Energy Transition in Europe | www.energy-cities.eu

Clean energy policies are not to blame for recent spikes in gas and electricity prices, and the soaring prices should not derail Europe's green transition, International Energy Agency executive director Fatih Birol said on Monday (27 September).

The new cohesion policy legislative package has ben published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

The European Union and its member states should draw the consequences of the current stalemate in multilateral talks aimed at reforming the Energy Charter Treaty and consider a coordinated withdrawal, Paris has said in a letter seen by EURACTIV.

Signed in the early 1990s to protect oil and gas companies from political risk when investing in the former USSR, the treaty has since been decried as outdated by the EU, which wants to reinstate its “right to regulate” and align the treaty with its international climate obligations.

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline company has taken an unusual legal step in its dispute with the European Commission by asking the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) to annul the amendments to the Gas Directive which the Gazprom-led project considers discriminatory.

The energy transition will hit the poor hardest unless it's balanced by a shift in taxation, says Christian Egenhofer. The EU needs to acknowledge this and get started by lowering taxes on electricity to achieve the EU’s carbon reduction goals at least cost, he argues.

The European Parliament voted on a proposed classification for sustainable assets on Thursday (28 March), voting to exclude nuclear power from receiving a green stamp of approval on financial markets.

During a recent discussion about the future of the EU, one of the speakers suggested that there should be a “Day without Europe”, in the same way that cities hold an annual day without cars, or some people go offline from the web for 24 hours.

Tomislav Dontchev, the politician who came up with the idea, said it would be a day when people would need visas to cross borders and would pay customs duties to import goods. “This would drastically reduce the number of Eurosceptics”, he said.

Corina Crețu, the EU Commissioner for Regional Policy, supports the possibility for two member states working on cross-border cooperation projects to voluntarily choose the legislation from one of the two countries.

Despite steady progress in key areas, the European Union is only partially on track to achieve the EU’s 2030 climate, environment and sustainability objectives, according to the latest monitoring report published by the European Environment Agency (EEA). More decisive measures are needed to boost a circular economy, reverse the declining trend in biodiversity and in reducing the EU’s consumption footprint.

Ending the sale of new carbon dioxide-emitting cars is politically unpopular, but one green group says it’s needed for the EU’s climate goals.
The European Union’s green agenda is increasingly under fire, which is prompting backers of the idea of ending the sale of fossil fuel cars by 2035 to unleash campaigns aimed at ensuring no backsliding after June’s European election.

The European Union is considering tightening rules on whether wood-burning energy can be classed as renewable and count towards green goals, according to a draft document seen by Reuters on Wednesday (16 June).

Confused by the range of EU and national climate laws? The EU-ETS, the Effort-Sharing Regulation, the Renewable Energy Directive, the Energy Efficiency Directive, the Clean Energy for all Europeans Package, LULUCF, and more? Which are the important ones? Who exactly is making policy, and how? What are the real world effects? Julian Wettengel at Clean Energy Wire has asked experts to improve our understanding by answering a list of questions on targets, which policy instruments are making a difference, National vs EU policy, autonomy (can Germany act alone on Nordstream 2), the Europe-wide power market (can Italians buy Danish electricity), relations with non-EU states, and Brexit.

Little has happened since Zittau filed an objection to the continuation of the Turów opencast mine in March 2020 and the scientific study by geologist Dr. habil. Ralf E. Krupp was presented at a press conference in the Citizens' Hall of the Zittau City Hall. The study revealed that a continuation of the Turów (PL) open-cast mine […]

Attention energy wonks, the EU’s revised electricity regulation is going to change the electricity grid as we know it. Not just physically, but in terms of market policy:  no forbearance with grid …

Member States, through the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER I), have voted to support the agreement laid out in the Electricity Market Design Directive, which maintains priority dispatch for small solar installations up to 400kW.