Latest news with #EnergyPolicy
Reuters
5 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
EU lawmakers eye faster Russian gas phase out, documents show
BRUSSELS, July 25 (Reuters) - The European Parliament is considering proposals to speed up the EU's phase out Russian gas by one year, to January 2027, documents seen by Reuters showed, as officials in Brussels prepare to negotiate the legally-binding ban. European Union countries and lawmakers are preparing to negotiate the EU's plan to ban imports of Russian gas - with the starting point a legal proposal the European Commission made last month to phase out all Russian gas imports by January 1, 2028. The Parliament's lead lawmakers on the Russian gas ban have each proposed that this deadline is moved forward to January 1, 2027, documents detailing their amendments to the Commission proposal showed. The proposals are by EU lawmakers Inese Vaidere from the centre-right European People's Party - the biggest lawmaker group in the Parliament - and Ville Niinisto from the Greens. Diplomats from EU countries said it was unlikely governments would agree to bring forward the Russian gas ban by a year - but that EU lawmakers could use this demand as leverage to secure other changes in the negotiations. For example, Vaidere has also proposed a requirement for governments to impose penalties on companies that violate the ban, potentially including by revoking licences for energy trading. Niinisto wants a full ban on Russian oil imports from January 1 2027, which the European Commission did not propose. The European Parliament will vote in the autumn to confirm its position for negotiations with EU countries on the ban. The final measures need approval from the Parliament and a qualified majority of EU countries - meaning that they cannot be blocked by EU members Hungary and Slovakia, which still import Russian gas via pipeline and have opposed the EU plans. The EU vowed to end decades-old energy relations with Europe's former top gas supplier after Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Under the proposed ban, the EU would start phasing out Russian gas imports under new and short-term contracts earlier, from January 2026. About 19% of Europe's gas came from Russia last year, via the TurkStream pipeline and LNG shipments. This share is expected to fall to 13% in 2025, down from roughly 45% before 2022.
Telegraph
21-07-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Miliband accuses Farage of hypocrisy over green energy funding
Ed Miliband has accused Reform UK hypocrisy as the Energy Secretary claimed Nigel Farage's party was waging an 'ideological' war against his policies. Mr Miliband said the fact that two Reform mayors had accepted grants for solar panels was proof that Reform's net zero policy 'disintegrates on contact with reality'. He also accused Richard Tice, of running a 'clown car operation' after the Reform energy spokesman threatened to tear up contracts with wind farm developers last week. Mr Miliband's comments suggests he is ready to go on the offensive as he comes under increasing pressure from Reform and faces scrutiny from within the Cabinet. Earlier this year the Energy Secretary said he was 'absolutely up for the fight' on net zero. Mr Farage has made attacking Labour's net zero policies a key part of Reform's electoral strategy, betting that Labour's plans to radically reshape Britain's energy system by the end of the decade are not popular with the public. At the same time, ministers are said to be increasingly concerned about the Mr Miliband's promise to lower average household bills by £300 a year this parliament. Sir Keir Starmer took a personal interest in Mr Miliband's deliberations over whether to break up the energy market amid concerns it could push up bills in the South. Plans to move to a so-called zonal pricing system were ultimately abandoned. Double standards On Monday, Mr Miliband sought to shift the focus on to Reform's policies as he highlighted the fact that after two of its mayors accepted grants totalling £1.3m for solar panels. 'I'm really pleased that they're taking that funding,' Mr Miliband told the Energy Security and Net Zero Select Committee of MPs. 'But the lesson of this is those mayors, faced with the choice of cutting bills through clean power or keeping their areas locked on expensive insecure fossil fuels, chose the clean power course. 'I think it proves that Reform's energy policy, frankly, disintegrates on contact with reality and on contact with what the British people actually want to see.' Greater Lincolnshire, where Dame Andrea Jenkyns was elected mayor for Reform in May, has claimed £607,845 for solar panels on leisure centres and fire stations, while Hull and East Yorkshire, overseen by Reform's Luke Campbell, was awarded £700,000 for solar projects on service buildings and car parks. After receiving the grant, Mr Campbell said he was 'delighted', adding it would help councils in the area 'save on their energy bills over the coming years'. It comes despite Reform vowing to scrap the target of reaching net zero by 2050 if it won the next election, claiming it would save £225bn. Mr Farage on Sunday claimed the British people were being defrauded out of billions of pounds under the switch to renewables, adding that subsidising green energy schemes at the taxpayers' expense was having 'literally zero effect' on global emissions. 'Airbrushing history' Mr Miliband accused Mr Farage of wanting to 'airbrush history' by ignoring the spike in energy prices seen following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. He said: 'He wants people to forget about the fact that it was our exposure to fossil fuels that led to the worst cost of living crisis in generations. 'Family finances wrecked, business finances wrecked and still paying the price, and public finances wrecked as well. There is only one answer to that, which is home-grown clean energy we control. 'The security you get from that home-grown clean energy is what is now essential for our energy security and our national security. 'Anything else, any decision which says let's just remain on these fossil fuels, subject to a global market controlled by petro-states and dictators, frankly surrenders our energy security and indeed our national security.' Last week Mr Tice wrote to the chief executives of SSE Renewables, Octopus Energy, Centrica, Equinor and others to give 'formal notice' that a Reform government would tear up any deals struck with Mr Miliband. The letter was widely seen as an attempt to sabotage an upcoming subsidy round meant to encourage wind farm developers to set up in Britain. Mr Miliband told MPs: 'He wrote a letter saying he was going to rip up the contracts and then went on the PM programme that afternoon to rebut his own letter and to say that he'd been highly misinterpreted and wasn't going to tear up the contracts. 'The broader point here is that this is driven not by concern for the British people or interest in people's energy bills. It is ideology. 'Why would you want to stay on expensive, insecure fossil fuels? We only need to look at the geopolitical situation to see the level of insecurity and exposure that we have. 'Why would you want to stay on those when you can have cheap clean power that we control?'
The Independent
17-07-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Reform puts power companies on notice over clean energy plans
Reform UK has informed major wind and solar developers that it would terminate their access to the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme if the party comes to power. Deputy leader Richard Tice sent a formal notice, warning companies that participating in the upcoming CfD auction (AR7) would be at their own risk. The CfD scheme currently guarantees renewable energy developers a fixed price for electricity, insulating them from market volatility and encouraging investment. Climate analysts warned that scrapping the scheme would deter investment, jeopardise British jobs, and increase the UK's reliance on foreign gas. Labour criticised Reform UK's position, stating it would discourage clean energy investment, threaten jobs, and put the nation's energy security at risk.
Reuters
27-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Germany considers law reform to block Russian-owned Nord Stream takeover
BERLIN, June 27 (Reuters) - Germany is considering changing its foreign trade law to prevent the company running the Nord Stream 2 pipelines from being taken over, a document showed on Friday, as part of Berlin's efforts to prevent any resumption of Russian gas imports. For decades Germany relied on cheap Russian gas, but since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine, it has sought alternatives. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said he will ensure Nord Stream 2, which the country once backed, would not go into operation, but for now the country has no legal means to prevent a sale of the assets, owned by Russian giant Gazprom ( opens new tab. The Nord Stream pipeline system comprises two double pipelines across the Baltic Sea to Germany and was the biggest route for Russian gas to enter Europe, capable of delivering 110 billion cubic metres of gas a year. The second link Nord Stream 2 was completed in 2021. It never became operational due to deteriorating relations between Russia and the West and was hit by unexplained explosions in 2022 that left one of its two lines intact. Swiss-based Nord Stream 2 has been going through insolvency procedures that could lead to asset sales. In November, The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. investor Stephen P. Lynch was attempting to acquire Nord Stream 2, a report the Russian government denied. In a parliamentary response dated June 24, the German Economy Ministry said the government was discussing a possible amendment during this legislative period to the foreign trade law as it does not currently provide for any investment review in the event of a takeover. Der Spiegel magazine first reported the news. Former economy ministry state secretary and Green lawmaker Michael Kellner said the government must close this loophole. "Pipelines in Germany or Europe do not belong in the hands of Russian or American companies," he told Reuters. Gazprom did not reply to a request for comment.
Wall Street Journal
21-06-2025
- Automotive
- Wall Street Journal
Senate Weighs Effectively Killing Rule That Drove Rise of Fuel-Efficient Cars
The Senate is weighing a major change to federal fuel-economy rules that would kneecap the policy that dramatically reduced gas consumption and helped create fuel-efficient cars like the Toyota Prius hybrid. Republican senators are proposing a change to the Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, rules as part of President Trump's wide-ranging tax and spending bill. If enacted, the proposal would eliminate fines for violating CAFE, all but nullifying rules that for generations have pushed automakers to churn out ever cleaner and more fuel-efficient vehicles. That technology has saved two trillion gallons of gasoline over the past 50 years, according to the journal Energy Policy.
