Brussels, 05/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - An agreement on setting up a European carbon market stability reserve sufficiently ahead of the 21st UN Climate Conference (COP-21, Paris, December 2015) is an essential element in the roadmap for Paris that the Commission will present on 25 February (see EUROPE 11246 and 11240).
On Wednesday 4 February, Maros Sefcovic, the European Commission vice president, responsible for the energy union, announced this news to the European press and confirmed that this roadmap is an indispensable addition to the future strategic framework for the energy union and a “climate policy that looks to the future”.
On the subject of ETS reform, the Commissioner explained: “We are close to an agreement with Parliament and the Council on the market stability reserve. This is a preliminary to the presentation of our reform that we would like to adopt well before Paris. This will provide the regulatory stability for the industry in Europe”.
The roadmap for Paris will accompany the future strategic framework for the energy union and will also highlight the contribution the EU intends to make to the world climate agreement that will hopefully be obtained at COP 21 and which should enter into force in 2020. Sefcovic explained, “this roadmap involves the three pillars of the future strategic framework relating to the climate agenda: energy efficiency, support for renewables for transforming the economy into a low carbon one and the research and innovation dimension. All our objectives must shift towards a low carbon emissions economy, which is why I think that research is crucial”. (AN).