From EurActiv, January 17:
Languages: Français
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Welcome back and happy New Year! The final days of 2023 were marked by what could end up being a turning point for Europe’s energy and climate policy.
On 19 December, 11 EU countries issued a joint statement urging the EU to take full account of nuclear power – not just renewable energies – when elaborating future policies that will determine how the EU achieves its greenhouse gas reduction targets for 2040 and 2050.
“Nuclear power is indisputably a sustainable and equally valid technology to achieve these objectives for member states that opted to resort to its use,” said the joint declaration led by France and signed by Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Finland, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Sweden. Read the story by Paul Messad.
Shaping the EU’s 2040 climate policy. The joint declaration from the French-led Nuclear Alliance comes weeks before the Commission publishes its 2040 climate proposal, due out on 6 February. It also comes amid ongoing discussions on the EU’s “strategic agenda 2024-2029”, which will be adopted by EU leaders following the June European elections.
“Looking forward to the future and our collective 2040 and 2050 climate-energy targets, we strongly encourage the European Commission to propose a regulatory architecture that facilitates for member states to achieve carbon neutrality by encompassing our energy diversity,” the declaration adds.
A “low-carbon” target for 2040? If the eleven countries get their way – and they already have a blocking minority in the Council of EU member states – this could mark a paradigm shift for EU policy.
Until now, only renewable energies and energy efficiency have been subject to binding quantified targets to meet the EU’s climate objectives.
“However, we must collectively recognise that these two dimensions are not enough to encompass the diversity of solutions and industrial capabilities across the member states,” the joint declaration insists, saying nuclear power must be considered as well.
So what does the 11-country alliance actually want?
That was spelt out by an official in the cabinet of Agnès Pannier-Runacher, France’s now former energy minister: “We have now reached an impasse,” the official said in reference to the EU’s renewables target for 2030, which was hiked to 42.5% of the EU’s final energy consumption. “If we want to go further in renewable energies, we are going to hit the low-carbon base of certain member states” – something that won’t be acceptable for France.
“So we need to turn the tables and stop thinking about elaborating a fourth renewable directive … but perhaps the first low-carbon directive.”
French rebellion against EU renewables target. The joint statement by the French-led Nuclear Alliance also insists on one crucial point: The choice of energy mix is a matter of national sovereignty under EU treaties – a principle they believe must be upheld....
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Keeping an eye on Sweden as well.
When your bets are dependent on politicians you'd best pay attention to the politics and the political zeitgeist. At least in democracies. For now.
