Energy Strategy for Europe - VIDEOS

What do we want to achieve?

 The EU aims to get 20% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. Renewables include wind, solar, hydro-electric and tidal power as well as geothermal energy and biomass. More renewable energy will enable the EU to cut greenhouse emissions and make it less dependent on imported energy. And boosting the renewables industry will encourage technological innovation and employment in Europe.

Croatian Center of Renewable Energy  Sources (CCRES) 

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Intelligent Energy Europe IEE

	The Power to Change - Promoting renewable electricity in the European Union Use of wind, solar and hydro power in Denmark, Spain and Germany. Windows Media Video version [5 MB] Real Player version [797 KB]
	Do more with less Energy – Boosting Energy efficiency in the European industry Better energy management and the switch to modern energy-efficiency technologies help small companies across Europe cope with increasing energy costs and environmental regulation. Windows Media Video version [5 MB] Real Player version [7 MB]
	Local communities for sustainable energy in Europe Public communication campaigns organised in Heidelberg (Germany) and Dunkerque (France) encourage citizens to play their part in sustainable energy use. Windows Media Video version [5 MB] Real Player version [7 MB]
	Fuelling the future - Promoting Biomass Heating in the European Union Development and use of modern district and individual domestic heating systems using biomass in Lithuania, Slovenia, and France. Windows Media Video version [7 MB] Real Player version [7 MB]
	Making the switch - Promoting Energy Efficient Lighting in the EU People in Czech Republic, Sweden and Belgium ‘make the switch’ to modern, efficient lighting systems and create new business opportunities . Windows Media Video version [7 MB] Real Player version [9 MB]
	European cities promote cycling Bucharest (Romania), Bolzano (Italy) and Bromley (UK) help promote the bicycle as an alternative to polluting transport and to make cyclists’ lives easier. Windows Media Video version [7 MB] Real Player version [7 MB]
	Sustainable cooling helps fight global warming (2007) Replacing air conditioning systems with more efficient systems and achieve better building designs in Belgium, Germany and Portugal. Windows Media Video version [7 MB] Real Player version [8 MB]
	Local biofuel production boosts Europe's green future (2007) IEE-funded projects encourage the local production and the greater use of biodiesel in Bulgaria, Ireland and Spain. Windows Media Video version [8 MB] Real Player version [5 MB]
	Europe's children learn to fight climate change (2007) Local experts and teachers run fun and informative classes on energy saving in Slovenia, the UK and Belgium. Windows Media Video version [7 MB] Real Player version [3 MB]

EU Emissions Trading System

  

The EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) is a cornerstone of the European Union's policy to combat climate change and its key tool for reducing industrial greenhouse gas emissions cost-effectively. Being the first and biggest international scheme for the trading of greenhouse gas emission allowances, the EU ETS covers some 11,000 power stations and industrial plants in 30 countries.

With a turnover of some €90 billion in 2010, the EU's Emissions Trading System (ETS) is the world's largest carbon market. Around 80% of it is traded in futures markets and 20% in spot markets.

The ETS aims to encourage companies to invest in low-polluting technologies by allocating or selling them allowances to cover their annual emissions. The most efficient companies can then sell unused allowances or bank them.

After a series of VAT "carousel" and "phishing" frauds in 2009, the European Commission proposed tighter security measures. But a number of member states declined to implement them because they said they could not afford to.

One Commission official pointed out that tens of thousands of euros spent on security could prevent millions of euros in losses.

A review of the Emissions Trading System (ETS) has been brought forward a year, offering “a golden opportunity” for a re-examination of the current rules to prop up the depressed carbon market, said Connie Hedegaard, the EU's Climate Action commissioner.

The reappraisal would be completed within two months, she said at a press conference outside an informal council of energy and environment ministers in Horsens, Denmark.

With regards to the 2013-2020 auctioning period, "there is a tendency [of] much more allowances going into the market in the early phase, rather than the later stage,” Hedegaard said.

“We think it's time to look into whether that makes sense.”

Other options on the table could include imposing a reserve carbon price, withholding allowances (so-called 'set-asides'), and creating thresholds beyond which allowances trading would be frozen.

While there was “almost unanimous support” among ministers for keeping the ETS as the backbone of EU climate policy, member states were “not very clear” about how exactly this should be done, he said.

Carbon price plunge

Earlier this month carbon prices plunged to a record low of €6.14 per tonne, way below the €30 a tonne price the architects of the cap-and-trade scheme once envisaged.

Analysts blame a massive over-supply of credits, uncertainty over the climate investment outlook after 2020, and an economic recession which has prevented a growth in emissions needing to be offset.

In March, the European Parliament called for Brussels to withhold carbon allowances to boost their market price before the third period of ETS trading begins in 2013.

The renewable energy industry believes such a move would send a price signal to investors encouraging market stability and more green investment. 

However, one paper submitted to the informal EU council by Poland, a coal-dependent opponent of further climate legislation, proposed allowing credits traded under the Kyoto Protocol into the ETS, a move likely to lower carbon prices still further.

Poland isolated

Poland is isolated but has already used its veto twice to prevent the European Council from adopting the Commission’s 2050 energy roadmap. 

It has also disrupted the EU nominations procedure for the UN’s planned $100-billion-a-year Green Climate Fund board, by demanding a permanent seat and, submitting and then withdrawing a separate application for a seat through a non-EU bloc.

One informed source said that Warsaw’s positioning was a gambit to prise more funds from the EU’s budget, with no strings attached. 

“They don’t have a plan,” he said. “Their key priority is getting the EU to give them a lot of money from the Multi-Annual Financial Framework but it’s inevitably going to fall apart.”

“You can’t keep poking states like Germany, the UK, and the Netherlands in the eye and expect them not to retaliate.”

Business divided

The ETS issue divides the energy business sector too, with companies such as Shell - which have invested heavily in carbon capture and storage - calling for a billion allowances to be set aside from auctioning, a move strongly opposed by BusinessEurope, the umbrella group for Europe’s employers' confederations.

“The ETS is delivering,” Philippe de Buck, director of BusinessEurope, told the EU ministers in Horsens. “It is on track to reach its target of reducing emissions by 21% compared to 2005 by 2020. I hope you will consider this as an important achievement.”

But he conceded that “some have expressed concerns about the lower than expected price for ETS allowances - also within the business community.”

Market players such as the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change, whose members – mostly large European pension funds and asset managers – claim a combined €7.5 trillion in assets, take a very different view.  

A statement by the group called for a one-off set-aside, a revision of the EU’s 2020 emissions target, and a rethinking of ETS allocations more generally.

“The European Union’s emissions trading scheme is not producing the outcomes originally envisaged and needs fixing,” Stephanie Pfeifer, the IIGCC’s director said.

“At under €7 per tonne, the carbon price is not even high enough to support a switch from coal to gas,” she added.

Making a difference

The EU ETS has put a price on carbon emissions and shown that it is possible to trade in greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions from installations in the scheme are falling as intended. The changes to be introduced in 2013, notably a progressive move towards auctioning of allowances, will further enhance its effectiveness.

The success of the EU ETS has inspired other countries and regions to launch cap and trade schemes of their own. The EU hopes to link up the ETS with compatible systems around the world to form the backbone of a global carbon market.

CCRES

 special thanks to 

Connie Hedegaard 

EU Commissioner for Climate Action 

CROATIAN CENTER of RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES (CCRES)

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emission in EU

Are the European member states meeting their Kyoto 2012 carbon dioxide(CO₂) emission targets?
Countries in the green do well and emit less than their 2012 target. 
The countries in the red emit more than their Kyoto target. 

Figures are in Megaton (Mt CO2-eq).

EU MEMBER STATE	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	KYOTO TARGET 2012	% UNDER KYOTO TARGET
ESTONIA	21.2	21.2	20.7	19.2	22.0	20.3	40	49.25 %
LATVIA	10.7	10.7	10.9	11.7	12.1	11.9	23.3	48.93 %
LITHUANIA	16.7	21.1	22.6	22.8	24.7	24.3	44.1	44.90 %
ROMANIA	-	160.1	153.7	153.9	152.3	145.9	259.9	43.86 %
BULGARIA	-	68.9	69.8	71.5	75.7	73.5	127.3	42.26 %
HUNGARY	83.3	79.5	80.5	78.8	75.9	73.1	114.9	36.38 %
POLAND	382.5	396.7	399	399.3	398.9	395.6	551.7	28.29 %
SLOVAKIA	51.1	49.5	48.7	49.0	47.0	48.8	67.2	27.38 %
CZECH REPUBLIC	147.5	147.1	145.6	149.1	150.8	141.4	180.6	21.71 %
SWEDEN	70.9	69.7	67	66.9	65.4	64.0	75.2	14.89 %
GREECE	137.2	137.6	139.2	128.1	131.9	126.9	139.6	9.10 %
UNITED KINGDOM	658	660.4	657.4	647.9	636.7	628.2	678.3	7.39 %
FRANCE	560.9	556.1	553.4	541.7	531.1	527.0	564	6.56 %
BELGIUM	147.6	147.6	143.8	136.6	131.3	133.3	135.9	1.91 %
GERMANY	1024.4	1025	1001.5	980.0	956.1	958.1	972.9	1.52 %
FINLAND	85.4	81.2	69.3	79.9	78.3	70.1	71.1	1.41 %
								% ABOVE KYOTO TARGET
PORTUGAL	83.7	84.6	85.5	84.7	81.8	78.4	77.4	1.29 %
NETHERLANDS	215.4	218.4	212.1	208.5	207.5	206.9	200.4	3.24 %
IRELAND	68.4	68.6	69.9	69.7	69.2	67.4	63	6.98 %
ITALY	577.3	580.5	582.2	563.0	552.8	541.5	485.7	11.49 %
SLOVENIA	19.7	19.9	20.3	20.5	20.7	21.3	18.6	14.52 %
DENMARK	73.6	68.2	63.9	71.0	66.6	63.8	54.8	16.42 %
SPAIN	407.4	425.2	440.6	433.0	442.3	405.7	331.6	22.35 %
AUSTRIA	92.5	91.2	93.3	91.6	88.0	86.6	68.7	26.06 %
LUXEMBOURG	11.3	12.8	12.7	13.3	12.9	12.5	9.1	37.36 %
MALTA	3.1	3.2	3.4	2.9	3.0	3.0	NO TARGET
CYPRUS	9.2	9.9	9.9	9.9	10.1	10.2	NO TARGET

CROATIAN CENTER of RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES (CCRES)