Details

We need to address all the three major crises at the same time: mitigate energy prices, stop finance Russian aggression in Ukraine and at least keep our climate ambition for 2030 / Strong criticism on Council’s mandate on REPowerEU / Agreement on steel benchmark and indirect cost compensation

"We need to address the problem of the high-energy prices with all possible means. One cannot overestimate the problems that citizens and companies are facing. At the same time, we need to get finally rid of our dependence on Russian energy. Due to our energy bill, we still finance the Russian aggression in Ukraine. On top of that, it is not at all the time to give up our goals for climate ambition. If possible, we should even increase it for 2030. It almost sounds as the square of the circle, but I think it is our duty to do so.” These were the comments of Peter Liese, Rapporteur of the European Parliament for the Emission trading scheme and the respective part of REPowerEU.

The Parliament’s Environment Committee, which has exclusive competences for this part of REPowerEU, last Monday agreed on their position on REPowerEU. One day later the Council agreed on a very different approach. The Parliament wants to finance the €20 billion in REPowerEU for the necessary infrastructure to get rid of Russian gas, for example, renewables and energy efficiency, by a frontloading of the certificates or rather emissions. However, the Council wants to finance the big bulk of the REPowerEU by taking away money from the Innovation Fund. “This fund is to be increased according to the Parliament’s and the Commission’s position to really enable the industry to decarbonize. It is already much smaller than the respective funds in the United States (Inflation Reduction Act). If we don’t want to lose our competitiveness in the field of decarbonisation technologies and the respective industries we can by no means accept the Council’s position here,” explained Peter Liese.

This Monday, the second trilogue and first political trilogue on the ETS took part. Parliament, Czech presidency and the Commission discussed a lot of issues. “There is a good common understanding of some points but on other points we still strongly disagree. I´m happy to see that on some specific points that are of utmost importance for the workers in a big part of the industry, we already solved the problem. We agreed that companies having a high electricity bill and be under the threat of carbon leakage, like aluminium industry, will continue to receive indirect cost compensation. The compensation was never 100 % so that efficiency and decarbonisation will always pay off. But it is important for this sector and other related sectors suffering from the high electricity prices to get predictability that they will continue to be compensated.”

We also agreed to continue to support the steel industry by free allowances. The Commission proposal wanted to get rid of the respective calculation methodology which would have created an enormous challenge for the steel industries much bigger than for other industries after the implementation of the amended ETS. We now concluded that the rules for the steel industry will remain the same. Of course, the steel industry will be challenged by the higher target and the respective changes in the linear reduction factor like all other industries. On some other more technical details we also agreed and on many more we have a good understanding where the landing zone is. So the trilogue was successful but it is of course only a first step and major items are not mature to take a decision. I encourage everybody to look at compromises and move from the original positions. Our common understanding is that an agreement under Czech presidency is possible but to finally arrive there, we need efforts and readiness for compromise from all three institutions,” completed Peter Liese.

Details

Environment Committee adopts compromise package on REPowerEU / Due to energy crisis, Parliament plenary sessions should take place in Brussels in winter / Travelling to Strasbourg and heating a second building not responsible, while we call on others to save money


On Monday evening, the EU’s Environment Committee adopted the financial cornerstone for REPowerEU. With a broad majority, MEPs adopted compromises that envisage auctioning certificates worth 20 billion euros from the European Emissions Trading Scheme earlier than planned in order to carry out investments in energy independence. "With this decision, we have come a big step closer to becoming independent from Russia on the issue of energy imports," said Peter Liese, European Parliament rapporteur on REPowerEU in the Environment Committee on Monday evening's vote. "We can now tackle several crises together. Firstly, the prices for CO2 certificates and thus energy prices will be curbed. This will help citizens and companies with energy costs this winter. At the same time, we can support the investments that we urgently need right now and get closer to our European climate goal. In the second half of this decade, we will have to take additional efforts here, however. Important for the EPP is that a large part of the funds must be spent on cross-border projects. There must be an end to nation-state egoism, such as France's behaviour of not allowing renewable electricity from Spain and Portugal into the rest of the continent in order to protect their own power plant industry,” declared Liese, who is also the environmental policy spokesman for the largest group in the European Parliament (EPP, Christian Democrats).

Details

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

The reform of the European emissions trading system (ETS) will crucially shape the EU’s way to climate neutrality. Now that the Parliament has defined its final position, the file has entered into trilogues, meaning into negotiations between Parliament and member states. For me, as the Parliament’s rapporteur of the ETS, it is my intention to provide a platform for a broad debate on the matter. Therefore, I would like to invite the public to the sixths public consultation on the ETS.

The Webex web conference will take place on:

Friday, 14 October 2022
15:00 - 17:30h

Details

Dampening ETS prices and promoting investment / Environment Committee in the European Parliament agrees on text on REPowerEU


"We need to tackle the three major crises of our day at the same time. We must do everything we can to bring prices down so that citizens and businesses can survive the coming winter. At the same time, we must finally stop financing the Russian war of aggression through our energy bills and continue to prioritize the climate crisis, in particular the goals for 2030,” this is what rapporteur in the ENVI Committee Peter Liese believes is what the European Commission’s proposal for REPowerEU is all about. The European Commission has proposed to intervene in the European emissions trading system and thus generate 20 billion euros to promote investments such as in LNG terminals, renewable energy and energy efficiency so that we can become less dependent on Russian gas. Now the ENVI negotiators agreed on a text.

The proposal met with criticism from environmental groups, social democrats and the Greens because it would lower the price of emission certificates. The rapporteur for the Environment Committee, the CDU politician Peter Liese, sees this as an advantage: "In the current phase, we must do everything we can to curb the price of electricity in particular and to relieve companies that are on the verge of bankruptcy. That is why it is not just an unpleasant side effect, but rather a desired effect if we push the ETS price down now. The price was €20 two years ago and has risen to almost €100 for a short time. In view of the general situation, one cannot be happy about this development. Investments in decarbonization cannot be made so quickly that they provide sufficient relief in the coming winter. That is why it is important to dampen the price in the short term. However, the proposal that we have worked out in the Environment Committee provides that the certificates are not simply put on the market, but that certificates from the period after 2026 are brought forward. This means that the climate effect will remain until 2030. What is clear is that the relief we are giving now must be compensated for by additional efforts by 2030.”

  1. Reduce burdens from European emissions trading in the short term without jeopardizing 2030 targets
  2. ECDC and EMA publish recommendations on Omicron booster vaccination
  3. EMA recommends approval of Moderna and BioNTech's Omicron-adapted vaccines
  4. Adapted vaccines are coming