Germany Backs Carbon Price in EU Emissions Push
Germany will back a plan to strengthen carbon prices, a senior official said on Tuesday, ahead of a meeting of European Union environment ministers on balancing the needs of industry with cutting emissions in reforming the carbon market. EU member states such as Germany, Italy, Austria and Greece are prioritising measures to ensure that regulation does not drive big industry abroad…
France to set Carbon Price Floor
France will set a carbon price floor of about 30 euros a tonne in its 2017 finance bill to be voted by the end of the year, French Environment Minister Segolene Royal said on Tuesday. The French government has committed to unilaterally set a carbon price floor in the absence of a broader European initiative hoping the move will spur other countries to act.
Governments Seek Rules for Paris Climate Deal
Governments began work on Monday on a rule book to implement the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global warming, with the United Nations urging stronger action after a string of record-smashing monthly temperatures. NASA said at the weekend that last month was the warmest April in statistics dating back to the 19th century, the seventh month in a row to break temperature records.
France Studying Possible Ban on Import of U.S. Shale Gas
French Energy Minister Segolene Royal said on Tuesday she is investigating legal means to ban the import of shale gas from the United States because France has banned shale gas exploration using hydraulic fracking for environmental reasons. Royal, answering a question in parliament, said contracts signed by French gas utility Engie and power utility EDF with a U.S.
French Renewables Lobby Wants More Offshore Wind Power in Policy Review
French renewables lobby SER said on Thursday it plans to argue for a major boost to offshore wind power targets at a review of government energy policy on Friday. On Friday the French government will submit a renewable energy investment plan to the Conseil Superieur de l'Energie (CSE), a consultative industry body. The government will then incorporate…
France to Launch Third Offshore Wind Tender
France plans to launch a tender to build turbines for the country's third offshore wind farm, Energy Minister Segolene Royal said in a statement on Monday. The wind farm is to be off the northern harbour town of Dunkerque, Royal said without specifying the size of the tender nor when bidding would close. France, unlike Britain, Germany and Denmark, does not yet have any offshore wind turbines installed.
France to Launch Offshore Wind Tender
France plans to launch a tender to build turbines for the country's third offshore wind farm, Energy Minister Segolene Royal said in a statement on Monday. The wind farm is to be off the northern harbour town of Dunkerque, Royal said without specifying the size of the tender nor when bidding would close. France, unlike Britain, Germany and Denmark, does not yet have any offshore wind turbines installed.
Climate Change, Energy Back on EU Agenda
Campaigners say Paris deal paved way for more EU action; France has led push for Europe to continue to lead. EU leaders meeting in Brussels this week will debate the Paris Agreement on climate change, a draft EU text showed, after officials previously said the migrant crisis had knocked it off the agenda. EU officials, speaking on condition of anonymity…
UN's Climate Chief Figueres to Quit
The U.N.'s climate chief said on Friday she will step down in July, at the end of a six-year term, and praised governments for reaching a 195-nation deal in Paris in December to shift the world economy from fossil fuels to cleaner energies. Christiana Figueres, a 59-year-old Costa Rican, said she would not accept any extension of her term as head of the Bonn-based U.N.
Nuclear Exit Unthinkable for Climate Conference Host France
Early this year, France's state energy and environment agency was set to publish a study that found the country could realistically abandon nuclear reactors and rely completely on renewable power in decades to come. But the presentation was scrapped under political pressure, with Energy Minister Segolene Royal later saying the agency needed to be "coherent" with government targets.
France's Fessenheim Nuclear Plant Won't Close by 2016
France's oldest nuclear plant at Fessenheim will not close by 2016, President Francois Hollande was quoted saying on Thursday, going back on a campaign promise, but he added the government will launch "irreversible" procedures for shutting the plant. France's energy transition law, voted through this summer, caps French nuclear capacity at its current level of 63.2 gigawatts (GW).
EU Ministers Unite on Climate Mandate
EU ministers on Friday finalized what they said was a tough negotiating position for U.N. climate talks later this year after overcoming objections from coal-reliant Poland. Poland's elections next month complicated the debate as the right-wing Law and Justice party has been campaigning on a promise to resist EU environment law and protect the coal industry.
EU Coal Subsidies Row Drags On
Issue 'an embarrassment' ahead of U.N. climate summit. Rich nations are stubbornly divided ahead of talks in Paris on Thursday to seek a deal to phase out coal subsidies in a foretaste of the difficulty of agreeing on action to curb global warming at a U.N. summit later this year. France, host of the U.N. climate summit, has piled on the political pressure…
France Scrapping Coal Export Credits
The French government is to scrap export credits used for coal technology made by turbine maker Alstom, Environment Minister Segolene Royal said on Thursday. President Francois Hollande pledged last year to eliminate coal export credits, and his staff said earlier this week that the situation would be clarified before Paris hosts an international climate change conference at the end of the year.
France: UN Climate Efforts Fall Short
Efforts spearheaded by the United Nations to reach a global deal to fight climate change are "inadequate", a French minister said on Monday in a sign of growing frustration before Paris hosts a major meeting later this year. Governments will try on Monday to streamline an 89-page draft text of a U.N. deal to fight climate change due to be agreed in the French capital in December, hoping to avoid the acrimony of the last failed attempt.
Weak Spots Found in Areva's French EPR Reactor
Areva has found weak spots in the steel of the EPR nuclear reactor it is building for utility EDF in Flamanville, France, French nuclear regulator ASN said on Tuesday. Areva and EDF said in a joint statement that while they start a series of new tests on the EPR, construction work would continue on the reactor, which is already years behind schedule and billions of euros over budget.
French Lawmakers Fail to Reach Deal on Energy Bill
France's two houses of parliament failed to reach a compromise on a flagship energy bill on Tuesday, delaying the final adoption of a text the government wants to use to cap nuclear production. A joint committee of lawmakers from both houses were meeting behind closed doors late on Tuesday to find a compromise. "Back to square one. The chair has formally taken note of the disagreement…
EU to Deliver Climate Pledge to UN
EU ministers agreed on Friday to send their formal promise on how much they will cut greenhouse gas emissions to the United Nations ahead of climate change talks starting in November. The European Union is the first bloc to agree its position before the talks in Paris aimed at seeking a new worldwide deal on global warming. It has called on other big polluters also to deliver early pledges to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.
French Senate Waters Down Energy Bill
The French government's energy bill was approved by the opposition-controlled upper house of parliament on Tuesday in a watered-down version that ditches key nuclear reduction targets and is likely to be changed again before its final adoption. The energy bill passed by the Socialist-controlled lower house last October included a reduction in the share…
Curve Rebounds on Colder Weather Forecast
European forward power prices rebounded on Tuesday, supported by forecasts for colder weather in late January, early February as well as stronger carbon and coal markets. Germany's Cal' 16 baseload position, the benchmark for European electricity prices for delivery next year, last traded up 50 cents at 32.05 euros/MWh. The equivalent French contract was up 25 cents at 38.10 euros/MWh.
