Energy, Environment & Transport Pro Brief

Thu 10 October 2024 | View online
Estimated reading time: 4-5 minutes

Good morning ,

And welcome toThursday 10 October’s daily Energy, Environment and Transport Pro Brief.

This morning we look at Serbia, where the EU’s quest for critical raw materials is creating tension with local opponents of a planned lithium mine.

And later today the French government will make its first budget proposal, with electricity tax hikes likely on the menu.

Here are our other top stories for the day:

Industry split on critical raw material recyclingRomania’s secret coal miningUpcoming: Maps of French offshore wind sites for 203515 October nuclear alliance meeting confirmedFossil fuels versus air quality subsidies

🟡Critical Raw Materials

Lithium quest sucks EU into internal Serbian tensions

Popular protests against a planned lithium mine in Serbia, and allegations of government repression, are raising questions about the EU’s ability to secure critical raw materials for the green transition while also preserving its human rights commitment.

This summer the European Commission found itself on the frontlines of a domestic battle between Serbian protestors and global mining giant Rio Tinto, which wants to develop a large lithium mine in the Jadar Valley, near Serbia’s western border with Bosnia.

As part of its decarbonisation drive the European Commission signed on 19 July a ‘Strategic Partnership’ with Serbia on critical raw materials, batteries and electric vehicles.

Some Serbian civil society representatives are wary of the EU’s involvement.

"The state of the rule of law and the weaknesses of the environmental protection system definitively prevent Serbia from being part of the sustainable supply chain of critical raw materials for the EU," said Serbian NGO RERI told Euractiv after a European Parliament debate in Brussels on Wednesday 2 October.

Rio Tinto’s proposed mine could open at the end of 2028 and aims to produce 58,000 tonnes of lithium a year, enough to equip 1.1 million electric cars with batteries.

Several Serbian civil society organisations, invited to last week’s European Parliament debate, allege that the Serbian government was repressing the protest activities.

"According to data provided by the Ministry of the Interior, 38 people were arrested and 17 were charged in this latest round of demonstrations", said Uroš Jovanović of the civil society organisation Građanske.

According to Iva Marković from NGO Polekol, even after the protests ended people were still being detained on a daily basis, while scientists are receiving death threats and being asked to withdraw their studies on the environmental impact of this mining project.

“The lithium mining projects have been presented as an opportunity to boost economic growth solely” said Jovanović who explained that since activists started questioning the project, they were labelled as “opposing national interests, enemies of the state.”

The Serbian government did not reply to a Euractiv request for comment.

However, in widely-reported comments in August, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that the protestors were part of a “western-backed hybrid warfare” against his government.

Nathan Canas and Bárbara Machado explore why Europe has found itself embroiled in Serbian domestic politics and get the European Commission’s take on the issue.

Industry split on critical raw material recycling

An analysis of industry responses to Commission public consultations on the Critical Raw Materials Act found that many European companies and industry associations support efforts to integrate critical raw materials (CRM) into Europe’s nascent circular economy.

The analysis from NGO InfluenceMap, released this morning, says that Europe’s industrial, energy and chemical sectors are entirely or almost entirely positive towards the Commission’s circularity proposals for CRMs.

However the study says that carmakers have mixed views on circularity, and identifies Volvo Cars as the only company in the sector to strongly support circularity provisions.

The metal and mining sector was also split. Companies who focus exclusively on extraction were most resistant to circularity, while companies which also recycle metals were more supportive.

Automobiles and metal/mining sectors were the most engaged in the Commission’s consultations.

Across all sectors, few companies or associations pushed for the prevention of waste generation, according to InfluenceMap. [DC]

🟡 Energy taxation

French electricity tax hike on the cards?

The French government will present this afternoon the first version of its 2025 budget, as it seeks to raise €60 billions in revenue to close its yawning public deficit.

On Sunday Le Parisien media reported that the government was considering raising the level of excise duty on electricity, from the current €21/MWh. This could rise to €40 or €42/MWh, Les Echos media added yesterday.

This tax, dropped to €1/MWh during the 2022 energy crisis, was only due to return to its normal level of €32/MWh on 1 February 2025.

Policymakers across Europe are grappling with energy taxation.

Higher taxes help maintain healthy public finances. But there will be a wider economic hit, if already-struggling industry is presented with higher energy bills.

Specifically on electricity, higher taxes will likely slow down Europe’s switch to cleaner electrified options, like EVs and heat pumps. But equally the massive investments to upgrade Europe’s power systems will have to be funded somehow. [PM]

🟡 Energy transition

Romania’s secret coal mining

Energy think-tank Ember say that Romania produced approximately 200,000 tonnes of hard coal in 2022, which was not reported to the EU.

This morning’s publication says that the country will soon fall foul of the EU’s new Methane Reglation, which requires coal-producing countries to put in place monitoring and reporting frameworks for the methane emissions associate with coal extraction.

Ember says that a state-owned company, Jiu Valley Energy Complex, is responsible for the production, and that the methane emissions of the company’s mines are almost three times greater than will be permitted under EU limits, due to come into force in 2027. [DC]

Upcoming: Maps of French offshore wind sites for 2035

Euractiv understands that in the coming two weeks French authorities will present site maps for the country’s next tranche of offshore wind projects.

These maps will be the basis for a call for tender for between 8 to 10 GW of offshore wind capacity.

The coming tender, known as CFT10, aims to bring France to its target of 18 GW of installed offshore wind by 2035.

The publication timetable has not yet been made official, as it could be constrained by next week’s parliamentary debates on the French public budget for 2025.

1.5 GW has already been installed in France, comprising of three wind farms from the country’s first tender in 2011. A further 15 offshore farms are due to be deployed by 2035. [PM]

15 October nuclear alliance meeting confirmed

The French ecology and energy minister’s services confirmed yesterday that the nuclear alliance will meet on October 15, as reported by Euractiv yesterday, alongside a meeting of the Energy Council.

According to the office of Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the nuclear alliance meeting will be “the highlight” of the day.

There are two main agenda points.

Firstly, alliance members will discuss how to ensure non-discrimination between nuclear and renewables in current and future EU legislation. This is to avoid the risk of creating “competitive biases between countries with significant nuclear power, such as France, and countries without”, according to Pannier-Runacher's services.

Secondly, as reported by Euractiv, the financing of nuclear power “is also one of the very concrete things that will actually be agreed.” The minister’s services pointed to the current availability of EIB funds for renewables-based hydrogen production, but not for nuclear-based hydrogen.

France expects the participation of alliance's members including the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, and the Baltic and central-eastern EU countries. Outgoing energy commissioner Kadri Simson will also attend, but according to Pannier-Runacher’s services, oncoming energy commissioner Dan Jørgensen should not be present. [PM]

🟡 Council

Pannier-Runacher plans for next week’s Environment Council

The services of French ecology and energy minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher' held a press conference yesterday focused on next Tuesday’s meeting of the Environment Council.

The meeting will be largely concerned with upcoming COPs - both for climate and biodiversity.

On COP29 - the climate COP taking place in Azerbaijan from 11 November - two points will be “submitted to the ministers for arbitration”. Firstly, a full recognition in the EU’s position of nuclear power’s potential to tackle climate change.

And secondly, some text on the EU’s greenhouse gas reduction targets for 2040. Here the minister’s services say that it will be a question of finding “the right formula without pre-empting future debates,” in an acknowledgement that the Brussels debate on 2040 climate targets is still ongoing.

Regarding the biodiversity COP - COP16 taking place in Colombia from 21 October 21 -

Pannier-Runacher’s services expect ministers to adopt the EU’s negotiating mandate at next week’s meeting, saying “There shouldn't be too difficult a debate.”

On the desertification COP - another COP16, this time in Saudi Arabia from 2 December - ministers should adopt the “first time ever” EU mandate at ministerial level, Pannier-Runacher's services said.

At the 14 October meeting environment ministers will devote their lunch to the Draghi report. Here Pannier-Runacher “will insist on the need to respect technological neutrality.”[PM]

🟡 Air quality

Fossil fuels versus air quality subsidies

NGO Clean Aid Fund says in a report that globally governments are spending more money on fossil fuel subsidies than on air quality improvements.

The report released this morning says that in 2022 government’s oversees development aid channeled almost $5.4 billion (€4.9 billion) to fossil fuel projects, but only $4.7 billion (€4.3 billion) to air quality improvement.

Poor air quality comes with a high price tag. The World Bank says that the health costs from air pollution are equivalent to 6.1% of global GDP.

Clean Aid Fund say that over half of the 8.3 million annual deaths associated with outdor air pollution can be pined on fossil fuel emissions. [DC]

🟡 Across the Capitals

Minister: New Planning Bill needs to be enacted "as soon as possible" - Ireland (EN)

TSO: Risk of winter power system alerts much lower - Ireland (EN)

Portuguese renewable association defends elimination of taxation- Portugal (PT)

European Environment Agency criticises lack of synergies in buildings strategy - EU (PT)

BWM stops production of electric best selling car- Germany (DE)

Electricity costs could fall for millions of people next year - Germany (DE)

Read more

Today’s brief was brought to you by Euractiv’s Energy, Environment & Transport team

Today’s briefing was prepared by the Energy, Environment and Transport team: Donagh Cagney, Nathan Canas, Paul Messad, Nikolaus J.Kurmayer and Bárbara Machado.

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