European Roundtable on Climate Change and Sustainable Transition

LATEST PUBLICATIONS

February 17, 2023
Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive: How to make it work?
February 8, 2023
Hydrogen: The imports dimension of REPowerEU
January 16, 2023
EU ETS Review: Political agreement after trilogues
November 10, 2022
ERCST Reflection Note – 2022 CCUS Forum: An overview

UPCOMING EVENTS

RECENT EVENTS

RECORDINGS

On December 13 the European institutions reached a provisional agreement in the CBAM trilogues. The transitional phase of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism will start in October 2023, with actual implementation starting from 2026. The final details are yet to be concluded, after which both Parliament and Council need to formally adopt the CBAM. This event, which is part of the ERCST CBAM Programme, will be an opportunity to discuss the agreement reached in December as well as what is next with Gerassimos Thomas, Director General at DG TAXUD. This will be followed by a roundtable discussion.
This meeting was part of a continuous series organized by ERCST on the European Green Deal, which started on 8 January 2020 right after the European Commission’s EGD was announced. This workstream aims to bring together policymakers and stakeholders on a regular basis to take stock of recent developments in the EGD framework. The “Fit for 55” legislative processes finds itself in a crucial phase. Most of dossiers have entered the inter institutional negotiations where the three institutions are expected to bridge differences and reach compromises. Political pressure to show results may affect the quality of adopted solutions. Beginning of 2022 witnessed the continuation of a trend where climate and environmental policies have an increasing impact on several aspects of the EU society and economy and shape the trajectory of the energy transition, defining key components of the EU energy system. However, geopolitical developments in early 2022 marked the beginning of a change in trend, tilting the balance towards a greater emphasis on energy security and the effects of the energy crisis. In previous years circumstances allowed governments to adopt and implement policies which at the same time contributed to reducing emissions, offered affordable energy prices to consumers and guaranteed the security of supply. This has become increasingly difficult, forcing some governments to choose between those objectives. A few EU governments have even called for slowing down the implementation of the EGD ambitions. Panel with Luca De Carli (European Commission), Holger Lösch (BDI) and Michaela Holl (Agora Energiewende).
At COP26 in Glasgow, Parties finalised and adopted the Article 6 Rulebook and so the Paris Rulebook, exactly 6 years after the adoption of the Paris Agreement. In Sharm el-Sheikh, they are faced with the new challenge of implementing such decisions. J. Werksman, Chief Paris Agreement Negotiator and head of the UNFCCC Task Force & Principal Adviser for International Aspects of EU Climate Policy, and A. Marcu, ERCST Executive Director, discussed the outcomes of COP27 and the EU view on these outcomes.
One of the most critically important issues of CBAM, yet to be resolved, is the question of how to compare the level of effort in third countries’ climate policies to that of the EU, in order to determine crediting against the CBAM. The US, for example, has embarked on a suite of transformational climate-related initiatives under its Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), but employing subsidies rather than pricing. The IRA is a particularly salient example of evolving circumstances that invite further thinking about the CBAM’s elaboration and implementation. As well as the question of whether to credit for equivalent effort, the IRA’s heavy subsidization may have relevance for the CBAM’s design in the area of export rebates, timeline of implementation, and roll-back of free allocation. Other current events also have relevance. Many European industrial sectors were already struggling with long-term competitive challenges but are now also facing unprecedented costs because of the Russia-Ukraine war and longer-standing supply chain disruptions. Are these evolving challenges grounds for rethinking aspects of CBAM, or for an increasing focus on parallel supporting industrial policies? At this event, the ERCST Team launches its report on CBAM alignment with evolving circumstances, presenting its own recommendations, and discussing its analysis with experts.

OTHER MATERIALS

February 2, 2023
Presentation: Due Diligence – how to make it work?
December 12, 2022
Certification of hydrogen and hydrogen-based products
November 29, 2022
(Carbon) Contracts for Difference a policy update
October 28, 2022
Hydrogen incentives and the principle of technological neutrality
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LATEST NEWS

October 21, 2022
European ferro-alloys industry needs urgent help to survive energy crisis — Euroalliages: LME Week
June 15, 2022
EU carbon market reform: The Parliament’s last chance – Energy Monitor
June 1, 2022
Korea University: KU holds a seminar on international transferred mitigation outcomes to …
March 19, 2022
Study on carbon storage units and obligations under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement – OGCI

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