From Benny Peiser's Global Warmng Policy Foundation

Central and Eastern European Nations Oppose

EU Climate Goals 

Green Energy Policy May Trigger Mass Exodus Of EU Industry, Experts Warn

With only three weeks to go before the European Council is to make a final decision on new climate goals for 2030, six Central and Eastern European countries have declared their opposition to the proposed targets. In March and June, the European Council failed to agree on the commission's proposal. When the EU government leaders meet again on 23 and 24 October in Brussels, they hope to reach a “final decision on the new climate and energy policy framework”. However, the ministers and deputy ministers for environment of six Central and Eastern European countries, declared on Tuesday (September 30) their opposition to binding targets for renewable energy and energy efficiency. --Peter Teffer, EUobserver, 2 October 2014

Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz says she has told the European Council president in Brussels that Poland would not accept new EU climate change policies if they cause a rise in energy prices. Speaking after a meeting with Herman van Rompuy during her first trip abroad as prime minister of Poland, Ewa Kopacz told journalists that during the talks on Monday she laid out the “expectations of the Polish government at the European Council meeting [on 23 October]”. Last week PM Kopacz said that Poland could use a veto on any proposal that would cause electricity prices to rise for consumers. --Polish Radio, 7 October 2014

A European Union plan to label tar sands oil as highly polluting in its fight against climate change has been abandoned after years of opposition led by major producer Canada. A proposal published by the European Commission on Tuesday removes an obstacle to Canada exporting tar sands crude to Europe and comes at a time when tensions between the EU and top oil supplier Russia are running high. Environmental campaigners and Green politicians criticized what they saw as a step backwards. Greenpeace accused the European Commission under outgoing President Jose Manuel Barroso of putting trade ahead of the environment. --Barbara Lewis, Reuters, 7 October 2014

Brussels must consider fundamental energy policy changes to prevent a mass exodus of industrial players, according to speakers at a conference held at London’s Chatham House on Monday. European industry has suffered recently in comparison with the United States, where energy-intensive players have benefited from rock-bottom gas prices as a result of the North American shale gas revolution.  Some companies are suffering as a result of EU policy. German chemicals company BASF – which traditionally invests two thirds of its expenditure in its home country – recently said it would be investing more outside Germany than domestically over the next five years. “Europe should be asking itself serious questions about the viability of its manufacturing base as the foundation of that base continues to erode,” another speaker said under the Chatham House rule. --Tom Hoskyns, Interfax Natural Gas Daily, 6 October 2014

A new report from the European Commission has found that 14 European Union member states will fail to meet their 20% renewable energy target by 2020 based on current progress. According to Keep on Track!, “in order for Member States to achieve their 2020 target, it is essential that a predictable and stable legislative framework for RES is ensured at the national level and, in particular, that any retrospective or retroactive changes to existing support schemes are avoided.” This “predictable and stable legislative framework” is exactly what is causing some countries — such as the UK and France — into this position where they may miss their targets. --Joshua Hill, Clean Technica, 7 October 2014

Rich nations have been warned that unless they cough up for the Green Climate Fund by December, chances of a UN climate deal in 2015 will be dead. The 54-strong Africa Group wants to see US$ 7 billion by the time the next round of international climate talks start in Lima later this year, according to Tosi Mpanu Mpanu an envoy from the Democratic Republic of Congo. “If that key is not turned, we believe we will not turn the Paris key,” he told RTCC on the sidelines of a climate conference in Marrakech, Morocco. In 2009 wealthy countries promised to deliver $100 billion a year by 2020, a large chunk of which was to be channeled through the GCF. But so far a fraction of that has been delivered. --Sophie Yeo, Responding to Climate Change, 8 October 2014

Could India soon overtake China as the world’s biggest consumer of seaborne thermal coal? For many miners and traders, the answer to that question, posed at the Financial Times’ inaugural Commodities Retreat in Singapore last week, is yes.  India’s rising demand is in sharp contrast to that of China, where the authorities in Beijing are attempting to reduce imports of thermal coal. Although China is the world’s largest producer of thermal coal, it has imported large quantities of the combustible rock since 2009 to meet surging domestic demand. One footnote is that India could overtake China next year if only standard grades of thermal coal – bituminous and sub bituminous types – are counted. --Neil Hume, Financial Times, 7 October 2014