EU Ombudsman Opens Inquiry Into Lack of Climate Assessment for Fossil Gas Projects

Activists push for scrutiny of subsidized fossil gas Projects of Common Interest list

Brussels—On Wednesday, 12 February, the European Parliament voted in favour of the 4th list of so-called Projects of Common Interest (PCI) list, which includes 55 fossil gas projects, some of which are directly linked to imported fracked gas from the United States. But the EU’s handling of this list is coming under increased scrutiny, with the EU Ombudsman opening an official inquiry into the failure to consider the climate impacts of this new infrastructure.

The inquiry is a direct result of an official complaint filed with the Ombudsman on October 29 of last year by Andy Gheorghiu, Policy Advisor for Food & Water Europe, an environmental NGO based in Brussels. Despite the increasing pressure on the European Commission to avoid additional fossil fuel infrastructure, it adopted the Delegated Act establishing the fourth list of PCI projects – ignoring the overwhelming scientific evidence about the negative climate impacts of fossil gas.

In addition to being bad policy, the 4th PCI list is non-compliant with EU Law and the Paris Agreement. At the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) meeting on October 17, 2019, Deputy Director of DG Energy Klaus-Dieter Borchardt admitted that the sustainability review mandate for PCI list-proposed projects, including the much needed climate/environmental assessment, has been ignored for over 6 years, calling into question the legality of every list to date, including the one just approved.

While the decision of the EU Ombudsman is highly welcome, the timing of its announcement raised concerns.

“The European Commission was notified about the EU Ombudsman’s inquiry. just two days before the vote of the European Parliament on the PCI list, and the public found out only after the vote”, said Andy Gheorghiu, Policy Advisor for Food & Water Europe. “Knowing about the Ombudsman’s decision to open up an inquiry into whether or not the PCIlist is non-compliant with EU Law and the climate targets would have influenced the decision of many MEPs to reject this list and return it to sender for review.”

Climate activists are calling on the EU Commission not to grant any actual funding to any of the fossil fuel projects on the current list before a proper comprehensive climate assessment has been conducted.

For more information contact:

Andy Gheorghiu, Policy advisor, Food & Water Europe
Tel. +49 160 20 30 974, email [email protected]

Official complaint

Letter of the EU Ombudsman

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT OKAYS NEW ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE INCLUDING 55 FOSSIL FUEL PROJECTS

Categories

Food

But movement growing for end to gas

FRIENDS OF THE EARTH EUROPE, FOOD & WATER EUROPE

Brussels/Strasbourg, 12 February 2020 – A quarter of MEPs today voted in favour of a resolution to reject the EU’s proposed list of priority energy infrastructure, including 55 fossil gas projects, though this was insufficient to veto the list. [1]

The vote nevertheless shows growing concern over the European Commission’s continued support for gas, despite its plans for a zero carbon Europe, say green groups. [2]

Frida Kieninger from Food & Water Europe said:
“A majority of MEPs today failed to keep their promises on the climate emergency – as the planet burns they are standing by and fanning the flames with yet more fossil fuels for the EU. But the movement is growing to save Europe from being shackled to decades more climate-killing gas.

“The Greens, GUE, and a number of Social Democrats deserve the credit today for standing up and recognising that gas is a harmful fossil fuel that should not be supported by the EU.”

But most MEPs, particularly from the European Peoples’ Party, together with many Social Democrat and Renew MEPs, refused to make use of the Parliament’s power to object to the European Commission’s 4th Projects of Common Interest (PCI) list, enabling 55 fossil fuel projects to become eligible for EU funding.

Despite backing the list, the Renew group has written to the EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson seeking a revision of this 4th PCI list. Vice President Timmermans has promised that only projects consistent with the Green Deal will receive funding. [3]

Colin Roche, climate justice coordinator for Friends of the Earth Europe said:
“This climate hypocrisy has to end. Following unprecedented disasters like Australia’s wildfires, history will look unkindly on those who today backed building more fossil fuel pipelines and terminals. A European Green Deal is not possible with more fossil fuels, and Europe needs to go fossil free fast.

“The Commission should now clarify that gas projects are incompatible with the European Green Deal and place a moratorium on funding of any of the gas projects with EU taxpayers’ money.”

The EU Commission will next consider which of the projects approved today will receive EU funding from the Connecting Europe Facility. NGOs demand a full stop to all fossil fuel subsidies. The European Commission had previously admitted that the list had not undergone either a climate or sustainability assessment.[4]

Ya’ara Peretz of Green Course, an Israeli NGO fighting the EastMed pipeline, said:
“It’s sad and disappointing to realize that many EU politicians are choosing the side of fossil fuel companies, and are pushing expensive and wasteful fossil gas projects such as the East Med pipeline.” 

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For more information, contact:

Colin Roche, climate justice coordinator, Friends of the Earth Europe, [email protected]  (+32) (0)489 598984

Frida Kieninger, campaign officer, Food & Water Europe, [email protected], tel (+32) (0) 2893 1045, mobile (+32) (0)487 249 905

Robbie Blake, Communications team, Friends of the Earth Europe, [email protected], (+32) (0)2 893 1010

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[1] Motion https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/B-9-2020-0091_EN.html

169 MEPs voted in favour of a rejection of the 4th PCI list, 443 against, with 36 abstentions.

[2] Over 300,000 EU citizens signed petitions and emailed MEPs expressing their concern about EU support for gas in advance of the vote.

[3] https://twitter.com/TimmermansEU/status/1227301598315061249

[4] The PCI list process is laid out in the TEN-E Regulation https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32013R0347. This regulation dates from 2013 and does not consider climate commitments such as the Paris Agreement, the EU’s 2030 decarbonisation targets and the European Green Deal. The TEN-E Regulation does not require any climate impact assessment of PCI projects. The European Commission has pledged to review the TEN-E legislation by the end of 2020. However, any potential revision of the legislation will take place after the selection process for the next fifth PCI list has begun.

HOLLYWOOD STAR MARK RUFFALO IMPLORES EU: NO GREEN DEAL WITH FRACKED GAS

Categories

Food

Food & Water Europe, Friends of the Earth Europe

Brussels, 5 February 2020 One of the world’s most famous actors and activists, Mark Ruffalo, who plays “The Hulk”, has today weighed into Europe’s climate debate, urging members of the European Parliament in Brussels to vote against a list of priority EU energy infrastructure projects next week, as it could subsidise 55 new fossil fuel projects, including those that facilitate the import and transport of US fracked gas.

Ruffalo was speaking in Brussels this afternoon [1] about his new film Dark Waters, and had a private meeting with European Parliament President David Sassoli.

Mark Ruffalo said in a statement:
“I’m in Brussels to screen my new film Dark Waters and advocate for protecting our precious water from toxic chemicals. I’m urging the European Parliament to vote down a list of 55 fossil fuel infrastructure projects, many of which would import fracked gas from the US to Europe. This not only contradicts the European Green Deal but also exacerbates climate change at a time when the world needs Europe to be a climate leader.

“Supporting fracked gas projects runs counter to the laudable actions of several European countries that have banned fracking including France, Bulgaria, Ireland, Austria, Germany and areas of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Spain. Fracking is not safe in those countries, it’s not safe in the United States, and the European Parliament should not import US fracked gas.”

He earlier made a personal video statement on his social media [2] urging members of the European Parliament to be true climate leaders by voting against the so-called ‘Projects of Common Interest’ (PCI) list and instead investing in renewable energy projects.

MEPs are due to vote next week in Strasbourg on a motion to reject the EU’s list of priority energy projects. If the list is approved, fossil fuel corporations will be eligible to receive funding from the European Union to build these projects. Many of these projects could be used to import damaging fracked gas from the United States. [3]

Colin Roche, climate justice coordinator for Friends of the Earth Europe reacted:
“The Hulk is right, there can be no truly Green Deal with more fracked gas. It’s now up to all MEPs to reject the EU’s list of priority energy projects which gives immense backing to yet more fossil fuels.”

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Contact:

Colin Roche, climate justice coordinator, Friends of the Earth Europe, [email protected], (+32) (0)2 893 21

Frida Kieninger, campaign officer, Food & Water Europe, [email protected], (+32) (0) 2893 1045, (+32) (0)487 249 905

Robbie Blake, Communications team, Friends of the Earth Europe, [email protected], (+32) (0)2 893 1010

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[1] Ruffalo told a packed audience of MEPs today:

“You are going to vote on 55 fossil fuel projects for gas, liquefied natural gas [brought] to the European Union. Fracked gas is going to be taken from my community, it is going to poison our people, and it is the antithesis of moving forward a Green Deal. It is absolutely totally against the idea that you are moving forward with the Green Deal if you back these 55 projects. And what we are asking you to do, from my community which will be poisoned by your need for our natural gas projects, is to dump those projects, scrap them, and put that money into real renewable energy, clean energy projects. You are wasting your money. I promise you, we are going to fight that gas leaving our country, and we are already in the process, so you are wasting your money.”

[2] https://twitter.com/MarkRuffalo/status/1224853323242708993?s=20

[3] EU Commission backs 55 controversial new fossil fuel projects https://www.foeeurope.org/EU-commission-backs-55-controversial-new-fossil-fuel-projects-311019

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SHANNON LNG – Just Transition and Employment in Ireland’s South-West

Categories

Food

 Ireland, like the rest of the world, needs to rapidly transition away from fossil fuels in order to meet its climate targets.
Image credits: Wikimedia Commons

The Shannon LNG terminal proposed for Ballylongford, Co. Kerry has received political and business support as a potential source of jobs for this rural area. However, the climate impact of the LNG terminal, which would import climate-hostile and environmentally destructive fracked gas from the US, has called the terminal’s acceptability into serious doubt. Furthermore, the proposed terminal would lock Ireland into fossil fuel use right at the moment when the country needs to transition to renewable energies. Can the desire to provide employment to the South- West of Ireland be reconciled with the burning need to move away from fossil fuel extraction, production and consumption?

Learn more in Food & Water Watch’s Factsheet: Shannon LNG – Just Transition and Employment in Ireland’s South-West

VIEW ON SCRIBD DOWNLOAD PDF

MEPS FAIL TO REJECT HARMFUL FOSSIL FUEL PRIORITY ENERGY PROJECTS

Vote tarnishes credibility of European Green Deal

FRIENDS OF THE EARTH EUROPE, FOOD & WATER EUROPE

Brussels – MEPs on the European Parliament’s Energy Committee (ITRE) have failed to reject the EU’s list of priority energy projects in a vote today, despite it containing dozens of new harmful fossil fuel projects incompatible with the Paris climate agreement.

The Projects of Common Interest (PCI) list identifies the highest priority energy infrastructure projects to be built in Europe and which become eligible for EU funding under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). But this fourth iteration of the PCI list has come under harsh criticism from both MEPs and civil society for the 55+ fossil gas projects on the list [1] – including mega pipelines and terminals to import fracked gas. Constructing these projects would put the climate neutrality goals of the European Green Deal in jeopardy. The list also includes a number of other energy infrastructure projects.

Frida Kieninger from Food & Water Europe said:
“All this new infrastructure for more fossil gas comes on top of Europe’s well-diversified gas network. Fossil gas is today’s biggest contributor to CO2 emission growth and is incompatible with the fossil free future promised in the European Green Deal. More unnecessary gas infrastructure will become a stranded asset, and consumers and the climate will pay the price.”

In exchanges of views with the Commission on the PCI list in October 2019, MEPs criticised the EU Commission for lack of sustainability and climate assessment for the PCI projects, the financial risks associated with creating infrastructure that could become potential ‘stranded assets’, and the incompatibility of the list current EU energy legislation with the Paris Agreement. [2]

Despite these concerns, climate-conscious MEPs in the Renew and S&D groups were unable to convince their colleagues to reject the PCI list. The motion, put forward by Green MEP Marie Toussaint and co-signed by Green, Renew and GUE MEPs, called for a rejection of the entire PCI list, and demanded a rapid revision of the TEN-E regulation which underlies the PCI process [3]. But the motion was today defeated by 54 votes to 17. [4]

84 civil society groups have signed an open letter calling on MEPs to reject the fossil gas PCI list [5]. Many of the signatory organisations are fighting specific gas projects that are being imposed on their local communities, such as the Krk LNG terminal in Croatia, the Shannon LNG terminal in Ireland and the EastMed pipeline, which is facing opposition in Cyprus, Greece, Italy and beyond the EU in Israel.

It is likely that a motion to reject the list will be put to the whole Parliament for plenary votes in February.

Colin Roche, climate justice coordinator for Friends of the Earth Europe said:
“There can be no truly Green Deal with more fossil gas. It’s now up to all MEPs to reject this vast list of mega-pipelines and other new fossil fuel projects – they are not compatible with the climate emergency and tarnish the credibility of any European Green Deal.”

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For more information, contact:

Colin Roche, climate justice coordinator, Friends of the Earth Europe, [email protected], (+32) (0)489 598984

Frida Kieninger, Food & Water Europe, [email protected], (+32) (0) 2893 1045, (+32) (0)487 249 905

Robbie Blake, Communications team, Friends of the Earth Europe, [email protected], (+32) (0)2 893 1010

***

[1] The 4th PCI list contains 32 clusters of gas projects. Many of these clusters contain several different projects that were counted as separate pieces of infrastructure in previous PCI lists. When these clusters are separated out, there are 55 gas projects on the 4th PCI list.

[2] The ITRE Committee engaged in two exchanges of views on the PCI list in 2019. The first took place on 17 October with Claus Dieter Borchardt of DG ENER, the second on 5th December with Commissioner Simson.

[3] The PCI list process is laid out in the TEN-E Regulation https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32013R0347. This regulation dates from 2013 and does not consider climate commitments such as the Paris Agreement, the EU’s 2030 decarbonisation targets and the European Green Deal. The TEN-E Regulation does not require any climate impact assessment of PCI projects. The European Commission has pledged to review the TEN-E legislation by the end of 2020. However, any potential revision of the legislation will take place after the selection process for the next fifth PCI list has begun.

[4] The PCI list is a delegated act. The list is set by the European Commission, after which both the Parliament and the Council have the option to reject the list in its entirety. MEPs can only reject the list in its entirety; they may not reject only the fossil fuel projects, or object to individual projects on the list.

[5] Over 80 Civil Society Organisations spoke out in support of a rejection of the gas projects in the list:https://www.foodandwatereurope.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/CSO-letter-PCI.pdf

NGOs Accuse EU Commission of Breaking Climate Rules over Shannon LNG

EU Commission accused of breaking Climate laws on very day President announces European Green Deal

The future for new fracking gas terminals across Europe at risk once again

Brussels — Representatives from NGO’s in Europe and the United States have formally accused the EU Commission of breaking its own rules when it approved support for fracked gas import terminals across Europe. The groups have formally requested a review of the decision from the Director General Commissioner of Energy over concerns that the construction on new gas infrastructure to facilitate trade deals with the United States would wreak havoc on the global climate.

The list of supported projects, known as the Projects of Common Interest (PCI) were approved by the EU Commission in October following an assessment that failed to consider climate or sustainability impacts. If approved by the European Parliament the supported projects which include the controversial Shannon Liquefied National Gas LNG project in Co. Kerry in Ireland would become eligible for significant funding, and are given priority in fast track planning and licensing processes.

The Trans-Atlantic group of NGOs’ appeal raised the accusation that Trade Considerations for the importation of US fracked gas, as agreed by Presidents Trump and Juncker in July 2018, are dominating over considerations of climate change in the European Commission, forcing European Commission staff to turn a blind eye to the disastrous climate impacts of establishing new markets for American fracked gas.

Increasing scientific evidence about the negative climate role of fossil gas and the need for a swift phase-out show that biased EU subsidies for fossil gas projects will result in dire consequences for the environment and Europe’s economy“, says Andy Gheorghiu, policy advisor for Food & Water Europe.

The failure to properly address the sustainability and climate impacts of proposed fossil gas Projects of Common Interest is a fatal flaw in the current (and past) lists and represents a breach of crucial European environmental/climate law/legislation, for example Article 11 TFEU, Article 191 TFEU and Article 37 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.”

The latest peer-reviewed research on fracking for gas notes that methane is a greenhouse gas almost 90 times more powerful than carbon-dioxide over a 20 year period and that shale gas development in North America is the single largest driver of this increase in methane, accounting for one-third of the increase in global emissions from all sources.

The appeal comes on the very day that President Ursula Von der Leyen announced the adoption of the European Green Deal. How the Commission deals with the carbon leakage and non-territorial emissions of US fracked gas imports into Europe on a massive scale which leave a carbon footprint 44% greater than that of coal will quickly reveal whether the European Green Deal is to signal real actions or just aspirations.

Eddie Mitchell, Communities for the Environment First commented,
“We hear a lot rhetoric from the Commission about sustainable development and climate mitigation. Unofficial trade agreements between the Commission and the U.S do not take precedence over the rule of law in Europe. The credibility of the PCI process is at stake. If trade wins over climate we all loose. What does the European Commission stand for?”

Kate Ruddock, Friends of the Earth Ireland commented,

How can we trust an institution when it does not even follow its own rules. The failure to assess the climate and sustainability impacts of major energy infrastructure projects is unacceptable and must be corrected before MEP’s vote on whether or not to approve the entire list of projects at the European Parliament in February.”

NOTES

[1] The request for the internal review was lodged by Irish NGO’s Friends of the Earth and Communities for the Environment First, by the European NGO Food and Water Europe and the American NGO Food and Water Watch.

[2] The Projects of Common Interest List is published by the European Commission every two years and contains energy infrastructure projects that are considered to contribute to the security, affordability, competitiveness and sustainability of Europe’s energy supply. The projects on the list are entitled to special priority in planning processes and are eligible to apply for EU funding. The 2019 list contains many electricity projects that can be relevant for the energy transition, as well as fossil gas and even oil infrastructure projects. Previous PCI lists contained over 100 projects directly linked to the importing and transportation of fossil gas. The 4th iteration of the PCI list was published by the European Commission in October this year. It contains over 55 fossil gas projects, including 5 Liquified Natural Gas terminals. Members of the European Parliament must approve or reject the list in its entirety the coming months (Jan-Feb).