Today EU leaders discussed the future EU budget after 2020 at an informal European Council meeting.
Today the European Parliament’s leading committee on the future EU budget agreed on EU spending priorities for the period 2021-2027. MEPs put future EU funding one step closer to delivering on the EU’s climate action commitments, sending an important signal to EU leaders ahead of an informal European Council which will discuss the future EU budget.
Today the European Parliament’s industry and energy committee (ITRE) adopted its position on the laws to redesign the EU’s electricity market.
Contrary to its own proposal to curb power subsidies with an emissions limit, the European Commission has approved the Polish capacity mechanism that will allow the country to subsidise coal-fired power plants for decades to come. This will severely undermine the EU's ability to implement the Paris Agreement.
Today the European Parliament adopted its position on three legislative proposals under the Clean Energy Package, namely the revisions of the Renewable Energy Directive and the Energy Efficiency Directive, and the new Governance Regulation, which will guide the EU’s zero-carbon transition in the coming decade and beyond.
MEPs raised the ambition of the future clean energy laws, by voting in favour of increasing the EU’s 2030 renewable energy and energy efficiency targets to at least 35 percent and raising its long-term target to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 at the latest.
Today EU Energy Ministers have adopted their positions on four legislative proposals under the Clean Energy Package, which will guide the EU’s energy transition in the coming decade and beyond.
Turning their backs on the Paris Agreement, the ministers opted for a feeble renewable energy target, lax rules for ensuring that all EU countries contribute to the energy transition and massive coal subsidies in the EU’s power market.
Statement on behalf of Climate Action Network Europe, Carbon Market Watch, European Environmental Bureau, Sandbag, Transport & Environment, and WWF European Policy Office.
EU governments must step back from irreparably weakening Europe’s biggest climate law, six of Europe’s leading environmental NGOs have said, after talks between member states and the European Parliament ended in deadlock this week. The proposed Effort Sharing Regulation sets binding national emission reduction targets for the 2021-2030 period, but governments are insistent on loopholes that would actually result in hundreds of millions of tonnes in additional CO2 emissions.
Swift and significant emission cuts by Europe’s top polluters under new rules would boost health and reduce healthcare costs.
On 18 December, EU Energy Ministers are expected to reach an agreement on four legislative files under the Clean Energy Package, namely those regarding renewable energy, governance and the internal market for electricity.
Worryingly, the draft documents for the meeting show that they are stubbornly insisting on an outdated, blatantly unambitious position on the renewable energy target and weak rules for helping countries make energy transition. They are also about to allow massive coal subsidies in the EU power market.
While EU leaders are discussing climate finance at the One Planet Summit in Paris, today the European Parliament failed once again to prevent further public investments in fossil fuels. A decision made in the European Parliament turns a blind eye to the Juncker plan’s investments in energy projects which have so far benefited fossil fuels almost as much as renewables, a study shows.
Ania Drążkiewicz
Head of Communications
ania /at/ caneurope.org
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Mobile: +32 494 525 738
Nicolas Derobert
Communications Coordinator
nicolas /at/ caneurope.org
Work: +32 2894 4673
Mobile: +32 483 621 888
Stevan Vujasinović
Communications Coordinator for Southeast Europe
stevan /at/ caneurope.org
Mobile: +381 (0)63 390 218
Goksen Sahin
Communications Coordinator
goksen /at/ caneurope.org
Work: +32 2893 0827
Mobile: +32 468 453 920
