The Regulatory Scrutiny Board (RSB)—an independent body of the European Commission that is responsible for advising the College of Commissioners by checking all of the institution’s draft impact assessments—has issued a negative opinion concerning the impact assessment report on the future revision of the EU directive (2018/2001) on renewable energy (‘RED II’).
According to the opinion obtained by EUROPE on Tuesday, 11 May, the report has “significant shortcomings”.
While a recently leaked European Commission document has provided some initial clues regarding the future proposal to revise the ‘RED II’ directive (see EUROPE 12712/9), the RSB notably believes that the impact assessment report “does not sufficiently demonstrate the rationale, EU added value and proportionality of a number of the proposed measures”.
It also notes that the “comparison of the options is often confusing or incomplete”, particularly for “the options related to bioenergy and impacts on Member States”.
Consequently, the RSB specifically recommends broadening the impact analysis for measures regulating bioenergy by examining, in particular, the effects on the bioenergy sector resulting from the increasing demand for renewable energy sources as well as by clarifying assumptions, uncertainties, and potential risks.
It adds, “The report should clarify whether the proposed sustainability criteria for biomass and the increased use of bioenergy (especially after 2030) are aligned to the Green Deal’s ‘do no harm’ principle, in particular for air pollution”.
Given all these elements, the RSB has thus called on the European Commission to revise the report and submit a new version for a final opinion before the proposal to revise the ‘RED II’ directive is presented—a presentation scheduled for 14 July.
See the board’s opinion: https://bit.ly/3tLFvsB (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)