ESTIF attends European Business Summit
Date: 07 Jun 2016Category: Solar Heat News
The European Business Summit has become one of the main industry events in Brussels, gathering hundreds of business leaders, policy-makers and representatives of think tanks, civil society and academics. It included high level speakers from EC, member states and several companies.
This year’s edition took place the 1st and 2nd June. ESTIF’s Secretary General attended some of the sessions, those more related to renewable energy. It is not simple to summarise the various debates an d intervention from speakers.
Some highlights:
- The Paris Climate Agreement is ambitious, but the path for its implementation is very unclear. From the corporate side, it seems at times that there is not much trust that the ambition will be fulfilled.
- Europe plays an important role in the reduction of CO2 emissions and setting trends. Though it is losing relevance in comparison to other players, namely from Asia.
- The EU commitments are unclear, with many intentions remaining vague. It is not clear what is meant by leadership in Renewables, it is not clear how more ambitious targets for CO2 emission reductions and for further deployment of RES will be pushed forward, namely taking into account clashes among member states and the EC.
- Some mechanisms that would allow for further reduction would require more power from EC side. Though it has been taken back by member states.
- EU is finally achieving the “decoupling”, to grow its economy while reducing its emissions.
- Heavy industries still refer to effects of energy costs and the measures pushing for reduction in carbon emissions as leading to relevant delocalization. They do not refer to carbon leakage (as this was never properly proved) but rather to investment leakage, i.e., new investments going for other regions due to costs and regulations related to decarbonisation in Europe (which are harder to demonstrate).
- Even with low oil prices, RES still reaches new records, worldwide (not in Europe).
- EC officials (namely Juncker) still refer to SMEs as the blood of Europe, though it fails to reach these with more concrete measures. And the voice of large corporations seems to echo too strongly in Brussels.
More information on this event available here.