Germany Pushes (Again) for Stronger EU Carbon Emissions Cuts

Back in April, Poland killed an effort to increase the EU’s carbon reduction target from 20% by 2020 to 30% by 2020, despite the fact that such a policy change would result in a net benefit for Poland! Perhaps hoping that Poland would come around following the report showing that to be the case, or perhaps just being a super enthusiastic renewable energy champion, Germany has put a discussion of stronger EU emissions cuts back on the agenda.

“Germany asked for it (a deeper cut) to be added to the environment council agenda,” an anonymous source told Reuters.

“It will be debated as part of discussion on the transition towards a competitive, low-carbon economy.”

The EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme has dropped to record lows due to the EU’s rapid adoption of clean energy and, thus, low demand for renewable energy investment: “its collapse to record lows means that it is having the opposite effect and has been driving investment in coal-fired generation rather than gas, which is the cleanest of the fossil fuels, analysts and utility companies have said.”

Currently, the carbon price is €7 and an ideal price is projected to be €20-50.

Image: oil/globe question mark via Shutterstock

Zachary Shahan (2298 Posts)

I'm the director of CleanTechnica, the most popular clean energy website in the world, and Planetsave, a leading green and science news site. I've been covering green news of various sorts since 2008, and I've been especially focused on solar energy, electric vehicles, bicycling, and wind energy for the past few years. You can also find my work on Scientific American, Reuters, Think Progress, GE's ecomagination site, several sites in the Important Media network, & many other places. To connect on some of your favorite social networks, go to zacharyshahan.com or click on some of the links below.

Ross

It isn’t just Germany that wants this. Poland is the only EU country that’s blocking it.
- http://cleantechnica.com/ Zachary Shahan
  
  I know. Very embarrassing to be living in PL right now with this nonsense. And the ridiculous thing is that increasing the target would BENEFIT Poland: http://cleantechnica.com/2012/05/01/report-stronger-eu-co2-target-would-benefit-country-that-blocked-it-cost-eu-citizens-a-few-cups-of-coffee-on-average/
  
  but PL electricity is dominated by coal, and i have a feeling the industry had something to do with the country blocking this push.
Captivation

Zach, thanks for posting this. The fact that Clean Energy investment can be thwarted by price wobbles in the carbon market shows that carbon pricing is an insufficient mechanism by itself. It needs to be accompanied by trade restrictions. Of course, we would all like to see the soft hand of economics win the day, but the strong hand of politics will have to play a role too. World leaders need to drive with both hands on the wheel as they navigate the treacherous landscape ahead.
- anderlan
  
  We need an all-of-the-above strategy when it comes to de-fossilization. Emissions trading (with NO offsets, and with a market for *each* pollutant, since they each have different effects), plus a rising fossil fuel production/import tax, plus green energy and efficiency subsidies.