Schlagwort: EU

Béres et al. (2024): Assessing the feasibility of CO2 removal strategies in achieving climate-neutral power systems: Insights from biomass, CO2 capture, and direct air capture in Europe

Rebeka Béres, Martin Junginger, Machteld van den Broek IN: Advances in Applied Energy, 14, 100166, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adapen.2024.100166

In this study the European power system in 2050 is modelled at an hourly resolution in the cost-minimization PLEXOS modelling platform. Three climate-neutral scenarios with targets of 0, -1, and -3.9 Mt CO2/year (which agree with varying levels of climate justice) are assessed for different biomass levels, and CCS availability. Findings under baseline assumptions reveal that in a climate-neutral power system with biomass and CCS options, it is cost-effective to complement variable renewable energy with a mix of combined cycle natural gas turbines (CCNGT) for flexibility and BECCS as base load to compensate for the CO2 emissions from natural gas and additional carbon removal in the net-negative scenarios.

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Climate action: Council and Parliament agree to establish an EU carbon removals certification framework

press release, Council of the EU, 20 February 2024

„Council and European Parliament negotiators reached a provisional political agreement today on a regulation to establish the first EU-level certification framework for for permanent carbon removals, carbon farming and carbon storage in products . The voluntary framework is intended to facilitate and speed up the deployment of high-quality carbon removal and soil emission reduction activities in the EU. Once entered into force, the regulation will be the first step towards introducing a comprehensive carbon removal and soil emission reduction framework in EU legislation and contribute to the EU’s ambitious goal of reaching climate neutrality by 2050, as set out in the European climate law.“

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EU unveils controversial climate target: what scientists think

by Katharine Sanderson, Carissa Wong on nature.com, February 06, 2024

„The European Commission has unveiled an ambitious climate target for 2040 — aiming to cut net greenhouse-gas emissions by 90% compared with 1990 levels. Researchers say that the goal, although admirable, risks relying too much on technologies such as carbon removal — which is largely unproven — rather than prioritizing the cutting of fossil-fuel use. Political shifts to the right, with many European Union member states electing governments that are unlikely to prioritize climate policy, might also make the goal difficult to achieve.“

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Nature – Fridahl et al. (2023): Novel carbon dioxide removals techniques must be integrated into the European Union’s climate policies

Mathias Fridahl, Felix Schenuit, Liv Lundberg, Kenneth Möllersten, Miranda Böttcher, Wilfried Rickels, Anders Hansson IN: Communications Earth & Environment, 4, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-01121-9

The authors argue that the current policy framework neither provides Union-wide economic incentives for novel CO2 removals, nor does it encourage EU Member States to develop national policy incentives. The proposed solutions includes incentivizing removals through a conditional integration into the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), expanding the portfolio of removal methods in the Land-Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) Regulation, and to manage anticipations regarding which residual emissions that need to be counterbalanced by removals.

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EU Parliament Approves The Carbon Removal Certification Framework And Net Zero Industry Act

by Petya Trendafilova, carbonherald.com, November 22, 2023

„The European Parliament voted on November 21st in a plenary session on long-awaited and debated climate policies. The Parliament has approved the Carbon Removal Certification Framework (CRCF) and the Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA), demonstrating its support for scaling up carbon dioxide removal (CDR) capacity in the EU – part of the bloc’s strategy in reaching climate neutrality by 2050.“

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EU-Parlament fordert konsequentes Handeln in Dubai

Friederike Meier, fr.de (Frankfurter Rundschau), 21.11.2023, 16:43 Uhr

„Abgeordnete verlangen von EU-Vertretern klare Linie für Klimaschutz und Ausstieg aus fossilen Energieträgern.[…] Das EU-Parlament hat Kommission und Mitgliedsstaaten dazu aufgerufen, sich auf der Klimakonferenz in Dubai, die am 30. November beginnt, für ein ehrgeiziges Ergebnis einzusetzen. „Das Parlament ist der Meinung, dass die Union und die Mitgliedstaaten kein Ergebnis akzeptieren sollten, das Technologien zur Verringerung der Emissionen fossiler Brennstoffe im Energiesektor fördert“, heißt es in einer Resolution, die das Parlament am Dienstag verabschiedet hat.“

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Brad & Schneider (2023): Carbon dioxide removal and mitigation deterrence in EU climate policy: Towards a research approach

Alina Brad & Etienne Schneider IN: Environmental Science & Policy 150, 103591, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2023.103591

The authors develop a conceptual approach to systematically study such mitigation deterrence effects in climate policy-making processes. The approach integrates literature on sociotechnical imaginaries and the cultural political economy of mitigation deterrence with historical-materialist policy analysis. It follows within-case process tracing to uncover whether and how expectations of CDR technologies either weaken ‘conventional’ mitigation targets in policy formulation or encourage policy designs which treat ‘conventional’ mitigation and CDR as equivalent.

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Schenuit & Geden (2023): Carbon dioxide removal: climbing up the EU climate policy agenda

Felix Schenuit, Oliver Geden IN: Handbook on European Union Climate Change Policy and Politics, Chapter 22, https://doi.org/10.4337/9781789906981.00037

Based on an analysis of CDR-related aspects of the Climate and Energy Framework 2030 and new actor positions in the context of the European Green Deal, the chapter traces the emergence CDR policymaking in the EU. The authors find that CDR is not entirely new in EU climate policy. Recently, spurred by the new climate target structure in the EU climate law, new CDR initiatives, processes and debates have been launched. The analysis shows that prospects of CDR policymaking will be shaped by ‘geographies of net zero’: Differences and conflicts over climate targets, composition of residual emissions, removal capacities, and socio-political preferences for different CDR methods in EU member states will affect future legislation.

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Report: Scientific advice for the determination of an EU-wide 2040 climate target and a greenhouse gas budget for 2030–2050

In the report, the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change provides EU institutions with a science-based estimate of a 2040 climate target and an EU greenhouse gas emissions budget for the period 2030-2050. The findings, based on rigorous analysis considering both fairness and feasibility, highlight the urgent need for ambitious actions to address climate change. The report also outlines possible pathways and related overarching policy choices to achieve the necessary emission reductions.

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Rickels et al. (2023): Potential efficiency gains from the introduction of an emissions trading system for the buildings and road transport sectors in the European union

Wilfried Rickels, Christian Rischer, Felix Schenuit, Sonja Peterson IN: Kiel Working Paper, No. 2249, Kiel Institute for the World Economy
ISSN 1862–115
5

In the European Union (EU), a second emissions trading system (EU ETS2) covering buildings, road transport and small energy and industrial installations is expected to be introduced from 2027. The authors study the EU ETS2 for the year 2030 using the general equilibrium model DART. In the analysis, the introduction of an EU ETS2 generates about a quarter of the efficiency gains of a comprehensive emissions trading system, assuming that nation states use the flexibility mechanisms of the ESR and compensate for regional abatement leakage through interstate emissions trading.

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