Rapporteur Talks

December 2020 marks the first anniversary of European Commission President Von der Leyen's announcement of the European Green Deal – with the centrepiece ambition to make Europe a carbon-neutral continent by 2050.

The initial climate action initiatives include the European Climate Law to enshrine the 2050 climate-neutrality objective into EU law, the European Climate Pact to engage citizens and all parts of society in climate action, and the 2030 Climate Target Plan to further reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030.

The European Commission estimates up to 450 GW of offshore wind power is needed by 2050 for Europe to deliver climate neutrality. Electricity will represent at least 50% of the total energy mix in 2050 and 30% of the future electricity demand will be supplied by offshore wind.

The EU is committed to drive offshore wind development. Continued improvements in manufacturing and turbine design, as well as improved capacity factors, have driven down the costs of wind power and confirmed its position as a key driver of the clean energy transition. In 2020, a new strategy on offshore renewable energy will be published as part of the European Green Deal.

To successfully achieve climate neutrality by 2050, the EU needs to establish an integrated energy infrastructure. The European Commission underlined in its recent strategies that it’s essential to address decarbonisation with a holistic approach, tackling for instance energy together with the so-called “hard-to-abate” sectors. To become future-proofed, it is argued that today’s regulatory framework must be revised and while doing so, the multiple specificities of the EU regions should be taken into consideration.

We are on the eve of an energy revolution. As highlighted by the recent report of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the production of low-carbon and renewable gases is expected to substantially increase in the coming decades, leading our energy system to drastically evolve. But how do we transport and store these molecules?

The EU gas infrastructure states they offer sustainable and cost-effective solutions in transmission, storage and LNG terminals. As explained by Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans, it is a valuable asset for the development of the hydrogen value chain and market across EU regions. Aware that innovation will be one of the driving forces of the energy transition, gas operators are taking action in initiating numerous innovative projects in Europe.

For decades, the standard approach to production and consumption has been “ make, use, dispose”. The European Commission considers that current linear pattern does not give producers an incentive to make their products more sustainable. Many products break down too quickly, cannot be easily reused, repaired or recycled, and many are made for single use only. Prices of products do not often reflect their environmental and societal costs, which reduces the incentives to produce and consume more sustainably. Missing or unclear information for consumers on the sustainability of products further contribute to the problem.

In February 2020, European Commissioner for Transport Valean gave her first insight into the Commission's reflections on the future of transport and mobility. She welcomed the European Parliament's choice to put sustainability at the centre of the debate as it perfectly mirrors EC President Von der Leyen’s political guidelines driven by the ambition of the European Green Deal to ensure that transport makes its important contribution to climate neutrality by 2050.

According to the European Commission, renewable and low-carbon hydrogen is a key building block towards a climate-neutral and zero-pollution economy in 2050, by replacing most fossil fuels and feedstock. It can contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions ahead of 2030 and to a green recovery of the EU economy.

Renewable and low-carbon hydrogen also offers a unique opportunity for EU research and innovation, maintaining and expanding Europe’s technological leadership in these technologies, and creating economic growth and jobs across the full value chain and across the Union. It also offers a chance to manufacture and deploy clean energy technology here in the EU.

n March 2020, the European Commission presented a “new Industrial Strategy” to help Europe's industry lead the transitions towards climate neutrality and digital leadership.The Strategy aims to drive Europe's competitiveness and its strategic autonomy, at a time of agitated geopolitics and intensifying global competition.In her State of the Union in September, President von der Leyen announced that the Strategy would be updated. It is now expected by Q2, as indicated by the 2021 Commission Work Programme. The update could represent a unique opportunity to follow through on the Commission’s own commitment to develop a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) for “regular monitoring of the Strategy's implementation”.

With its newly-adopted pivotal agrifood policy, the Farm to Fork Strategy (F2F), which is at the heart of the EU Green Deal, the European Commission has set the goal to make food systems fair, healthy and sustainably-friendly.One of the outlined objectives of F2F is the revision of the feed additives regulation, to help reduce the environmental and climate impact of animal production, avoid carbon leakage through imports, and to support the ongoing transition towards more sustainable livestock farming.

The EU aims to be climate-neutral by 2050 – an economy with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. This objective is at the heart of the European Green Deal and in line with the EU’s commitment to global climate action under the Paris Agreement.The EU is on track to meet its emissions reduction target for 2020 and has put in place legislation to achieve its 2030 climate and energy targets of reducing emissions by at least 40% by 2030. In her 2020 State of the Union speech, President von der Leyen announced the EU’s plan to raise its ambitions and reduce emissions by at least 55% by 2030.

To limit global warming to 2°C or less—the level deemed safe by science—large emitting countries need to take ambitious action.Economists have long agreed that the most effective way to meet the climate challenge is to put a price on greenhouse gas emissions. About 50 countries have a carbon pricing scheme in some form. But the global average carbon price is currently only $2 a ton, far below what the planet needs. A 2019 study from the International Monetary Fund says that price should be $75 per ton by 2030. The report acknowledges that such a price will drive up energy costs associated with fossil fuels, but it concludes that the money could be used to cut other taxes and generate billions of new jobs if properly deployed.