On October 26, 14:00-16:00 (CEST), Bioenergy Europe, re4industry and Music-Project are holding a free webinar to inform companies from the Energy Intensive Industry about bioenergy’s role in enabling the sector’s decarbonisation efforts. See the agenda, register to the event, and add the event to your calendar. For further information, please contact Francisco Lourenco Matias.
Bioenergy Europe together with Bioenergy International magazine are hosting a free and open webinar occurring on October 21, 14:00-16:00 (CEST). During this event, the REDII sustainability requirements for solid biomass will be reminded but also the state of play of the REDII transposition and implementation among the different member states will be provided. Lastly, various paths to demonstrate compliance with the REDII sustainability requirements will be presented. See the agenda, register to the event, and add the event to your calendar. For further information, please contact Francisco Lourenco Matias.
DG ENVI is setting up an expert group on the Zero Pollution Action Plan to discuss how to prevent and reduce air, water and soil pollution to achieve the Green Deal’s objectives. The group will be composed by 12 members from the industry, a call for expression of interest is open until 3 November. For more information, please check the Commission’s website or contact Irene di Padua.
The first high-level forum to engage and facilitate discussions on CCUS will take place on 11 October. The forum is designed to involve all relevant stakeholders, representatives of the EU institutions and EU countries to facilitate the deployment of CCUS technologies. If you wish to participate, please register here. For more information, please contact Michal Dlugosz.
The first high-level meeting of the relaunched Clean Energy Industrial Forum will take place on 13 October. Bioenergy Europe will be represented by Mr. Pasi Laine, CEO of Valmet. Topics of this meeting attended by Commissioner Simson will include: competitiveness of the clean energy industry in the EU, circularity and critical raw materials access, skills needed and opportunities of the just energy transition. For more information, please contact Michal Dlugosz.
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.
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.
The Danish MEP Niels Fuglsang (S&D) has been appointed as rapporteur for the recast of the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) in the ITRE committee. Additionally, Spanish MEP Nicolás González Casares (S&D), will be one of the shadow rapporteurs for the Renewable Energy Directive (RED).
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.
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.
