New Decisions from the European Council
12 Jun 2022The European Council negotiated renewable energy and energy efficiency directives within the scope of the "Adaptation to 55" package and created a new draft law.
It is planned that the Council will start negotiations with the European Parliament to create the final text of the new draft law..
Energy production and use account for 75 percent of the European Union's (EU) emissions. The new agreed targets will make a significant contribution to the EU's target of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 percent compared to 1990 levels by 2030.
French Energy Transition Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher stated that the agreed topics will help reduce dependence on Russia for energy, considering the war in Ukraine; "Member states' agreement on these two directives is a major step forward in the fight against global warming. Decarbonising our energy systems through the massive deployment of renewable energy and significant efforts in energy savings is crucial to achieving our climate goals." he said.
Sector-specific targets were determined
The Council decided to increase the share of energy from renewable sources in the total energy obtained from 32 percent to 40 percent. To achieve the new target, member states will need to increase the national contributions set in the National Energy and Climate Plans (National Energy and Climate Plans, NECP), which will be updated in 2023 and 2024. In addition; To accelerate the integration of renewable energies, the Council agreed to set sector-specific targets.
The council will give the transport sector the choice between reducing greenhouse gas intensity by 13 percent by 2030 or generating 29 percent of the energy consumed in the sector from renewable energy.
In the vote, it was also accepted that free emission permits for the aviation sector will be phased out by 2027. In order to cover the costs of expanding the use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), 20 million of the free allocations that will be phased out will be donated to the sector.
The Council also agreed to include shipping emissions within the scope of the Emission Trading System (ETS). Since member states that are highly dependent on maritime transport will be the countries that will be most affected by this decision, the Council decided to distribute 3.5 percent of the allocations given in the auction to these member states.
Savings will be achieved in energy consumption
The Council decided to accelerate the functioning of the necessary permit procedures for renewable energy projects in line with the priorities of the RepowerEU plan proposed by the Commission in May 2022. After Russia invaded Ukraine, the Council decided to accelerate the distribution of renewable energies within the scope of the EU's plan to end its dependence on Russian fossil fuels. aims.
The Council also approved a 39 percent reduction in primary energy consumption, which represents the energy used for energy production and supply at the EU level, and a 36 percent reduction in final energy consumption, which represents the energy consumed by end users, by 2030.
According to the new decisions, member countries will save 1.1 percent of their annual final energy consumption as of January 1, 2024. This rate will be increased by 1.3 percent starting from January 1, 2026 and 1.5 percent from January 1, 2028 until December 31, 2030.
New targets in ETS and SKDM
Agreeing to maintain the target of reducing emissions by 61 percent in the sectors covered by ETS by 2030, the Council also agreed to a one-time reduction of the general emission cap within the scope of rebasing and to increase the annual reduction rate of the emission cap by 4.2 percent per year.approved.
With regard to sectors covered by the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM – SKDM), the Council adopted a proposal to phase out free allowances for relevant sectors by the SKDM over a ten-year period between 2026 and 2035. The support required to decarbonize these sectors will be provided from the Innovation Fund. The Council also asked the Commission to monitor the impacts of SKDM, including carbon leakage from exports, and to assess whether additional measures are needed.
Concerning the Modernization Fund, the Council requested that 2.5 percent of the additional ceiling be auctioned and the share of priority investments be increased to 80 percent. The Council also decided to expand the list of member countries benefiting from the Modernization Fund. Natural gas projects will not be able to benefit from the Fund in principle. However, the Council introduced a transitional measure that will allow beneficiaries of the fund to continue financing natural gas projects under certain conditions.
After this stage, the Council and the Parliament will begin negotiations to agree on the final text of the two directives.
Source: ISO Green Blog
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