European Court of Auditors Special Report on Forestry

The European Court of Auditors published a special report called “EU funding for biodiversity and climate change in EU forests: positive but limited results”. The report evaluates the impact EU policies were having in forests. Although forests cover roughly the same amount of land as agricultural land, they only receive about 1% of the Common Agricultural Policy funding, which is responsible for nearly all of EU forestry funding. The report shows concerns regarding the Timber Regulation not being enforced stringently enough and it suggests that the EU should increase monitoring and data collection on forestry. The Commission also replied to the report. For more information, please contact Daniel Reinemann.

Commission’s Response to the Council’s Reaction on the Forest Strategy

The current Forest Strategy which was adopted by the Commission on 16 July was heavily criticized by the Council in the Council’s draft response. Bioenergy Europe’s Secretariat has now obtained a copy of the Commission’s draft response to this reaction. In the Council’s reaction they state, “all forest-related decisions and policies in the EU must respect the principle of subsidiarity and Member States’ competence in this field,” the Commission pushed back saying “Forests and forestry do not fall within the exclusive competency of Member States.” Forestry is likely to remain an area of conflict between the Council and the Commission. For more information, please contact Daniel Reinemann.

Review of the EU’s cogeneration reference values

Bioenergy Europe’s Secretariat participated in the second workshop on the revision of the energy efficiency reference values within Annex 1, 2 of the Energy Efficiency Directive. Preliminary conclusions were presented: The reference values for dry biomass (S4 category) and other biomass (S5) would remain the same. Similarly, consultant presenting the conclusions didn’t have data justifying a breakdown of category S4 on different biomass subcategories. Moreover, the research consortium called for more operational data related to the use of biomass in power-only and heat-only installations for the last 5 years. Members are encouraged to provide input of this data. A comment on this subject will be prepared by the Secretariat by 29 October. For more information, please contact Michal Dlugosz. 

Draft Reply to the Restoring Sustainable Carbon Cycles Roadmap

Bioenergy Europe has prepared a draft reply to the roadmap on restoring sustainable carbon cycles on the Have Your Say platform of the European Commission. Should you have any comments on Bioenergy Europe’s draft reply, please submit them by Friday, 1 October, COB. All members are welcome to use Bioenergy Europe’s draft or final reply in whole or part in their own responses. The submission deadline is 7 October at midnight Brussels time. For more information, please contact Daniel Reinemann. 

EED Position Paper Development Session

Bioenergy Europe is organising a session on Friday, 1 October, 14:30-15:30 to discuss and refine our position on the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED). The discussion will focus mostly on the new definition for efficient district heating and the reference values for cogeneration. All members are invited and welcome to attend. If you have not received a link but would like to attend, please contact Irene di Padua

Rapporteurs for key Fit for 55 dossiers

The political groups in the European Parliament are currently debating the allocation of responsibilities for the 13 legislative proposals presented in July. The ITRE committee will be in charge of the Renewable Energy (RED III) and Energy Efficiency (EED) directives, whilst the ENVI committee will lead on the extension of the EU ETS, the CBAM and LULUCF, for which the Greens’ representative Ville Niinistö will be rapporteur. ENVI committee will also be tasked to provide an opinion on the REDIII for which Nils Torvalds is likely to be appointed as rapporteur. The ECON committee will work on the ETD revision, for which ECR representative Johan Van Overtveldt will take the lead. ITRE coordinators are meeting today to further discuss on this issue. For more information, please contact Irene di Padua. 

REDIII Position Paper Development Session

Bioenergy Europe is organising a session on Friday, 17 September, 14:00-16:00 to discuss and refine our position on REDIII. All members are invited and welcome to attend. If you have not received a link but would like to attend, please contact Daniel Reinemann.