The adoption by the European Union of new carbon dioxide standards for cars and buses is postponed to a later date due to opposition from Germany, some other countries and the center-right wing of European lawmakers, the representative office of Sweden, which holds the EU Council presidency, said.
“The vote (originally scheduled for next week – IF) will take place at a later (EU) Council meeting,” the Swedish presidency said Friday, noting that no date has yet been set.
Last year, EU lawmakers and member state governments agreed that manufacturers must cut emissions from new cars by 55 percent by 2030 from 2021 levels and 100 percent in 2035. In effect, this means that sales of new cars that run on hydrocarbon fuels, such as petroleum products, will be banned.
Some countries, including Germany, have asked the European Commission (EC) to make an exception for cars running on “green fuel. It can be made from renewable energy sources and carbon emitted from the air. However, the EC is still silent.
The center-right European People’s Party (EPP), the largest faction in the European Parliament, opposes the ban and calls on the governments of the Union to do so.
The EPP’s chief negotiator on the issue, Jens Gieseke, motivated the conservatives’ position by the fact that the ban would hinder innovation, lead to the loss of thousands of jobs and the decline of a crucial European industry.
“The world will continue to drive cars with internal combustion engines. Our job is to make them as CO2-efficient as possible, not to ban them. Green fuels can help,” Gieseke said.
The European Greens are of a different opinion. Their leader in the European Parliament, Philippe Lambert, believes that this should not be a topic for further debate. Germany has already agreed to phase out internal combustion engines, and Brussels has already decided on this. Germany must remain a reliable European partner, he said in a statement sent to journalists.
The Center for Economic Recovery and the Ukrainian Business and Trade Association (UBTA) in a letter to Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal propose to consider three scenarios for reducing the country’s carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and, accordingly, adjust the goal of Ukraine’s second Nationally Determined Contribution to the Paris agreement.
“Considering the fact that for the entire period of Ukraine’s independence, the dynamics of GDP and the dynamics of greenhouse gas emissions had an almost direct correlation, business associations expressed concern about Ukraine’s plans with great ambitions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 35% by 2030 from the 1990 level,” the letter says.
The analytical report prepared by the associations contains three scenarios for reducing CO2 emissions until 2030. As noted, the scenarios are calculated in accordance with the goals of the National Economic Strategy of Ukraine.
According to the baseline scenario, with the volume of investments in decarbonization at the level of EUR12 billion, Ukraine will be able to reduce CO2 emissions to 43% of the 1990 level.
The conservative scenario envisages achieving a more ambitious goal of reducing emissions to 40%. At the same time, investments in decarbonization should increase to EUR27 billion.
In accordance with the optimistic scenario, Ukraine can reduce CO2 emissions to 36% (the target is 35%), provided that it invests EUR50 billion in decarbonization by 2030.
The letter states that at the current level of financing environmental modernization, only the baseline scenario is realistic for Ukraine so far.
Exemption of bioenergy projects on solid fuels from the payment of tax on carbon dioxide emissions will increase the interest of investors in these projects and the volume of investments in them, the deputy chairman of the State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving of Ukraine, Yuriy Shafarenko, has said.
“This will open up new opportunities for investment. Solar and wind plants are, of course, good, but Ukraine is an agricultural country, and bioenergy projects are very important. Development of bioenergy should be perceived as one of the most promising areas of renewable energy,” he said in an interview with the online portal Energy Reform.
He clarified that the relevant bill has already been agreed with the ministries of energy, digitalization, economy, as well as with the Ministry of Finance.
“The most important thing was to agree on the bill with the Ministry of Finance, because this Ministry is the least interested in it. But realizing the importance and correctness of this document, the Ministry of Finance agreed on it,” Shafarenko said, adding that exemption of bioenergy from the carbon tax is an international practice.
The agency plans to send the bill to the Ministry of Justice in the near future and after the conclusion is made by the agency – for consideration by the Cabinet of Ministers, the expert said.
At the same time, Shafarenko highly appreciates the chances of this bill being approved by the Verkhovna Rada.
“I think the prospect of its adoption is very high. It does not have such opponents to be very against it,” he predicts.
At the same time, according to him, the exemption of bioenergy from paying the CO2 tax is extremely important, given the prospects for its significant increase.
“When this tax was 41 kopecks per tonne of CO2, it was an insignificant burden. Then the tax was raised to UAH 10 – already more, but it was still possible to put up, and this did not really restrain investors in the industry. But they want to increase it to UAH 30-60, and this will have a tangible effect on the development of bioenergy,” Shafarenko said.
