CCAP Europe

European Union (EU) Member State discussions on critical elements of the EU's recently adopted Energy Policy for Europe and Post-2012 Climate Change strategies are ongoing. Thus far, the EU has committed to a number of leading climate initiatives, including:

• Unilaterally reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and cutting emissions to 30 percent below 1990 level as a part of an international agreement;
• Revising and improving the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS);
• Using renewable energy for 20 percent of its energy by 2020; and
• Improving energy efficiency by 20 percent by 2020.

In response, CCAP created the European Dialogue on the Energy and Climate Challenge.

CCAP and its Paris-based partner, the Institut du Developpement Durable et des Relations Internationales (IDDRI), are convening this dialogue with high-level representatives from key EU Member State ministries, governments, industry, private-sector financial institutions and NGO stakeholders.

The Dialogue is developing a coordinated medium- to long-term EU approach to climate change, energy and finance policy, along with specific implementation strategies for achieving these commitments. Recommendations from the group are fed into the ongoing EU climate and energy policy debates.

• Develop and build support for a robust energy and climate strategy to cut emissions 20-30 percent below 1990 levels;
• Produce working papers that present the discussions of the dialogue on key elements of the EU's strategy;
• Help improve the EU ETS to demonstrate the viability of emissions trading systems and how they can be linked to achieve significant emissions reductions in the long term; and
• Outline EU energy, climate change, finance, technology and development strategies that can further support developing countries and their efforts to address climate change.

In early 2010, CCAP Europe conducted a study on a comparison of approaches to dealing with carbon leakage between climate policies and provisions for emission trading in the US and the EU. The project involved visits of Commission staff to Washington DC to meet with Congressional and Obama Administration officials and to also attend meetings of the Climate Policy Initiative, a program organized by CCAP that brings together key industry, environmental, congressional and administration officials. This project highlighted the value of the EU’s benchmarking approach to regulation of energy intensive industries in Europe and the potential applicability of this approach to the U.S.

From July 2009 to June 2010, CCAP Europe implemented, “The European Climate Leadership Initiative: Advancing the EU Climate and Energy Package.” The project had two main objectives, “Configuring effective governance for the auctioning of allowances post 2012,” and “Addressing challenges in the adoption and implementation of an EU -30 percent reduction target.” For these purposes, CCAP Europe organized numerous workshops in Brussels and Warsaw. The speakers included Deputy Director General Jos Delbeke from the DG Environment of the European Commission and his policy coordinator Peter Zapfel. Among the participants were representatives of the Governments of Poland, Spain, UK, Germany, France, Czech Republic, Romania, Italy, Slovak Republic, Bulgaria, Malta, Hungary, Finland, Croatia, Lithuania and companies including Eon, RWE, Eni, RWE Polska, Vattenfall, Noble Carbon Credits, Carbon Warehouse, Energa Elektownie Ostrleka, GDF Suez, Everen, PKN Orlen, Lhoist Polska, ZE Pak, IETA, Maersk Olie og Gas, Eurelectric, Enel, BP, EDF, PKE. For the workshops on the future of the European emission trading system in Brussels and Warsaw, CCAP Europe developed an in-conference simulation of the different possible auctioning systems for European emissions allowances.

From March to December 2010, CCAP Europe directed a project focused on coordinating Fast Start Finance activities in Europe. For this purpose, CCAP Europe ran five workshops in 2010 for European and other governments: on April 12th, June 5th, August 4th in Bonn, on October 7th in Tianjin/China and on December 7th in Cancun/Mexico. Among the participating countries and parties were Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, the European Commission, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, United States, Costa Rica, Colombia, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Panama, Korea, Chile, and Congo. Additionally, the World Bank, UNDP, UNEP and many others also participated. The European Commission was represented by Artur Runge-Metzger, director in the DG climate. The purpose of this process was to foster coordination and visibility of the finance pledges that European and other donors had made in December 2009 at the Copenhagen climate conference. There had been little coordination and reporting at the start of the project. One of the recommendations of the participants of the dialogues was to ensure higher transparency on Fast Start Finance activities by having this information on a public website. Building on the consensus recommendations of participants in this series of meetings, the Dutch government launched a new website that provides this transparency: www.faststartfinance.org .

In December 2008, CCAP Europe received a grant from the European Commission to facilitate a series of dialogues for negotiators to prepare next steps under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, working with CCAP. These dialogues take place two times a year, the most recent was held in September 2010 in Brussels. These dialogues are regularly attended by heads of delegations or senior negotiators from the most important countries in the UNFCCC-negotiations.