect similar agricultural and environmental constraints, Spanish Agriculture Minister Luis Planas (PSOE/S&D) said on Monday. Read more. BERLIN. German liberals want to renegotiate EU due diligence law, blame Spain. Germany’s liberal FDP party wants to reopen negotiations on the EU’s Due Diligence Directive after the issue was removed from the agenda of a meeting of EU ambassadors last Friday, which the party says shows the poor quality of the preliminary agreement reached in December. Read more. WARSAW. Poland sceptical about EU’s 90% emission reduction target, cites economic concerns. Poland is unlikely to back the European Union’s new climate target of cutting CO2 emissions by 90% by 2040, citing the economic and social risks that come with speeding up the green transitions, Polish media reported. Read more. BERLIN. German climate activists enter EU-Elections: Last Generation aims to ‘shake up’ Parliament. The list of fringe parties in Germany aiming for a seat in the European Parliament is getting longer, as climate activists want to “really shake up” politics this time. Read more. PARIS. Far-right French MEPs sign resolution to ‘abolish’ Green Deal. At least six of the 18 MEPs in the EP far-right French RN party’s delegation have already signed or will sign on Thursday a resolution tabled by their Belgian Vlaams Belang colleague, Tom Vandendriessche, calling for the Green Deal to be “abolished”. Read more. LISBON. EU threatens Portugal with sanctions over conservation failings. The EU Commission started legal proceedings against Portugal at the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on Wednesday in two individual cases for its alleged failure to comply with a ruling on the conservation of sites considered Special Areas of Conservation and threatened sanctions. Read more. BUCHAREST. EU Commission warns Romania over landfill waste management. Romania received a warning on Wednesday for failing to fully comply with the Landfill and Waste Framework Directives despite having already been fined by the European Court of Justice in December. Read more. Warsaw. Polish government introduces changes in PiS-controlled petrol giant. Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government began structural and personnel changes in the partially state-owned petrol giant, Orlen, which has been controlled by the former conservative PiS (ECR) cabinet until now. Read more. Opinions EU’s waffling on climate goals is allowing far-right to piggyback to power – By Isabel Schatzschneider The US and Saudi Arabia are taking COP28 pledges seriously – By Thierry Bros US and EU have all the means to derail Russia’s Arctic LNG expansion plans – By Andrii Zhupanyn On our radar 2024 – Q1. Commission proposals: Communication on water resilience Communication on advanced materials for industrial leadership 19 FEBRUARY. Final trilogue (tbc) on carbon removal certification scheme 26-29 FEBRUARY. Parliament plenary 4 MARCH: Trilogue on Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation Energy Council 11-14 MARCH. Parliament plenary Directive on waste ‘Green claims’ directive, protecting consumers from greenwashing 12 MARCH. Climate resilience and adaptation package 20-21 MARCH. European Council 25 MARCH. Environment Council 10 April. Stocktaking on the clean transition dialogues. 10-11 APRIL. Parliament Mini-Plenary (Brussels) 15-16 APRIL. Informal Energy Council 22-25 APRIL. Last Parliament plenary session before the European elections Circularity requirements for vehicle design and on management of end-of-life vehicles 30 MAY. Energy Council SPRING 2024. First European Climate Risk Assessment 6-9 JUNE: European elections 17 JUNE. Environment Council (Luxembourg) 27-28 JUNE. European Council Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic and Frédéric Simon. Interested in more energy and environment news delivered to your inbox? You can subscribe to our daily newsletter and to our comprehensive weekly update here. Read more with Euractiv Austria’s dependence on Russian gas rises to 98%, two years after Ukraine warAustria’s dependence on Russian gas has grown from 80% to 98% in two years, prompting the country’s energy minister to ring the alarm bell ahead of a national election in the Autumn. Print Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Topics Energy & Environment Green Brief