Thanks to a strong campaign led by Food & Water Action Europe and a number of other European NGOs, the EU Commission will now revise a law which sets the rules for selecting EU priority infrastructure, the “Trans-European Networks for Energy” (TEN-E) regulation.
So far, the gas industry (more precisely, a body called “ENTSO-G) has greatly profited from the selection of priority energy projects in this regulation, and its members received over one billion euros of EU tax money for dirty gas pipelines and import terminals.
Food & Water Action, together with Friends of the Earth Europe, wrote a report that highlights the role of this gas transport industry in the current regulation. It concludes with a strong demand: If the EU does not kick out the gas industry from their privileged position and eliminate this dangerous conflict of interest from the decision-making process, we will never reach the 100% renewable future we need.
Read our joint paper on the role the gas industry body plays in the current regulation and how its members benefitted greatly from deeply biased selection rules here.
Together with Greenpeace, Corporate Europe Observatory and Friends of the Earth Europe, Food & Water Action Europe also submitted a position paper to the EU Commission. We do not accept this pro-fossil gas conflict of interest in the heart of EU climate and energy policy making. A gas industry body like ENTSO-G cannot play a role in any future regulation on priority EU infrastructure.
You can find our joint submission here.
