Informal Energy and Environment Minister Meetings

Last week, the French Presidency of the Council hosted informal meetings for energy and environmental ministers to discuss a range of topics, including “The role of forests and the wood sector in environmental, energy and climate policies”. The negotiations on the LULUCF regulation and REDIII in particular were part of the discussions. Ministers in general agreed that forest carbon sinks will play a major role in achieving climate neutrality, that recycling and energy recovery of biomass wastes should be improved, and that the cascading principle is important and should be applied with proper judgement. Generally, a joint approach of both energy and environmental ministries was seen as a steppingstone to get out of a “silo approach”.

Member States’ Letter on Bioenergy Criteria

On 19 January, a letter was sent on behalf of 10 Member States addressed to the Council Presidency and Minister Pompili of France (Minister of Ecological Transition) saying that it is “too early to revise bioenergy sustainability provisions”. The letter, led by Sweden, was also signed by Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Slovenia. For more information, please contact Daniel Reinemann. 

WG Sustainability Meeting

During the last meeting of the WG Sustainability on 20 January, updates on the Draft Report and Opinions for LULUCF and REDIII and Bioenergy Europe’s outreach activities to decision makers were presented. Further, the Communication on Sustainable Carbon Cycles was presented by a representative of the European Commission. The slides can be found here. For more information, please contact Giulia Cancian.

Unveiling of Report on Bioenergy Commissioned to Deloitte

On Monday, Bioenergy Europe hosted an event where the Deloitte Report Towards an Integrated Energy System: Assessing Bioenergy’s Socio-Economic and Environmental Impact was released. The unveiling of the report was followed by a roundtable discussion including MEP Nils Torvalds and Catharina Sikow-Magny from the European Commission (DG ENER). The report is available on Bioenergy Europe’s website. For more information, please contact Claudio Caferri.

World Economic Forum 2022

On Monday, the report Winning the Race to Net Zero has been published. It offers pathways and strategies for CEOs across the globe to navigate through the transition. The report calls for a fast decarbonisation by showing leading examples and presenting findings by scientific bodies like International Energy Agency (IEA) and IRENA.

Euractiv Article: Bioenergy: A Sustainable Source that Benefits the Climate, Industry and Society

Yesterday, an article from Bioenergy Europe’s member Turboden was published on Euractiv describing the socio-economic and environmental benefits of bioenergy by presenting two projects in Italy. The article stresses that a holistic approach of accounting benefits for climate, industry and society backed up by a robust policy framework can enable bioenergy to help achieve decarbonisation and promote a sustainable economy.

AGRI Opinion on REDIII Revision

MEP Pina Picierno (S&D, IT), rapporteur of the AGRI committee for the revision of the Renewable Energy Directive (REDIII), published the draft report for the AGRI opinion. The document stresses the need for trained installers, especially for renewable heat sources. For more information, please contact Irene di Padua.

Innovation Fund Large-Scale Projects

The second call for large-scale projects is open until 3 March 2022. The budget of the call is EUR 1,5bn. Its aim is to finance breakthrough technologies for renewable energy, energy-intensive industries, energy storage, and carbon capture, use and storage. For more information, please contact Michal Dlugosz.

Timeline for REDIII in ITRE and ENVI

ITRE is the leading committee in the revision of the Renewable Energy Directive and will present a draft report on 9 February, which will be tabled in the committee meeting on 3 March and will be voted on in mid-March. As the associated committee, ENVI will consider the draft opinion of the revision on 2 February and have its committee vote in mid-July. For more information, please contact Giulia Cancian.