MEPs Jutta Paulus (Greens/EFA, German) and Silvia Sardone (Identity and Democracy, Italian) have submitted their joint draft report on the proposed EU regulation to reduce methane (CH4) emissions from the energy sector.
Dated 15 September, the draft report makes few substantive changes to the European Commission’s original text presented on 15 December 2021 (see EUROPE 12854/12).
This is probably due to the difficulty for the two co-rapporteurs to agree on common amendments.
“As this was a joint draft report by the ENVI (Environment, Public Health and Food Safety) and ITRE (Industry, Research and Energy) Committees, this shows the lowest common denominator between the two co-rapporteurs” a parliamentary source told us.
Among the proposed amendments, the draft report introduces changes with regard to the mitigation of emissions from methane venting and flaring.
The text thus provides for an increase from 0.5 to 3 tonnes of methane (per kilotonne of coal mined) in the emission threshold above which the venting of methane through ventilation shafts in coal mines would be prohibited from 2027.
Furthermore, while the Commission wanted to ban the venting and flaring of methane from capture plants from 2025 (except in the case of emergencies, malfunctions or when unavoidable and strictly necessary for maintenance purposes), the draft report proposes to limit this ban to venting and flaring “with a destruction and removal efficiency below 98%”.
The presentation of the draft report is scheduled for 10 October and the vote in the parliamentary committees for January 2023.
On the side of the Member States, the Czech Presidency of the EU Council had presented, on Tuesday 12 July, a second draft compromise in order to reach a political agreement (‘general approach’ - see EUROPE 12993/4).
See the draft report: https://aeur.eu/f/377 (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)