Sophie Westlake tells the EWEA blog about a new website that aims to collect as many facts as possible on the benefits of Europe’s climate and energy policies…
Sceptics argue that climate change and sustainable energy policies will damage Europe’s economy, but do you believe delayed action in deploying renewable energy technologies could actually be cheaper in the long-run? Do you really think that climate action is a genuine threat to European jobs?
Well the short answer for me is “not really”… But then you probably want a little more detail than that… continue reading »
At the end of last week EU environment ministers met to discuss how to fix the EU’s emissions trading system (ETS) by raising the price of carbon. The EWEA blog spoke to Rémi Gruet, EWEA’s senior regulatory affairs advisor on climate change, to discover just what the ETS does and why the EU needs a higher carbon price.
What is the emissions trading system?
The ETS is a kind of market that puts a price on carbon emissions. Big polluters – mainly the power sector – are legally required to limit their carbon emissions. If they emit less than their limit they can sell carbon ‘permits’ on the market, and if they emit more they can buy carbon ‘permits’.
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This is an excerpt of a post by Heikki Willstedt, director of energy policy, AEE. To read the full post (in Spanish) click here.
Oil has reached €90 a barrel and, when the embargo on Iran becomes effective, there are analysts who predict it will rise to €100 a barrel. Energy imports cost more in Spain than they do in emerging countries, so we cannot improve either our competitiveness or our trade balance deficit. In Spain there are no indigenous oil resources, but we do have the wind to generate electricity. A Spanish wind turbine of 2 MW generates the energy equivalent to 7,000 barrels a year. Wind is the Spanish oil.
The International Monetary Fund defines an oil shock as a 26% or more increase in the price of oil. We have had three: 2008, 2010 and 2011. The current price of oil price in Euros is at a historic high. Just remember that in July 2008 a barrel of oil reached €84 a barrel. We are now 7% above the previous peak price.
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A new report claims that the UK could meet its 2020 carbon reduction targets at a lower cost by building new nuclear plants and gas-fired power stations instead of wind farms, but the report has met strong criticism.
The study, published by AF Consult and picked up by the Sunday Times newspaper, says that opting for new nuclear and gas would be £45 billion (€54 billion) cheaper than wind farms, despite the fact that in reality new nuclear power plants take years to build and gas prices are pushing up energy prices. The UK government said recently that average bills rose by €537 between 2004 and 2011 and 64 % of that increase was down to rises in gas prices. Meanwhile, just 6.5% of the increase was attributed to support for renewable energy.
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A coalition of eight leading European energy companies has written a letter to the European Commission and Presidency of the European Council calling for legally binding 2030 targets for renewable energy, carbon cutting and energy efficiency as well as for the modernisation of energy infrastructure.
The letter was signed by SSE, Eneco, DONG Energy, Public Power Corporation, ACCIONA, Sorgenia, EWE and EDP Renewables.
“The lack of binding targets post 2020, an ETS [Emissions Trading System] failing to stimulate investment in renewables, and an outdated energy infrastructure severely threaten to wreck the needed modernisation and decarbonisation of the European energy sector,” the letter published by Euractiv says.
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