More sectors could become eligible for environmental and energy State aid in 2022, according to a draft European Commission document obtained by EUROPE on Monday 31 May.
This document, which concerns the revision of the European Union’s guidelines for State aid for environmental protection and energy (EEAG) from 2022 onwards, states, among other things, that aid for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions may be declared compatible with internal market rules under certain conditions.
This category would include: - aid for renewable and low-carbon energy production; - aid for energy efficiency, including high efficiency cogeneration; - aid for carbon capture, storage and use; - aid for the reduction or avoidance of emissions from industrial processes.
“Support for biofuels, bioliquids, biogas and biomass fuels can only be approved to the extent that the aided fuels are compliant with the sustainability and greenhouse gases emissions saving criteria of Directive 2018/2001 (on renewable energy - RED II) in its latest applicable version”, the document states.
Other new categories envisaged by the Commission include aid for the end of shale oil and coal exploitation, energy efficiency and environmental performance of buildings, security of electricity supply and the prevention and reduction of pollution other than greenhouse gases.
The guidelines would also cover aid for clean transport vehicles - whether air, sea or road transport - aid for the deployment of recharging or refuelling infrastructure for clean transport vehicles, as well as aid in the form of reduced taxes and energy charges for energy-intensive users.
It should be noted that this draft document will probably be subject to many changes before the official version is presented, expected in the fourth quarter of this year.
See the document: https://bit.ly/3wNxaqC (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)