Despite the stated ambitions, the EU has failed to provide financial support for carbon storage and innovations in renewable energy, says the report presented on Tuesday 23 October 2018 by auditor Samo Jereb.
The report, which covers the period 2008-2017, focuses on the European Energy Programme for Recovery (EEPR), which is dedicated to supporting carbon capture and storage (CCS) and promoting offshore wind energy and the New Entrant Reserve (NER 300), which is designed to develop CCS and innovations in the renewable energy sector. The two programmes have a budget of €1.6 billion and €2.1 billion, respectively.
The findings of the survey conducted by auditors in 5 Member States highlight the complexity and lack of budgetary flexibility. "The Commission should have better coordinated its budgetary instruments”, said Mr Jereb, citing the edifying example of the first call for proposals of the NER 300 programme.
According to the report, 10 projects had been submitted, including 8 selected by the Commission. Only 3 Member States had confirmed their support for 5 projects, but the Commission, having considered these confirmations as unsatisfactory, had abandoned all projects.
The auditors also attack the lack of funding efforts by Member States, which "were often absent from meetings intended to allow them to interact with the Commission and the private sector".
However, the auditors acknowledge the effectiveness of EEPR in supporting offshore wind energy, noting that 4 out of 9 projects had been fully completed by 2017. They also admit some misfortune in the timing, considering the drop in oil, gas and coal prices just before the programs were launched in 2009.
To meet the objective of a 40% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030 set by the Paris Agreement (2015) and in view of the launch of the innovation fund that will replace NER 300 in 2021, the auditors presented a series of recommendations.
In addition to the need to resolve the problems already mentioned, the magistrates highlight the urgent need to make the project selection phase more effective, in particular by making it possible to classify projects according to their expected effectiveness.
The full report is available in 23 languages at: https://bit.ly/2JgrdLe (Original version in French by Mathieu Solal)