Member States' energy ministers will focus on smart sector integration, draft national energy and climate plans and the energy policy priorities of the new European Commission, on Wednesday 4 December, at the ‘Energy’ Council of the EU.
Smart sector integration. The EU Council will begin with a debate on smart sector integration and sector coupling, i.e. how to achieve greater integration between energy-using sectors, such as industry, transport and construction, and energy producers.
This debate will aim to provide the Commission with policy guidance for its future legislative and non-legislative initiatives in this area, identifying in particular the regulatory and other obstacles that should be removed in order to accelerate smart sector integration.
According to the Finnish Presidency of the EU Council, progress in this area will contribute to achieving climate neutrality, as "smart sector integration makes it possible to use increasing volumes of clean energy for a variety of purposes, such as heating, transport and industry".
The Presidency considers that electricity produced from renewable energy sources could be used to produce hydrogen through the electrolysis process or synthesis gases that would be used to store or transport energy and could easily be transformed into electricity or heat. It also added: "This would make it possible to use renewable energy throughout the economy, as energy-intensive industries, as well as the heating and cooling sectors, would turn away from the use of fossil fuels".
Therefore, for Helsinki, smart sector integration is a prerequisite for decarbonising the economy.
It should be noted, however, that currently about 95% of hydrogen is produced from fossil sources. The production of this gas from electricity from renewable sources remains particularly expensive, as it is very costly in terms of electricity.
National energy and climate plans. After this first discussion, ministers will have an exchange of views on the follow-up to the Commission's Communication, presented on 18 June 2019, on the draft national energy and climate plans (NECPs) provided by each Member State before the beginning of 2019.
This assessment of the draft national plans had highlighted that the measures planned by Member States would not achieve the EU's targets of 32% renewable energy and 32.5% energy efficiency by 2030. More specifically, the Commission had estimated that the gaps between European targets and NECP projects could be 1.6% for renewable energies and 6.2% for energy efficiency (see EUROPE 12277/4).
While Member States have until the end of the year to present their final NECP, energy ministers are therefore invited to comment on the finalisation of their NECPs, in particular on the further progress they would have made in closing the ambition gaps identified by the Commission.
At the previous Energy Council of the EU, most Member States had committed themselves to updating their draft national energy and climate plans (see EUROPE 12334/1).
Future of energy policy. Kadri Simson, the new European Commissioner for Energy, will then present to the ministers the Commission's energy policy priorities.
Finally, the Commission will report on the trilateral negotiations (Russia, EU and Ukraine) on Russian gas transiting via Ukraine (see EUROPE 12358/8). It will also provide an overview of the EU's winter preparedness in terms of gas storage and supply. According to Cedigaz, an international association dedicated to natural gas information, Europe's underground natural gas storage capacity has never been so full, averaging 96%. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)