Last chance for Member States to include biodiversity in recovery plans
April 12, 2021
Instead of proposing measures that protect nature, countries plan to spend recovery money on projects that jeopardise the EU’s biodiversity objectives. Countries can still reverse this worrying trend before it’s too late.
Biodiversity forgotten in the Latvian recovery plan
April 8, 2021
There is less than one month left for Member States to submit their national recovery and resilience plans to the European Commission. Yet, the Latvian plan is still far from fulfilling the Commission’s requirements to allocate at least 37% of proposed measures to achieving climate objectives.
The Romanian renewable energy sector: a potential still untapped
April 8, 2021
This report assesses the development of the Romanian renewable energy sector, identifies the main public policies needed to support this sector and offers recommendations to ensure the sustainable growth of the sector until 2030. The European Green Dea
District heating
April 7, 2021
Winters have become a stark reminder that we need to speed up the energy transition. In central and eastern Europe and the Western Balkans, district and individual heating are still dominated by polluting, expensive fossil fuels and other unsustainable energy sources. Europeans deserve warm homes without having to fear exorbitant energy bills, chronic air pollution or an out-of-control climate crisis. More national and local governments need to utilise European public finance to tap the massive potential of various renewable energies to power district heating systems so we heat homes, not the planet.
Krajowy Plan Odbudowy: koniec konsultacji, teraz liczy się wynik.
March 31, 2021
Choć kończące się konsultacje i zgłoszone do KPO uwagi pokazują wyraźnie na co powinny być przeznaczone pieniądze na odbudowę gospodarczą, …
Latest unambitious domino falls as Poland publishes plan for EU recovery fund
March 25, 2021
A lack of ambition, vision and delivery sums up the Polish national recovery and resilience plan that was released on 26 February. The fundamental flaw is that the plan provides no path for the country to reach neither the EU’s climate neutrality target by 2050 nor the much less ambitious targets outlined in the recent Poland’s Energy Policy 2040 (PEP2040), like reducing the share of coal in the electricity mix to 56 per cent.
Polska strategia energetyczna: Atomu nie mamy „bardziej” niż magazynów energii
March 13, 2021
„Zadaniem polityków powinno być usunięcie barier regulacyjnych, które cały czas blokują rozwój odnawialnych źródeł energii w Polsce”, …
Polska strategia energetyczna 2030: Jak ułożyć nowy miks energetyczny?
March 11, 2021
O tym jakimi źródłami energii najlepiej zastąpić drożejący węgiel, który wciąż stanowi około 70 proc. polskiego miksu energetycznego mówiła …
EU Recovery funds: where is the support for District Heating?
March 5, 2021
District Heating is an efficient way to heat homes, particularly in a country like Latvia where 58% of its primary energy consumption is used for heating. But Selīna Vancāne at Riga City Council is very concerned that the draft EU Recovery plans do not include any support under the climate goals for district heating projects. Perhaps it’s because of a blind spot: most of Europe is prioritising individual heating units powered by electricity. Meanwhile, Latvia is tacking the issue of fuel sources for district heating. There’s gas (not clean, must be imported from Russia), woodchips (plenty of local supply, but has sustainability limits), and much better solutions like solar. Vancāne offers the case study of Salaspils Siltums, built in 6 months, which provides solar district heating to 85% of a town of 18,000 people. She urges the EU to fund both district heating and the new clean solutions it can use. The results can be cost effective, sustainable, efficient and curb emissions.
Why is the EIB still hiding one-third of its lending?
March 4, 2021
The EU’s house bank must keep up with its peers on disclosure of financial intermediary investments
