ERCST

ERCST x WEF: Scenarios and Strategies for Carbon Competitiveness
2022-10-26 13:30 - 15:00 UTC | ERCST Rue Archimède 61, Bruxelles, Rue Archimède 61, Bruxelles, 1000, Belgium
This meeting is by invitation only. If you are interested in attending, please contact bdegraeve@ercst.org.
This Roundtable on Scenarios and Strategies for Carbon Competitiveness is to be held on Wednesday 26 October, 13.30-15.00 CEST, at the ERCST Offices (Rue Archimède 61, 1000 Brussels). The roundtable is co-convened by the European Roundtable on Climate Change and Sustainable Transition (ERCST) and the World Economic Forum.
The discussion will focus on the relationship between carbon pricing and trade. As carbon pricing instruments grow worldwide, so too has interest in border carbon adjustments (BCAs), as a policy tool to mitigate carbon leakage. An energy crisis, particularly in Europe, is also setting a new context for industrial competitiveness that will affect the climate action agenda. It is not clear, at the moment, how or where governments will choose to address BCAs and/or carbon leakage in international or regional forums.
Participants will work through a set of four possible future scenarios on carbon pricing and trade to reflect on these policy interactions and potential developments. The conversation will then focus on actions different actors – both public and private – could take to reach one scenario versus another.
The roundtable is held off the record to allow for a frank exchange. It will inform further work in this area from both convening organisations – including at COP27 in November.
Workshop materials:
Draft Agenda

The principle of technological neutrality and hydrogen incentives
2022-10-27 10:00 - 12:00 UTC | ERCST Rue Archimède 61, Bruxelles, Rue Archimède 61, Bruxelles, 1000, Belgium
This event was selected as a side event within the European Hydrogen week 2022.
While the focus of the European Commission Hydrogen Strategy clearly lies on renewable hydrogen, the strategy acknowledges that in the short and medium term, other forms of low-carbon hydrogen are needed to rapidly reduce emissions from existing hydrogen production and support the parallel and future uptake of renewable hydrogen. In a similar approach, the REPowerEU communication mentions that to achieve 10 million tons of EU renewable hydrogen domestic production, other forms of fossil-free hydrogen, notably nuclear-based are needed.
Most of the different building blocks of the hydrogen regulatory framework were already presented in various parts of the Fit for 55 package and the hydrogen and decarbonized gas market package. However, the translation of the policy vision for low-carbon hydrogen portrayed in the strategy and REPowerEU into the proposals is still not complete. As an example, the European Commission has left the key elements of the low-carbon hydrogen definition for secondary legislation (to be proposed by 2024).
This meeting assessed three main questions:

Is it possible to ramp-up the EU-hydrogen economy without the contribution of low-carbon hydrogen?
Would a technology neutral approach to incentives based on the carbon footprint of the hydrogen produced favor the ramp-up of the EU hydrogen economy?
How could the demand side of the hydrogen market be supported in decarbonizing at affordable prices considering the current energy crisis?|

Agenda Recording ERCST Slides

Border Carbon Adjustments in the EU: Launch of Report on CBAM: Aligning the design with evolving circumstances
2022-10-27 15:00 - 17:00 UTC
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 launched its report on CBAM alignment with evolving circumstances, presenting its own recommendations, and discussing its analysis with experts.
Agenda ERCST Slides Recording

COP27 Side Event: WEF x ERCST Panel - Carbon Pricing and Trade: What Future?
2022-11-11 12:30 - 13:30 UTC
This panel was co-convened by the European Roundtable on Climate Change and Sustainable Transition (ERCST) and the World Economic Forum.
The use of carbon pricing instruments is growing worldwide. So too, is interest in border carbon adjustments (BCAs), to ease industry competitiveness concerns. This reflects a growing need to improve dialogue between trade and climate governance forums. Many climate-trade discussions are underway, but there are few systemic or formalised processes. Would this be needed, and how can we ensure that trade policy is put at the service of accelerated climate action?
In this panel, we aimed to improve the climate community’s understanding of trade debates on BCAs, as well as scope mechanisms for trade and climate policy linkages.
Agenda Event flyer

COP27 Side Event - Article 6: Understanding the current state of play and VCMs
2022-11-11 14:00 - 15:30 UTC
This side event was organised in cooperation with Business Europe & Advocates for International Development.
This event took place at Tonino Lamborghini International Convention Center, Sharm El Sheikh. The event was broadcasted through the UNFCCC Youtube Channel.
Following the success at COP26, Art 6 rulebook has further progressed towards implementation, but some of the Art 6 elements and the role of VCMs require further clarification. This event took stock of the position of countries and requirements of the private sector regarding Article 6 and VCMs to enable understanding of the outstanding issues.
Agenda

External Event - COP27: Policy measures to promote a clean energy future
2022-11-11 16:30 - 17:30 (Europe/Helsinki)
ERCST’s Executive Director, Andrei Marcu, spoke at this panel organised by the World Nuclear Association.
There has been a wave of national initiatives in countries around the world to promote clean energy investment. From policies that support existing nuclear power, to production and investment tax credits for new clean electricity technologies, to the promotion of clean hydrogen production, policies in more and more countries are including nuclear energy in their results-driven efforts focused on decarbonization.
For example, the U.S. government passed, and will soon implement, the Inflation Reduction Act, which included game-changing tax credits that will help nuclear investment thrive. We have seen other countries invest in nuclear education and research, which will ensure they have an adequate and skilled workforce and cutting edge technologies to meet growing demand.
National policies play a key role in influencing private sector investment decisions. This panel gave an insight into recent policy decisions and their ramifications.

ERCST at COP 27 - CBAM
2022-11-14 19:00 - 20:30 (Europe/Helsinki)
This event took place at COP27 in the Turkey Pavilion.
In order to address the risk of carbon leakage from the EU ETS, in July 2021 the European Commission has put forward a proposal for a Carbon Border Adjust Mechanism (CBAM). Over the last fifteen months this proposal has gone through the EU legislative process, which is now nearing conclusion and is expected to be completed by the end of 2022. The CBAM will not only impact trade between EU and its partners, but is also leading to significant changes to how other countries are approaching climate change.
This event was an open discussion with Mr. Gerassimos Thomas who is the Director General of Directorate of EU Taxation and Customs Union which has the primary responsibility for the CBAM legislation.
In this discussion, Mr. Gerassimos was joined by international stakeholders to discuss the current direction of CBAM as well as their reactions to the introduction of this EU legislation.
Agenda

External Event: Interaction of Voluntary Carbon Market and Carbon Pricing Policies
2022-11-15 13:00 - 13:45 (Europe/Helsinki)
This event was organised by the Turkish Government. It took place at COP27 at the Turkey Pavilion.
ERCST’s Executive Director Andrei Marcu moderated this panel on carbon markets and carbon pricing policies. He also gave a presentation on the interactions of different carbon pricing instruments, such as CORSIA, ETS, EU CBAM and voluntary carbon markets.
Speakers

J. Van de Ven, EBRD
D. Forrister, IETA
S. De Clara, ICAP
Dr. D. Weinreich, ICAP & BMWK
E. Kaan Moralı, Climate Change Office, Turkey

External Event: Frontiers in Carbon Pricing
2022-11-16 12:00 - 13:30 (Europe/Helsinki)
This event is organised by the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements. It took place at COP27 at the Pavilion of the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA).
Some sixty jurisdictions worldwide – including both national and subnational governments – have adopted carbon-pricing policies, largely cap-and-trade systems or carbon taxes. Very few of these policies, however, match the economist’s ideal – an upstream, economy-wide emissions-trading or carbon-tax system (with specific rebate mechanisms for revenue). Most emissions trading systems include, to varying degrees, price collars, rendering them, effectively, ETS-tax hybrids. Economists and political scientists are examining the reasons why such systems have been adopted, and policy makers in the United States (and elsewhere) are beginning to consider how some features of pricing systems might be incorporated into non-pricing policies, thus reducing costs, given the apparent political difficulty of enacting carbon-pricing legislation.
This panel explored these and other advanced and timely topics in carbon pricing. Robert Stavins, A.J. Meyer Professor of Energy and Economic Development at Harvard Kennedy School and Director, Harvard Project on Climate Agreements, moderated the discussion.

CCUS Industrial Partnership: what next?
2022-11-21 16:00 - 17:30 UTC | ERCST, Rue Archimède 61, Bruxelles, 1000, Belgium
Participants in the CCUS Forum in Oslo, hosted on 27-28 October, discussed several issues related to a strategic vision for CCUS, CO2 infrastructure, and CCUS industrial partnership.
The Forum endorsed two documents prepared by the working groups on the CCUS Vision Strategy and CO2 Infrastructure. However, the industrial partnership concept still requires further reflection. Stakeholders agreed that a CCUS industrial partnership would be needed to speed up the deployment of those technologies to achieve climate neutrality, but the discussion over the format of such cooperation must continue.
This event aimed to explore the options for a CCUS Industrial Partnership by bringing together stakeholders and experts from various sectors.
Agenda ERCST Slides EC Slides

Post-COP27: In conversation with Jacob Werksman
2022-11-22 16:30 - 17:30 UTC | ERCST Rue Archimède 61, Bruxelles, Rue Archimède 61, Bruxelles, 1000, Belgium
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. Now, they are faced with the new challenge of implementing such decisions. However, many issues are still on the table to be discussed in Sharm el-Sheikh.
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.
Agenda Recording

(Carbon) Contracts for Difference: Priorities and Red Lines for the EU Scheme
2022-11-28 14:00 - 16:00 UTC | online
This workstream aims to bring together stakeholders, including policymakers and industry on a regular basis to discuss substantive issues around the topic of (C)CfDs, informed by original intellectual input from ERCST.
(C)CfDs are discussed as one of the most promising alternatives to foster the deployment of low-carbon industrial technologies. However, it is still uncertain how (C)CfDs can be part of the policy mix towards decarbonization.
As some of the key design and implementation features of an EU-wide scheme for (C)CfDs are now being shaped, we would like to encourage a discussion on three key issues: (1) what are the priorities and red lines for the design of an EU-wide scheme, (2) whether just renewable hydrogen and its application in industry should be eligible for support and (3) how can be ensured that the industrial playing field is not altered by the implementation of national schemes.
Questions for discussion:

What are the priorities and redlines in the design of an EU-wide competitive bidding mechanism for the innovation fund?
What should be the technological scope for (C)CfDs?
What are the interlinkages between the EU scheme and national schemes and how could a distortion of the industrial level-playing field be avoided?

Agenda ERCST Slides Johanna Schiele (DG CLIMA) Slides

The transition plans: beyond sustainable finance?
2022-11-30 10:00 - 12:00 UTC | ERCST, Rue Archimède 61, Bruxelles, 1000, Belgium
The idea of presenting a transition plan – i.e., ensuring that the business model and strategy of the undertaking are compatible with the transition to a sustainable economy and with the limiting of global warming to 1.5 °C, in line with the Paris Agreement – will soon turn into a concrete legal obligation. It is mandated by the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and contemplated in other pieces of European sustainable finance legislation: the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive and the EU Green Bonds Standard. But this kind of requirement expands beyond the sustainable finance realm. For example, the European Parliament wants to reduce the amount of ETS free allocations for companies not having a decarbonisation plan or failing to meet their milestones.
However, it remains unclear how to turn those very forward-looking and complex commitments into real change by individual companies throughout the various business models.
The event aimed at identifying the objective, scope, and challenges in addressing the requirement of presenting transition plans in and beyond the EU corporate sustainability framework.
Agenda ERCST Slides

Certification of hydrogen and hydrogen-based end products
2022-12-12 10:00 - 12:00 (Europe/Paris) | ERCST Rue Archimède 61, Bruxelles, Rue Archimède 61, Bruxelles, 1000, Belgium
This workstream aims to bring together stakeholders and policymakers on a regular basis to discuss substantive issues around the hydrogen policy and regulatory framework, informed by original intellectual input from ERCST.
This meeting focused on the following issues:

Why is certification of hydrogen and hydrogen-based products important?
What is the relation between the different standards and methodologies that are emerging?
What are the interlinkages between the certification of hydrogen and the certification of hydrogen-based end products?
What are the connection points between a potential EU hydrogen certification scheme and the international standards, and how this is going to affect cross-border flows of hydrogen?

Agenda ERCST Slides

State of the European Green Deal year-in-review
2022-12-13 17:00 - 18:00 UTC | University Foundation, Rue d’Egmont, 11, Brussels, 1000, Belgium
This meeting was part of a continuous series organized by ERCST on the European Green Deal. This workstream aims to bring together policymakers and stakeholders on a regular basis to take stock of recent developments in the EGD framework.
Beginning of 2022 witnessed the continuation of a trend where climate and environmental policies have had 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 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.
Ms. Yvon Slingenberg, Director at DG CLIMA, commented on the current state of affairs and on the outlook for next year.
Agenda Recording

EU ETS Directive after trilogues: Discussion with Beatriz Yordi and roundtable
2023-01-11 16:00 - 17:30 (Europe/Paris) | University Foundation, Rue d’Egmont, 11, Brussels, 1000, Belgium
The ETS has emerged as the backbone of EU Climate Action and, especially in the last two years, as a crucial driver of decarbonisation. The Commission proposal to review the EU ETS Directive aimed at aligning the emissions pathway of the ETS sectors with the new EU climate targets. Throughout the next decade, the ETS is required to both enable a deep decarbonisation of the power sector and to tackle industry’s emissions, while avoiding carbon leakage.
Following the adoption of the EU ETS Directive in 2022, this event took stock of the final shape of the legislative text.
Following the presentation by DG CLIMA of the adopted EU ETS Directive, the reactions from high level speakers will be followed by questions from the audience that addressed:
· Ambition, cap and Linear Reduction Factor (LRF).
· Carbon leakage, free allocation and indirect cost compensation.
· Role of non-compliant entities and transparency.
· Extension of carbon pricing to new sectors.
· Market Stability Reserve (MSR).
This event provided a first opportunity to exchange views on the adopted provisions.
Agenda

EU CBAM after Trilogues: Discussion with Gerassimos Thomas and roundtable
2023-01-19 15:00 - 16:30 (Europe/Paris) | University Foundation, Rue d’Egmont, 11, Brussels, 1000, Belgium
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 were yet to be concluded at this stage.

This event, which is part of the ERCST CBAM Programme, discussed the agreement reached in December as well as what is next with Gerassimos Thomas, Director General at DG TAXUD as well as a roundtable which included:

S. Åkerfeldt
A. Georgescu
H. Lösch

The discussion also included the ERCST CBAM team (Andrei Marcu, Aaron Cosbey and Michael Mehling).
Agenda Recording

Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence – how to make it work?
2023-02-01 10:00 - 12:00 (Europe/Paris) | ERCST Rue Archimède 61, Bruxelles, Rue Archimède 61, Bruxelles, 1000, Belgium
The Due Diligence Directive Directive is part of the unfolding EU corporate sustainability landscape which aims at integrating sustainability to strategies and everyday activity of large undertakings. Among them the CSDDD is a special case. It focuses on environmental and human rights impacts of businesses, but it also introduces an obligation for large companies to ensure that their business model and strategy are aligned with the Paris Agreement objectives, including the 1.5°C commitment. In contrast to other elements of the sustainability framework (e.g. SFDR, CSRD/ESRS, Taxonomy) CSDDD goes beyond the disclosure requirements and introduces the obligation for companies to actively manage those issues: identify, prevent, end, mitigate.
In 2023 the co-legislators and the Commission started meeting for the trilogues to negotiate the final shape of this legal act. To make the due diligence scheme workable the EU institutions will have to clarify and reconcile many issues, including how to prepare and implement transition plans, the scope of liability and boundaries of covered risks, impact on SMEs, or interplay with national and international schemes and commitments and other corporate sustainability requirements.
The event aimed at identifying the key issues necessary to make the corporate sustainability due diligence workable.
Agenda ERCST Slides

The inclusion of hydrogen in the EU CBAM
2023-02-01 15:00 - 16:30 (Europe/Paris) | ERCST, Rue Archimède 61, Bruxelles, 1000, Belgium
On December 13th the European Parliament and the Council reached a political agreement to introduce an EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. Although not part of the initial European Commission Proposal, CBAM will also apply to hydrogen together with cement, iron and steel, aluminium, fertilisers, and electricity.
During this meeting we took stock of the implications of the inclusion of hydrogen in the EU-CBAM. This preliminary discussion and exchange of ideas informed an ERCST report that built on the same methodological approach used by ERCST for the analysis of other sectors (i.a. chemicals, electricity, fertilisers, ferrous metals etc.).
Agenda ERCST Slides ERCST Sectorial Deep Dive Olivier Imbault Slides

Expert Consultation: 2023 State of the EU ETS Report - by invitation only
2023-03-02 10:30 - 12:30 (Europe/Paris) | ERCST Rue Archimède 61, Bruxelles, Rue Archimède 61, Bruxelles, 1000, Belgium
The ERCST hosted brainstorming meeting with a small group of invited stakeholders and policy makers, which brainstormed on the presentation of the 2023 State of the EU ETS Report[1].
It was the eight annual report on the State of the EU ETS and built on the reports produced by this group of authors, and other partners, in the last six years. The 2022 edition is available through this link.
The topics/chapter presentations that were discussed are:

Regulatory developments (EU and international)
Environmental delivery
Socio-Economic delivery
Market functioning
Market Sentiment
Competitiveness and carbon leakage

For each topic, the authors presented the expected content, which allowed for a brainstorming discussion with stakeholders to address any gaps, or make any corrections needed, ahead of the final presentation of the report.
Agenda
[1] The 2023 State of the EU ETS Report is a joint effort between ERCST, BloombergNEF, the Wegener Centre for climate and global change at the University of Graz and EcoAct.

The inclusion of hydrogen in the EU CBAM, ERCST's assessment
2023-03-07 15:00 - 17:00 (Europe/Paris) | ERCST, Rue Archimède 61, Bruxelles, 1000, Belgium
On December 13th the European Parliament and the Council reached a political agreement to introduce an EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. Although not part of the initial European Commission Proposal, CBAM will also apply to hydrogen together with cement, iron and steel, aluminium, fertilisers, and electricity.
During this meeting ERCST presented the assessment’s conclusions concerning the rationale and implications of the hydrogen inclusion in the EU CBAM. This assessment built on the methodology used by ERCST for the analysis of other sectors (See: CBAM Sectorial Deep Dive) and on the discussions held during ERCST public meeting on February 1st.
This meeting started by a presentation by ERCST’s CBAM team outlining some of the assessment’s conclusions, followed by a panel discussion, Q&A and debate.
Agenda ERCST Slides

The paths to decarbonised and sustainable transport: Stakeholders' meeting
2023-03-15 15:00 - 17:00 (Europe/Paris) | ERCST Rue Archimède 61, Bruxelles, Rue Archimède 61, Bruxelles, 1000, Belgium
The objective of the project is to analyse the current pathways emerging from EU policy for decarbonisation of heavy-duty road transportation including links to the other transportation modes and propose, if necessary and appropriate, complementary and/or alternative policy pathways. They will be underpinned by the EU objective of climate neutrality stemming from the EU Climate Law. In comparing various decarbonisation option, the project will take due account of the full Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of GHG emissions and the cumulative reduction of CO2 emissions over time.
The deliverables of the project are intended to support the discussion on decarbonization of transport in the next policy cycle.
The first deliverable of the project addressed the following question:
A) What influences the determination of pathways for mobility decarbonization?

Identify the desired outcomes (KPIs) that were used in defining the current pathways for mobility decarbonization
Outline changes in social environment (COVID, energy crisis, geopolitical, etc.)
Determine new desired outcomes (KPIs) that need to be considered under current circumstances

Agenda ERCST Slides

CCUS in the net-zero transition
2023-03-16 15:00 - 17:00 (Europe/Paris) | ERCST, Rue Archimède 61, Bruxelles, 1000, Belgium
To achieve the goal of the Paris Agreement of pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, countries must severely reduce their emissions and reach a net zero economy by 2050.
In this framework, carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) technology is necessary to achieve ambitious climate targets. However, its deployment is still way below the needed levels depicted in various global scenarios. As 2050 is approaching, it is now to bring this technology under the spotlight to incentivise investments, development, and cooperation at an international scale to put it on track for achieving climate neutrality at a global level.
In this event, the role of CCUS in different climate neutrality scenarios and its role in different policy mixes was explored, bringing over regional perspectives on how this role has been translated and the technology implemented in different regulatory jurisdictions.
Agenda BP Slides IEA Slides CATF Slides Norsk Hydro Slides
Government of India Slides Recording

Expert Consultation: CBAM and Flanking Measures for Industrial Decarbonisation
2023-03-20 15:00 - 17:00 (Europe/Paris)
In December 2022, the European institutions reached a provisional agreement in the CBAM trilogues. The transitional phase of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism started in October 2023, with actual implementation starting from 2026. In this roundtable, we discussed the function of the CBAM in a portfolio of instruments for industrial decarbonisation, focusing on the role of additional support policies in an evolving global context.
This roundtable discussion brought together global experts in the areas of economics, law, and policy to assess existing proposals of how to treat non-pricing policies in the EU CBAM.

EU Climate Policy and Electricity Market
2023-03-27 15:30 - 17:30 (Europe/Paris) | ERCST, Rue Archimède 61, Bruxelles, 1000, Belgium
During this meeting, ERCST intended to present the results of a research exercise on developing a climate change lens to analyse and inform the EU debate on reforming the electricity market design and on the discussions held during private ERCST working group consultations in January and February.
This meeting started with a presentation by ERCST’s team outlining the results of the development work, followed by a panel discussion and debate.
Agenda ERCST Slides EDP Slides

External Event: IETA European Climate Summit - CBAM: A New Era for Global Trade Order
2023-03-29 15:30 - 16:30 (Europe/Paris)
ERCST’s Executive Director, Andrei Marcu, moderated the Deep Dive session Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism: A New Era for Global Trade Order, which is part of IETA’s European Climate Summit in Lisbon.
Climate, trade and competitiveness is reaching a fever pitch across the Atlantic. The long-debated CBAM is set to become a reality. This session looked at US’ Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the European Green Deal Industrial Plan, as well as delve into the details of EU’s CBAM. It tackled how to protect export industries from potential carbon leakage, looked at ways to prevent circumvention risks, compatibility with WTO regulations, and the global community’s response to the world’s first carbon border tax.
You can find more information about the European Climate Summit on IETA’s website.

Hydrogen: State of play of the EU hydrogen policy & regulatory framework
2023-03-30 09:30 - 11:30 (Europe/Paris) | ERCST, Rue Archimède 61, Bruxelles, 1000, Belgium
This workstream consists of a continuous series of meetings and accompanying publications which aim to bring together different stakeholders to take stock of key policy and regulatory developments of the EU hydrogen policy and regulatory framework identified by ERCST. It also aims to put forward recommendations and propose innovative solutions to existing policy and regulatory bottle necks.
With most of dossiers reaching the final stages of the legislative process and new elements being added (i.a. EU electricity market reform, Net-Zero industrial act, EU H2 bank), this meeting intended to take stock of recent policy and regulatory developments for hydrogen in the EU.
Agenda Slides

EU CCUS policy: Net-Zero Industry Act & upcoming Commission’s Communication
2023-04-20 14:30 - 17:00 (Europe/Paris) | ERCST, Rue Archimède 61, Bruxelles, 1000, Belgium
To achieve the goal of the Paris Agreement of pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, countries must severely reduce their emissions and reach a net zero economy by 2050. In this framework, carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) technology is necessary to achieve ambitious climate targets. However, its deployment is still way below the needed levels.
This event aimed at exploring:

The CCS provisions in the Net-Zero Industry Act;
The elements that ought to be included in the upcoming Commission’s strategy on CCUS.

In the EU, interest in CCUS is growing. In particular, 2023 seems to be an important year: the Net-Zero Industry Act introduces a provision for an injection target capacity while preparing for issuing a Communication on a CCUS strategy. Internationally, CCUS is also increasingly capturing the attention of policymakers. Nevertheless, the EU is still far away from achieving the level of deployment of CCUS technology that is required for achieving its climate targets and climate neutrality. There are still a lot of unknowns and elements that need to fall in place.
Agenda ERCST Slides

2023 State of the EU ETS Report - Launch Event
2023-04-26 15:00 - 17:00 (Europe/Paris) | Residence Palace. Rue de la Loi 155, 1000 Bruxelles., Residence Palace. Rue de la Loi 155, Bruxelles, 1000, Belgium
This was the launch event of the 2023 State of the EU ETS Report1. During this event the report was presented by the authors and discussed by commentators. This was be the eighth annual report on the State of the EU ETS and builds on the reports produced by this group of authors, and other partners, in the last six years. The 2022 edition is available through this link.
The European Commission is required to annually assess, according to the EU ETS Directive, the functioning of the EU ETS and report back to the EU Parliament and Council. While the European Commission has its role to play in providing an official report, it is also important that independent review and assessment of the functioning and delivery of the EU ETS takes place.
The annual “State of the EU ETS” Report aims to provide such an independent contribution to the policy debate, which is needed to ensure that the EU ETS is “fit for purpose”. The Report is intended as a “snapshot”, providing policymakers and stakeholders with an overview of how the EU ETS is doing by April of each year, based on previous year data.
This event covered the 2023 Report. This year’s edition reflects the track record of the ETS last year and the revised EU ETS Directive to be adopted in mid-2023, its expected impact on the EU ETS, and the role the ETS is expected to play in the longer term.
1 The 2023 State of the EU ETS Report is a joint effort between ERCST, BloombergNEF, the Wegener Centre for climate and global change at the University of Graz and EcoAct.
Agenda Publication

Review of decarbonization policies for heavy-duty transport: the ERCST analytical framework
2023-05-11 15:00 - 17:00 (Europe/Paris) | ERCST, Rue Archimède 61, Bruxelles, 1000, Belgium
The objective of the ERCST project is to analyze the current pathways emerging from EU policy for decarbonisation of heavy-duty road transportation and propose, if necessary and appropriate, complementary and/or alternative policy pathways. They will be underpinned by the EU objective of climate neutrality stemming from the EU Climate Law.
The EU Sustainable and Smart Mobility strategy formulates the objective of 90% of emission reduction in the transport sector by 2050. It assumes developing many policies and technological solutions along the principle of technological neutrality and phasing out of fossil fuels. None of those policies alone is a silver bullet. Only the deployment of many complementary solutions and creating the space for innovation gives the chance to meet the ambitious decarbonisation targets in line with the European political and legal commitment for the climate neutrality by 2050 stemming from the European Green Deal and the EU Climate Law.
The first report set the ERCST analytical framework and address the following question: what influences the determination of pathways for mobility decarbonization?
It a) identified the desired outcomes that were used in defining the current pathways for mobility decarbonization, b) outlined changes in the economic, political and social environment and c) determined new desired outcomes that need to be considered under current circumstances.
Agenda Slides
