On 10 October, the second trilogue on the EU ETS took place. Three major crises have been addressed: mitigating energy prices, stopping the financing of Russian aggression in Ukraine and maintaining the climate ambition for 2030. An agreement was reached on the steel benchmark and indirect cost compensation. For more information, please contact Ennio Prizzi.
The Commission hosted the 2022 Bioeconomy Conference, both live in Brussels and online. During the 2-day event, there were robust discussions on how biomass can be used, promoted, can replace fossil fuels, and on the existing limits and challenges to expanding the bioeconomy. Most of the sessions are also available online through Vimeo. For more information, please contact Daniel Reinemann.
The European Commission published a Proposal for a Council Regulation on an emergency intervention to address high energy price. The proposal includes the application a revenue cap that, in the intention of the Commission, seeks to avoid “hampering incentives in investments in flexible generation technologies, and the production of electricity from sources that directly compete with natural gas and gas-fired power plants”. The Secretariat drafted a position paper which calls to consider the special role of bioenergy plants when introducing a mechanism for skimming off additional revenues. For more information, please contact Ennio Prizzi.
The Industry Research, and Energy Committee met on Monday (26 September) to discuss the REPowerEU and REDIV. The rapporteur for both REDIV and REDIII, Markus Pieper (EPP, DE) expressed an interest in having them being negotiated in the same trilogue so there is a possibility that the two Commission proposals will be merged in practice. Nils Torvalds (RE, FI) also again the rapporteur in the ENVI committee for REDIV as he was for REDIII, also spoke saying that although it is important that Europe makes sure it reaches its targets, it must also make sure it safeguards sustainability. For more information, please contact Daniel Reinemann.
During last week’s meeting of the Working Group Domestic Heating, participants shared their views on current and future development of the pellet market including market prices. Further, the current state of play of some key files for the DH sector (including RED, EED, EPBD and the EU energy labelling and ecodesign legislation) were presented and discussed. Slides and minutes are available. For more information, please contact Irene di Padua.
The EU Sustainable Energy Week 2022 (EUSEW) is taking place this week until 30 September 2022, both in Brussels and online. Registration to the Policy Conference is still open. On Thursday, Bioenergy Europe, together with Energy Cities and Solar Heat Europe, will host the session titled Stronger together: community-based renewable energy projects for a just and green transition from 11:30 to 13:00. For questions, please contact Maija Lepistö.
The Industry Research and Energy Committee (ITRE) will hold a hearing the proposal modifying the Renewable Energy Directive, Energy Efficiency Directive, and the European Performance of Buildings Directive on Monday 26 September. Amendments to the proposal must be tabled by Tuesday, 27 September. The meeting will also be livestreamed on the Parliament’s website. For more information, please contact Daniel Reinemann.
Bioenergy Europe obtained the leak of the Council’s compromise on the text revising the directives on renewables (RED), energy efficiency (EED) and the energy performance of buildings (EPBD). The text marginally modifies the definition of “preferred renewable areas” and “go-to areas”. According to the compromise, these areas where the installation of renewable energy is facilitated do not apply to hydroelectric power stations on top of biomass combustion plants. For more information, please contact Ennio Prizzi.
The first Trilogue meeting between the Council, the European Parliament and the Commission on the Land-Use, Land-Use Change, and Forestry (LULUCF) Regulation was held on 5 September. A 4-column document without the status of the current negotiations is available on the Council’s website showing the differences in the positions. For more information, please contact Daniel Reinemann.
Bioenergy Europe signed a letter to Executive Vice-President Timmermans and Commissioners Simson and Marija Gabriel along with ten other renewable associations calling for the Innovation Fund to recognise that renewables must displace fossil fuels. The ‘clean tech manufacturing’ and ‘mid-sized & highly innovative’ windows are particularly important for renewables and should receive more attention in the third call. For more information, please contact Irene di Padua.
