Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU and European Parliament negotiators reached trialogue agreement on Wednesday 20 June on the draft regulation on governance of EU energy and climate policies which provides for the long-term planning and coordination needed for the EU to achieve the objectives of the Paris international climate agreement.
This governance mechanism seeks to ensure that the EU’s energy and climate targets, in particular those for 2030 (40% reduction in greenhouse gases, renewables providing at least 32% of the EU’s energy mix and 32.5% energy efficiency) along with the cross-border interconnection target of 15% of each country’s electricity capacity, will be achieved by means of a collaborative process within among the countries of the EU and with the European Commission.
It will ensure that national targets and policies are consistent with those of the EU while leaving each country free to make adaptations to suit their situations and needs. The aim is to provide long-term certainty and predictability for investors.
Under the political agreement, each member state will have to present an integrated national energy and climate plan by 31 December 2019, and a second by 1 January 2029, and every ten years thereafter. The first of the plans will cover the 2021-2030 period, also taking into consideration a longer-term perspective, and the following plans will cover the subsequent ten-year period.
These plans will include national targets, contributions, policies and measures for each of the five dimensions of the Energy Union (decarbonisation, energy efficiency, energy security, internal energy market and research, innovation and competitiveness). Member states must also prepare long-term strategies setting their policy vision until 2050.
The member states are called on to cooperate with each other, using all existing forms of regional cooperation (such as BEMIP, North Sea, Pentalateral Energy Forum and CESEC).
They will have to encourage civil society, regional and local authorities and stakeholders to become involved in the drafting of the national plans, so as to build consensus on the best way to bring about energy transition and to make the best choices and most cost-effective and suitable investments.
The agreement also includes new mandatory measures on energy poverty: for the first time, member states member states will be required to use some of their energy efficiency measures to help vulnerable customers, including those affected by energy poverty.
Each member state will have to include an assessment of the number of households facing energy poverty in its plan and a national indicative target to reduce it, if the figure is significant (see EUROPE 12028).
They may also include policies and measures addressing energy poverty, including social policy measures and other relevant national programmes.
The Commission will assess the integrated national energy and climate plans and make recommendations. It may adopt remedial measures, if it considers that insufficient progress has been made or that progress is insufficient. Parliament and the Council will evaluate progress on a regular basis.
The provisional agreement still has to be approved by the Parliament’s energy and environment committees. It will then go to forward to be endorsed by Parliament as a whole, probably in the October plenary session.
After being given the go-ahead by the Council of Ministers of the EU, the regulation will be published in the Official Journal of the EU and will be directly applied in all member states.
The deal “establishes new partnerships between member states and civil society, cities and stakeholders. It is quite ambitious on regional cooperation. On the 2050 climate vision, this Regulation is a big step forward as for the first time it anchors the concept of ‘carbon budget’ into EU law and underlines the need to achieve a net-zero carbon economy as early as possible”, said co-rapporteur Claude Turmes (Greens/EFA, Luxembourg).
“We have therefore ensured that the national plans are compatible with the objective of keeping global warming well below 2°C, with the ambition of reaching 1.5°C. We also welcome the establishment of a mechanism capable of guaranteeing a fair contribution by the Member States to the energy transition”, stated the other co-rapporteur Michele Rivasi (Greens/EFA, France). (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)