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EU to ban new gas, diesel cars by 2035

The agreement with Germany was key to gaining approval for the wider measure, which was originally scheduled for a vote in November last year…reports Asian Lite News

European Union (EU) energy ministers have approved a ban on the production and sale of new cars using traditional fossil fuel engines by 2035. However, opposition from four ministers brought to light divisions between member states over the issue.

Italy, Bulgaria and Romania abstained from Tuesday’s vote, while Poland voted against the new measure, which aims to tackle climate change by speeding up the transition to electric vehicles.

The Czech Republic also expressed its opposition to the measure, although the country’s energy minister eventually voted in favour of it.

Although the legislation approved Tuesday does not explicitly ban the sale of gasoline and diesel-powered cars, it calls for greenhouse gas emissions from new automobiles to be eliminated by 2035. This means that no new cars using conventional internal combustion engines can be sold after that date.

Emissions from vehicles represent around a fourth of total EU greenhouse gas emissions.

However, Rome, Sofia, Warsaw, and Bucharest are seeking to soften the new rules, or delay the deadline for implementation of the measure.

Meanwhile, on Saturday Germany struck a deal with the European Commission, and subsequently voted in favor of the measure. The German deal allows for the continued sale of non-electric vehicles that run on non-polluting synthetic fuels.

The agreement with Germany was key to gaining approval for the wider measure, which was originally scheduled for a vote in November last year.

“We have found an agreement with Germany on the future use of e-fuels in cars,” Frans Timmermans, the European Commission’s executive vice-president for the European Green Deal, announced on social media. “We will work now on getting the CO2 standards for cars regulation adopted as soon as possible, and the Commission will follow up swiftly with the necessary legal steps.”

Italy has been lobbying for an even broader exemption for cars running on a wider range of biofuels. On Tuesday, Italian Environment Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin said the country “believes that biofuels can also fall into the category of neutral fuels in terms of overall CO2 balance, and contribute to the progressive de-carbonization of the sector.”

The countries opposing the measure say they are concerned that a full transition away from gasoline and diesel-powered cars within 12 years would push vehicle prices too high too quickly, adding to inflationary pressures and acting as a drag on economic growth.

German sports car maker Porsche and its Italian rival Ferrari have also complained that the batteries required for high-powered electric vehicles would make the cars too heavy to perform up to manufacturer standards.

ALSO READ-EU to go ahead with proposal banning new gas, diesel cars by 2035

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‘Gas prices in Germany to remain high for most of 2023’

Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck.(photo:wikipedia)

“If we manage to expand this further at the current pace, then we will reconnect Germany to the world market,” Habeck said…reports Asian Lite News

Gas prices for consumers in Europe’s largest economy will remain high for another year in the wake of the energy crisis, Germany’s Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Robert Habeck has said.

“I hope that things will already be better toward the end of 2023,” Habeck told the German Press Agency (dpa) on Wednesday. However, he added: “We will still have to endure higher prices.”

After that period, Germany’s LNG infrastructure will likely be developed enough that sufficient replacements for Russian gas can be imported, thereby also regulating prices, he added.

Gas prices in Europe have already fallen significantly, after peaking at the end of August. European TTF (Title Transfer Facility) gas futures were trading at around 80 euros ($85) per megawatt hour on Wednesday, down from nearly 350 euros.

To secure Germany’s gas supply, liquefied natural gas terminals were being constructed to create new infrastructure for imports. In mid-December, the country’s first site for the operation of a Floating Storage and Regasification Unit was officially opened in Wilhelmshaven.

“If we manage to expand this further at the current pace, then we will reconnect Germany to the world market,” Habeck said.

“And then we will also get world market prices that are significantly below what we have now.”

ALSO READ-EU green lights first-ever cap for gas prices

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Zelensky urges EU to assist in purchasing gas, electricity

UK PM Rishi Sunak,Volodymyr Zelensky

Since October 10, Russia has carried out eight waves of air strikes against Ukraine’s critical energy infrastructure…reports Asian Lite News

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the European Union (EU) to assist Kiev in purchasing gas and electricity needed to run through the cold season, the presidential press service reported.

“I urge you to continue doing everything so that we can maintain the energy supply for Ukrainians,” Zelensky said while speaking at a meeting of the European Council via a video link.

Ukraine needs the EU support in buying two billion cubic meters of gas that would be used to compensate for the damage caused by Russian strikes at other types of energy generation, Xinhua news agency quoted the President as saying.

Besides, Ukraine is interested in importing electricity from the EU worth 800 million euros ($849 million), he added.

Since October 10, Russia has carried out eight waves of air strikes against Ukraine’s critical energy infrastructure.

According to the Ukrainian government, about half of the country’s energy facilities have been damaged due to the attacks which has resulted in widespread electricity outage amid freezing winter temperature.

ALSO READ-EU reaches $18.93 bn deal on Ukraine aid

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EU proposes gas price cap

European Union flags fly outside the European Commission building in Brussels, Belgium, on June 9, 2021. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong/IANS)

The market correction mechanism will be triggered when two conditions are met, the Commissioner explained…reports Asian Lite News

A European gas price cap at 275 euros ($283) per megawatt hour (MWh) has been proposed, Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson announced.

“We propose an upper ceiling on the month-ahead TTF (Title Transfer Facility) price in case it exceeds 275 euros per megawatt hour. Beyond that price, transactions will not be able to take place,” Xinhua news agency quoted Simson as saying

The market correction mechanism will be triggered when two conditions are met, the Commissioner explained.

Firstly, when the gas price exceeds 275 euros for two consecutive weeks. Secondly, when the spread between the TTF price and global liquefied natural gas (LNG) price is 58 euros or more for ten consecutive trading days.

When both these conditions are in place, the mechanism will be automatically activated, and will not require any additional procedures or decisions, he added.

Simson told a press conference that this is not a regulatory intervention to set the price on the gas market at an artificially low level; rather, it is a last resort solution to prevent episodes of excessively high prices which are not in line with global price trends.

“This is not a silver bullet that will bring gas prices down. But it provides a powerful tool that we can use when we need it, complementing our more structural efforts to lower prices, namely by controlling our demand and ensuring sufficient gas supply for Europe through joint purchasing and active external energy policy,” she added.

The proposals will be debated by energy ministers from the bloc’s 27 member countries on Thursday.

However, the Association of European Energy Exchanges said that the mechanism poses a serious threat to the region’s security of supply and financial stability, and will do little to achieve the goal of lowering energy costs.

In August, prices on the TTF virtual trading point surged from 220 euros to almost 320 euros per MWh, while global LNG prices were significantly lower.

Since then, gas prices have fallen considerably, to 116 euros currently.

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Germany’s largest gas importer posts $39bn net loss

Can Europe escape its looming energy crisis due to the Ukraine-Russia war?(IN)

In September, the German government rescued Uniper from insolvency because of its key role in the country’s energy supply…reports Asian Lite News

Germany’s largest gas importer Uniper announced that it recorded a net loss of 40 billion euros ($39 billion) in the first nine months of this year due to record high gas prices.

This figure contains “10 billion euros of realized costs for replacement volumes, and roughly 31 billion euros of anticipated future losses from valuation effects on derivatives and provision built-ups related to the Russian gas curtailments as of September 30”, the company said in a statement on Thursday.

“Uniper has for some time been procuring gas at significantly higher prices,” said CFO Tiina Tuomela in the statement, adding that the high cost of procuring new gas was “not being passed through to consumers”.

Gas prices in Europe have more than doubled since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war.

After peaking at almost 350 euros per megawatt hour, European TTF (Title Transfer Facility) gas futures were trading at around 133 euros on Thursday.

In September, the German government rescued Uniper from insolvency because of its key role in the country’s energy supply.

After a capital increase and the acquisition of a share package from Finnish energy group Fortum, the government’s stake will be around 99 per cent.

Under the so-called stabilization package, the company’s short-term liquidity has been ensured by credit lines from the state-owned KfW Bank.

By the end of October, 14 billion euros of the total credit line had been utilized, according to the company.

With a total price tag of at least 30 billion euros, the nationalization of Uniper will be the costliest state rescue of a company in Germany’s history.

For the full year 2022, Uniper is expecting full-year adjusted EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) and adjusted net income to be “significantly negative”.

It was impossible to give a more precise earnings outlook due to the “high degree of uncertainty” regarding delivered gas volumes and price levels, the company said.

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EU winter gas plan to enter into force next week

An emergency mechanism to trigger a bloc-wide alert in the event of widespread gas shortages is also included to make the gas-savings targets mandatory, reports Asian Lite Newsdesk

An emergency European Union (EU) gas conservation plan, prompted by fears of a cut-off of Russian gas supplies, will enter into force at the start of next week after the bloc’s member states completed a final procedural step, the Czech EU Presidency announced.

The plan provides for a voluntary 15 per cent reduction in EU member states’ gas consumption between August 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023, compared to the average consumption in the same period over the past five years, reports dpa news agency.

An emergency mechanism to trigger a bloc-wide alert in the event of widespread gas shortages is also included to make the gas-savings targets mandatory.

The aim of the consumption cuts is to ensure emergency transfers of gas to member states who face shortages if supplies fall to critical levels, in a move to reduce Russia’s leverage over the EU.

EU member states agreed the plan in July as Russia cut gas deliveries to the bloc, citing maintenance and technical issues linked to Western sanctions imposed on Moscow for invading Ukraine.

Picture shows Nord Stream pipeline equipments before the opening ceremony of the North Stream second gas link in Portovaya bay, near the town of Vyborg in northwestern Russia. (Xinhua_IANS)

The EU regards the decision as retaliation for the punitive measures and politically motivated.

Germany in particular is under pressure to save gas amid severely restricted Russian supplies.

Based on European Commission data, dpa has calculated that Germany needs to reduce its gas consumption by more than any other EU state in order to achieve the bloc’s agreed savings target of 15 per cent.

In order to reach the EU target, Germany must save 10 billion cubic metres of natural gas between the beginning of August and March next year, the equivalent to the average annual gas consumption of 5 million four-person households.

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Spain rejects EU gas usage proposal

Ribera said consumption in Spain had been within reasonable limits. “We want to help, but we also want to be respected,” she said…reports Asian Lite News

The Spanish government rejects the plan announced by the European Commission to cut gas consumption by 15 per cent in the coming months in view of the possibility that Russia will cut gas supplies to Europe, Teresa Ribera, Minister for Ecological Transition, has said.

“Whatever happens, Spanish families will not suffer gas or electricity cuts in their homes and the government will defend the position of Spanish industry, which has paid a special price to guarantee the security of supply,” the minister was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

Ribera said consumption in Spain had been within reasonable limits. “We want to help, but we also want to be respected,” she said. She added that “a disproportionate sacrifice cannot be imposed on us,” especially when “we have not been asked for an opinion”.

The European Commission’s proposal aims at a voluntary 15 percent reduction in average consumption over the last five years. In the case of Spain, this would be 55 terawatt hours (TWh) out of an average of 367.28 TWh

ALSO READ-EU ready for Russian gas cut-off: Von der Leyen

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Pummeled Ukraine rules out cease-fire

Russian-backed separatists already controlled parts of Luhansk and the neighboring Donetsk province before the invasion, but Moscow wants to seize the remaining Ukrainian-held territory in the region…reports Asian Lite News

Ukraine ruled out a cease-fire or any territorial concessions to Moscow while Russia intensified its attack in the eastern Donbas region and stopped sending gas to Finland in its latest response to Western sanctions and its deepening international isolation.

Polish President Andrzej Duda told Ukraine’s parliament that ceding even “one inch” of the country’s territory would be a blow to the whole West and reassured Kyiv of Warsaw’s strong backing for its European Union membership bid.

“Worrying voices have appeared, saying that Ukraine should give in to (President Vladimir) Putin’s demands,” Duda said, the first foreign leader to address Ukrainian lawmakers in person since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion.

“Only Ukraine has the right to decide about its future.”

After ending weeks of resistance by the last Ukrainian fighters in the strategic southeastern port of Mariupol, Russia is waging a major offensive in Luhansk, one of two provinces in Donbas.

Russian-backed separatists already controlled parts of Luhansk and the neighboring Donetsk province before the invasion, but Moscow wants to seize the remaining Ukrainian-held territory in the region.

On the Donetsk frontline, Russian forces were trying to break through Ukrainian defenses to reach the administrative borders of the Luhansk region, while further north they continued heavy shelling of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk, Ukraine’s general staff said in its daily update on Sunday.

Sievierodonetsk and its twin Lysychansk across the Siverskiy Donets River form the eastern part of a Ukrainian-held pocket that Russia has been trying to overrun since mid-April after failing to capture Kyiv and shifting its focus to the east and south of the country.

The British Defense Ministry said on Sunday that Russia was deploying its BMP-T “Terminator” tank-support vehicles in that offensive. With only 10 available for a unit that already suffered heavy losses in the failed attempt on Kyiv, however, the ministry said they were “unlikely to have a significant impact.”

Ukraine’s lead negotiator, speaking to Reuters on Saturday, ruled out a cease-fire or any deal with Moscow that involved ceding territory. Making concessions would backfire because Russia would hit back harder after any break in fighting, Zelensky’s adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said.

“The war will not stop. It will just be put on pause for some time,” Podolyak said in an interview in the heavily guarded presidential office. “They’ll start a new offensive, even more bloody and large-scale.”

Recent calls for an immediate cease-fire have come from US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

The end of fighting in Mariupol, the biggest city Russia has captured, gives Russian President Vladimir Putin a rare victory after a series of setbacks in nearly three months of combat.

The last Ukrainian forces holed up Mariupol’s vast Azovstal steelworks have surrendered, the Russian defense ministry said on Friday. While Ukraine has not confirmed all its forces have left, the commander of the Azov regiment, one of the units in the factory, said in a video that Ukraine’s military command had ordered the forces in Mariupol to stand down in order to preserve their lives.

Full control of Mariupol gives Russia command of a land route linking the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow seized in 2014, with mainland Russia and parts of eastern Ukraine held by pro-Russia separatists.

Gas dispute

Russian state gas company Gazprom said on Saturday it had halted gas exports to Finland, which has refused Moscow’s demands to pay in roubles for Russian gas after Western countries imposed sanctions over the invasion.

Finland said it was prepared for the cutoff of Russian flows. It applied together with its Nordic neighbor Sweden on Wednesday to join the NATO military alliance, although that is facing resistance from NATO member Turkey.

Most European supply contracts are denominated in euros or dollars. Last month, Moscow cut off gas to Bulgaria and Poland after they rejected the new terms.

Western nations have also stepped up weapons supplies to Ukraine. On Saturday, Kyiv got another huge boost when US President Joe Biden signed a bill to provide nearly $40 billion in military, economic and humanitarian aid.

Moscow says Western sanctions, along with arms deliveries for Kyiv, amount to a “proxy war” by the United States and its allies.

Putin calls the invasion a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine and rid it of radical anti-Russian nationalists. Ukraine and its allies have dismissed that as a baseless pretext for the war, which has killed thousands of people in Ukraine, displaced millions and shattered cities.

Zelensky said he stressed the importance of more sanctions on Russia and unblocking Ukrainian ports in a call with Italy’s Draghi on Saturday.

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Sunak demands oil and gas companies increase investments

He repeated his view that no options were off the table if oil and gas companies did not provide significant investment soon in Britain…reports Asian Lite News

Finance minister Rishi Sunak said he was “pragmatic” about the idea of a windfall tax on the profits of oil and gas companies as a possible way to raise money to provide more help to households facing the strain of higher energy prices.

“I’m not naturally attracted to the idea of them (windfall taxes) but what I do know is that these companies are making a significant amount of profit at the moment because of these very elevated prices,” Sunak told BBC television.

He repeated his view that no options were off the table if oil and gas companies did not provide significant investment soon in Britain.

“I find there are two camps of people actually, there’s some people who think windfall taxes can never be the answer, And then there are other people who think windfall taxes are an easy, quick, simple answer to solve every problem,” he said.

“I’m not in either of those schools of thought, I’m pragmatic about it.”

Asked about the chance of fresh support for households, Sunak said he had previously said he was ready to do more and he wanted to see how energy costs develop ahead of a half-yearly review in October which would “help us to get the decisions right.”

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