- “So the 42.5% target for 2030 is in reach, but requires much faster uptake in the coming years. I mentioned before on energy security, the the improvements in terms of reducing imports from Russia. Also, gas storage last October was up 83%. Then on permitting reforms, 75% of national measures are strongly aligned or moderately aligned with the Commission's recommendations on permitting to speed up the uptake of renewables. There are gaps remaining, in particular on energy efficiency. Primary energy consumption still at 22%, and final energy consumption is still 17% away from the 2030 target, which means that annual improvements or annual cuts are needed at a rate of 2.2% per year. The progress on renewables and heating and cooling is is lower than is needed. Again on transport also. And so these are sectors where there's a particular need for a faster scale up of renewables integration and on financing there's a need to better identify the investment needs and to develop more comprehensive strategies to attract the necessary investments. This is essential on infrastructure. 13 member states were below the 15% interconnection target. And so there's a need for much faster growth in energy storage. Also moving on very quickly to the Climate Action Progress report, if it will. This report is quite a comprehensive report. It It covers progress at EU and member state level. Looks at the EU and global greenhouse gas emissions trends, the emissions trading system, the effort sharing regulation Lulucf.”
Energy efficiency · EU policy on permitting for renewable energy projects
- “Thank you very much. And thanks for the opportunity to respond. Obviously, these are wide ranging reports which raise wide ranging questions on a lot of different policy areas that are that touch on climate and that are important for our climate and energy targets. I think, first of all, it's very clear in the report the urgency of action, the fact that the climate emergency is there, that we feel it and that we need to take action and that the action we take is far less costly than the cost of not taking action in terms of ETS two yes, there is a delay by one year. It is the case that carbon pricing has shown itself to be very important in terms of delivering emissions reductions cost effectively in terms of providing a clear economy wide signal, which is very useful in terms of generating the society and economy wide action needed to achieve achieve targets. And it's also clear that the ETS two will go ahead with a year's delay. And then the Social Climate Fund will also go ahead. And that's very important in terms of addressing the needs of the most vulnerable households and small or micro enterprises. Clearly in the absence of carbon pricing, until carbon pricing kicks in, then member states are required to take the action necessary to meet the targets and will need to find other ways of, of doing so. In terms of the role of the private sector.”
Energy (green transition) · Extension of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme
- “Yes, all sectors are important and the private sector has a very important role to play. And the I think this emphasizes the importance of these signals in providing a clear sense of direction. So the 2040 target, for example, is very important also. The this is really important in terms of generating the conditions for investment and ensuring that investment is decisions are well made without lock into powers, which will be damaging both to the EU's climate and and the wellbeing of people, but also to the competitiveness of our industries and economies going forwards. On the harder to abate sectors, I mean, the figures are clear that the decoupling continues. We have with the packages we have, we have ambitious targets, but the decoupling from GDP, from emissions reductions continues. The report also looks in a bit more detail about where the emissions reductions are taking place. And when we look at the industrial sectors we're looking at many different sectors, but I haven't got the right page open, I don't think any more. But the you see, a few sectors have some reduction in output over the last year, but others there's an important recovery. So there was a recovery of output in energy intensive sectors such as steel, fertilisers and chemicals that go alongside improvements in energy efficiency and actions that lead to reductions of emissions in the sector. So I if you look in detail the report, you can see the, the analysis that we're able to do with the data that we have at present.”
Extension of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme · Carbon leakage support · Climate efforts
- “Thank you very much, chair. And it's a pleasure to be here to present the two reports. There we go. Oops. Try to master the Right. Keep keep it on this slide. So why do we publish these reports? I think it's first of all important to remind people that these are required under the governance regulation. Under article 35 for the state of the Energy Union report and article 29.1 and 29.5 for the governance regulation basically to show the progress we're making on our targets. And we need to do so annually by the end of October. We've been doing so since 2021. And in fact, the Climate Action Progress report from a little bit before the Climate Action Progress reports also serves to report on other assessments. So the it looks at progress towards the climate neutrality and climate targets, but also reports such as on fuel quality. On the state of the Energy Union report. So sorry the this report provides the focus on where we stand in 2025. It covers the three strategic pillars driving the EU energy agenda in 2025 and builds, obviously, on the 2024 report, which focused more on EU, the Green Deal and setting the draft neckpiece. What it does is look at the implementation of the Affordable Energy Action Plan which is driving structural reforms to cut costs, boost supply, boost security of supply and accelerate grid and clean tech investments. This is obviously clearly anchored in the clean industrial deal and the alignment of energy, climate and industrial competitiveness.”
Energy transition (state support)
- “The there was a question also about revenues, the use of revenues. Ets revenues by member states. So member states are required to use their ETS revenues for climate related purposes. And you may know and if you don't know, this is a good opportunity for me to publicize the fact that we have a carbon markets report, which also sits actually under the state of the Energy Union report, which is a big umbrella report. And that's feeds back on the reporting from all the member states also have an obligation to report on how they use their revenues. And that carbon market report for 2025 was issued on the 3rd of December. So I invite you to to take a look at this on geothermal there is an electrification plan for heating and cooling due. It's in the commission work programme for 2026, I think for Q1. I may be wrong. Correct me. The also then maybe to come back on land use, land use change and forestry. It is a sector which is incredibly difficult. It's very important that member states put in place better policies to create the right incentives. The. The commission is putting in place a lot of measures also to create incentives to help in this direction. I think it's important to work also with the sector, with Land use actors to create opportunities which provide a good business case for the zinc to, to preserve the zinc and to maximize the zinc, because it is so important in terms of ensuring that we reach climate neutrality in 2050 and that we are at negative emissions thereafter.”
Management of EU forests · Extension of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme
- “It shows also in, in terms of the investment. In clean tech and key sectors. And here what we're showing you is the investment figures for solar and wind which shows also why we the, the importance of investment for acceleration, of the uptake of renewables and other clean tech from Sorry. From a global perspective. Of course, the EU continues to engage with our partners around the world to promote ambitious global action. With we have strengthened dialogues with major emitters including China, Brazil, India, South Africa and Canada in 2020 for the EU and its member states contributed €31.7 billion in climate finance from public sources to global climate finance, with mobilising an additional 11 billion from private finance to support developing countries. We're also working on carbon markets outreach and many other aspects which are picked up in the reports. The slides here, which I assume we can share some will so that you can see them a bit better because this is a little bit too sensitive. The These are just an overview. There's a lot more information in the report. You can access the Climate Action Progress report online here. There is also a printable version in PDF. It's been made very accessible because this is also our flagship publication. To make sure that we communicate clearly on where we stand and the progress we're making. Thank you very much.”
EU climate aid for global South
- “It also reports on the assessment of the national energy and climate plans, the NEC. So focusing on implementation this was the first full EU wide assessment of the updated, final, updated 20 member state plans to 2030, which of course integrated plans with energy and climate elements. And it shows as we will see, that the greenhouse gas reductions and renewables growth are on course, but more is needed in other areas. And it sets the scene for preparing the post 2030 framework. As you know, we're launching the policy discussions for the next decade. And this will support the delivery of the European climate law. Linking climate neutrality, security and competitiveness. The achievements key achievements are set out. Sorry. Too many different screens. The key achievements set out in the state of the Energy Union report. Focus on important areas for pushing down energy costs. And meeting energy targets. So energy security improved with Russian gas imports cut to 12% in 2025 for gas and imports of oil down to 3% in 2025. So a big reductions down from 2022. And the legislative proposal for the regulation of phasing out of Russian gas imports. The clean energy transition accelerated. There are now there were in 2024, 77GW of renewables installed. The solar power became the largest EU power source. And the other important measures there, the EP, the Affordable Energy Action Plan, kick started structural reforms. It provides a clear direction for the EU and for member states to drive reforms and investment to cut energy costs.”
EU approach to energy security (home-made vs import sources)
- “Achieving our climate targets requires decisive implementation and stronger investment, and that means increased cooperation across all sectors and levels of governance. The emissions trading system here by 2024 the ETS is delivering well with emissions from the power and manufacturing plants down by 50% compared to 2005 levels, renewables and biofuels were the leading source of reductions for the electricity for electricity in the EU. And that is very important in terms of the emissions reductions in the sectors. But you can see that the emissions reductions. Hang on. I'm not on the right slide. Sorry. Oh, apologies. There's an over oversensitive. Right. Sorry. On the emissions trading system slide. The you see that we have important reductions in the power sector. Also reductions in the industrial sector. But the challenge remains for the transport sector, with aviation emissions and maritime emissions increasing significantly. In terms of effort sharing, in 2024, emissions were 20% lower than in 2005, but year on year compared to 2023, there were very close 24 emissions were very close to the 2023 levels. 2024 was the first year when emissions were above the limit set for that year. But what's important to note is that because the ESR is flexible, it allows the EU to meet the targets cost effectively. And a surplus emissions reductions in certain countries is available for those countries which are, are not on which have been have a lower level of emissions reduction compared to their target.”
Extension of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme · Decarbonisation of aviation sector
- “It has a new section this year on carbon management. It also again looks at adaptation climate finance and at international action. We have the main report which is the report adopted by the Commission. The official report along with a staff working document with detailed annexes looking at a whole range of issues which are listed here. And I won't go through them because of time issues. But I will focus in on the key messages, the what's very important in terms of looking to 2030 is that in 2024, emissions continue to decline and continued to decouple from economic growth. And this means that the EU is on track to meet its 2030 target. If all member states deliver on the measures already agreed at EU level and the measures that they have set out in the NEC. More specifically, emissions were down 2.5% year on year relative to 2023. And that means that in 2024, the EU's greenhouse gas emissions were 37.2% below the 1990 level. Using the proxy data for 2024, while GDP emissions grew over that period by 71%. It's also the case that we need additional efforts. In particular the emissions reductions are not evenly spread across sectors important reductions in the ETS sectors, but more is needed in transport and buildings for to achieve emissions reductions. Emissions reductions still remain challenging. And of course the land carbon sink is also fragile. I'll come on in a little bit more detail to that.”
Extension of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme · Road transport environmental policy