The European Parliament adopted by 466 votes to 139, with 38 abstentions, amendments to the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Governance of the Energy Union, amending Directive 94/22/EC, Directive 98/70/EC, Directive 2009/31/EC, Regulation (EC) No 663/2009, Regulation (EC) No 715/2009, Directive 2009/73/EC, Council Directive 2009/119/EC, Directive 2010/31/EU, Directive 2012/27/EU, Directive 2013/30/EU and Council Directive (EU) 2015/652 and repealing Regulation (EU) No 525/2013.
The matter was referred back to the committee responsible for interinstitutional negotiations.
The main amendments adopted in plenary concern the following issues:
Subject matter and scope: Parliament stipulated that the Governance mechanism established by the Regulation shall also seek to:
- implement long-term climate and energy strategies and measures designed to fulfil Union greenhouse gas emissions commitments consistent with the Paris Agreement;
- structure partnerships and cooperation between Member States at macro-regional and regional level, designed to achieve the targets, objectives and commitments of the Energy Union;
- contribute to greater regulatory and investor certainty;
- support a just transition for citizens and regions which could be negatively impacted by the transition to a low-carbon economy.
Integrated national plans: by 1 January 2019 and every ten years thereafter, each Member State shall notify to the Commission an integrated national energy and climate plan. The first plan shall cover the period from 2021 to 2030. The following plans shall cover the ten-year period immediately following the end of the period covered by the previous plan.
Members stated that national plans shall include:
- a description of the consultation and involvement of local authorities, civil society, business, the social partners and citizens and their results;
- a description of macro-regional and regional cooperation;
- a description of the regulatory and non-regulatory barriers and hurdles to delivering the targets and objectives;
- a description of the planned policies, measures and investment strategies and the regulatory and non-regulatory barriers and hurdles to delivering the targets and objectives;
- an assessment of the impacts of the planned policies and measures on competitiveness linked to the Energy Union and on environmental, including air quality and nature protection, health, macro-economic, and social impacts;
- an estimation of the public and private investment necessary to implement the planned policies and measures; Member States shall integrate energy efficiency programmes into their planning and consider building renovation as a priority in terms of investment;
- an assessment of the number of households in energy poverty in the Member States and include a national indicative objective to reduce energy poverty.
Member States shall make available to the public the plans submitted to the Commission.
Multilevel climate and energy dialogue platform: Member State shall establish a permanent multilevel climate and energy dialogue platform to support active engagement of local authorities, civil society organisations, business community, investors, any other relevant stakeholders and the general public in managing the energy transition. They shall submit to their national climate and energy dialogue platform different options and scenarios envisaged for their short, medium and long-term energy and climate policies, together with a cost benefit analysis for each option.
Consistency with overall climate objective: in order to respect the commitments of the Paris Agreement, the Commission is called on, by 1 July 2018, to report on the remaining global carbon budget that is consistent with pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to well below 2°C, in particular 1.5°C, above pre-industrial levels and shall publish an analysis of the Union’s fair share for 2050 and 2100.
Member States and the Commission on behalf of the Union shall adopt, by 1 January 2019 and every five years thereafter, their long-term climate and energy strategies with a 30 years perspective.
These strategies shall contribute to, no later than 2050, achieving a highly energy efficient and renewables based energy system within the Union.
The Commission shall assess whether the national long-term strategies are adequate for the collective achievement of the Union objectives. The Commission may issue recommendations to Member States to facilitate this end and to assist Member States in their efforts to prepare and implement their long-term strategies.
Methane strategy: the Commission shall analyse the implications for policies and measures of adopting a 20-year time horizon for methane. It shall consider policy options for rapidly addressing methane emissions and come forward with a Union methane strategy, with a priority to energy and waste related methane emissions.
Integrated reporting on energy poverty: where applicable, a Member State shall include in the integrated national energy and climate progress report quantitative information on the number of households in energy poverty.
E-platform: the Commission shall establish a public online platform to facilitate communication between the Commission and Member States, promote cooperation among Member States and facilitate public access to information.
Energy Community: by six months after the date of entry into force of this Regulation, the Commission shall propose its incorporation in the Energy Community under Article 79 of the Treaty establishing the Energy Community.