EU Commission Work Programme (EU)

On 18 October 2022, the European Commission adopted its 2023 work programme (CWP), entitled ‘A Union Standing Firm and United’. It outlines the Commission’s policy initiatives for 2023, and how it would achieve the headline ambitions in Commission President von der Leyen’s Political Guidelines as set out at the start of her mandate.

The 2023 CWP frames the EU’s headline ambitions within the context of global challenges: in Ukraine, on energy, on the environment, and the fall-out of these developments on the global economy.

The 2023 CWP contains 43 new policy initiatives, eight suggestions to simplify regulation, and 116 pending “priority proposals” for legislation.

Re European Green Deal – the core Fit for 55 package from the 2021 CWP continues, added to this is a new planned revision of EU REACH and a call for binding targets to restore degraded ecosystems.

Note as part of EU Fit for 55, the European Parliament and Council already agreed on stricter regulation of greenhouse gas emissions in member states including less flexibility and more transparency – here.

Also, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is a key element of EU Fit for 55 – here.

Note re UK REACH – the UK’s Defra department is exploring An Alternative Transitional Registration Model which would apply to Britain. Presently EU REACH applies to Northern Ireland.

The EU continues to exchange views on chemicals regulatory developments with the UK, including through the Specialised Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade set up under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement that was agreed with the UK.

Clean Power Plan Proposed Rule (US)

Comments are required on the US Federal Clean Power Plan Proposed Rule by October 16, 2014.

The Proposed Rule will establish state-level Carbon Pollution Emission Guidelines for Existing Stationary Sources: Electric Utility Generating Units.

Detail

The US Federal Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) is proposing emission guidelines for states to follow in developing plans to address greenhouse gas emissions from existing fossil fuel-fired electric generating units.

Specifically, the USEPA is proposing state-specific rate-based goals for carbon dioxide emissions (per megawatt hour of electricity produced) from the power sector, as well as guidelines for states to follow in developing plans to achieve the state-specific goals.

This rule, as proposed, would continue progress already underway to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from existing fossil fuel-fired power plants in the United States. The plan aims to cut the emissions of the US power sector 30 per cent on 2005 levels over the next sixteen years.

The USEPA aims to have final rules in force by June 2015. States will have until 30 June 2016 to submit plans explaining how they will meet this target. States may plead for up to two years’ extra time.

The proposal covers emissions from 1,600 existing coal and gas-fired power stations across the US. Regulations limiting emissions from new power stations are already in the pipeline.

More Information

Information about the proposal is found here.

Low-Carbon Fuel Standard in EU Fuel Directive (Update)

The Climate and Energy package adopted by the Council and Parliament on 22 April 2009 sought to achieve a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. It contained a revision to Directive 98/70/EC on the quality of petrol and diesel. This is achieved via a 2009/30/EC revision to the EU Fuel Directive 98/70/EC.

The revised Directive obliges suppliers to reduce by 6% the lifecycle greenhouse gas intensity of fuel and other (electric) energy supplied for use in road vehicles and of fuel for use in non-road mobile machinery by the end of the compliance period in 2020.

The article establishing this new element is Article 7a of the 2009/30/EC Directive which effectively establishes a “low-carbon fuel standard” in European Union legislation. The Directive also obliges suppliers to report information, from 2011, on the greenhouse gas intensity of the fuel they have supplied, to authorities designated by the Member States.

Here are the Commission’s proposals (dating from 2011) for the calculation method and reporting aspects of the carbon calculator to be applied to fuels.

In the UK only a biofuels carbon calculator has been implemented – here.

Otherwise, generally a transport fuel carbon calculator is not implemented, and the Commission’s 2011 proposals or any methodology for calculating lifecycle emissions are not agreed. The result is, whilst the 2009 Directive has existed for nearly five years – and is used to calculate biofuels’ overall emissions (see the UK biofuels carbon calculator) it is not used to regulate fossil fuels (in terms of the Low-Carbon Fuel Standard).

In the US, a federal appeals court has upheld California’s low carbon fuel standard, which was challenged, rejecting a claim that the state is violating the constitution’s Commerce Clause because it impedes interstate commerce.

Like Europe’s proposed standard, California’s requires that the lifecycle of fuels be measured from production to use in transportation. Fuel producers – including ethanol – located outside the state believe it discriminates against importing their products because fuels produced in California don’t have to be shipped as far.

The California Low Carbon Fuel Standard was enacted in 2007 as part of AB32, California’s climate change law. It requires the oil industry to gradually reduce the “carbon intensity” of transportation fuels by at least 10% by 2020.

The case could be appealed to the Supreme Court.

In Europe, in January 2014, environmental groups filed a legal complaint against the European Commission over the failure by the EU’s executive body to implement the Low-Carbon Fuel Standard envisaged by EU Directive 2009/30/EC. The Commission had said in April 2012 it was carrying out a full assessment into the impact of its proposal, but has yet to make the results public.

A package of guidance released January 2014 on 2030 energy policy to follow on from existing 2020 climate and energy targets omits specific targets on cutting emissions from transport, the fastest-growing source of greenhouse gases. This package is found here.