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The European Union-Australian Climate Business Network and Professionals in Trade co-presented a lively roundtable discussion on 15 July 2021, on the European Commission’s much anticipated carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) to price carbon on EU imports, following the release on 14 July 2021, of the major ‘Fit for 55’ package of policy measures to put the EU on track to cut carbon emissions by 55% by 2030.
Following introductory remarks by the CEO of the EABC, Jason Collins on the Australian industry and trade context, our guest speaker Vicente Hurtado Roa, Head of the Energy Taxation and other Indirect Taxes Unit at the Directorate General of Tax at the European Commission, outlined the objectives behind the policy to prevent carbon leakage and incentivise third countries to reduce emissions and adopt green policy frameworks.
Applying in the first phase to heavy industry including steel, iron, cement, fertilisers, aluminium and electricity, and covering more than 45% of the C02 emissions of EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) sectors, importers of goods will be required to buy certificates linked to the average trading price of ETS allowances in the week prior to import.
Expected to be extended to other sectors in the second phase, the transition phase from 2023 to 2025 will involve data collection and reporting of actual embedded emissions, with importers from 2026 required to declare the embedded emissions in total goods imported based on set rules for calculation. If a non-EU producer can show they have already paid a carbon price on production in a third country, that amount will be deducted from the price paid for certificates.
Extensive international discussions are to follow with third countries and the WTO to seek their views and ensure compatibility with multilateral trade rules, with the CBAM designed to be replicated by international partners. The mechanism is to be implemented from 2026, with free allowances to industry under the ETS phased out by 2035.
In collaboration with the Australian Sustainable Finance Initiative (ASFI), the Network presented an expert workshop on Wednesday, 7 July 2021 to share information on the EU Sustainable Finance Platform and its work on the EU Taxonomy, in the context of wider global climate and policy trends.
This event is part of the European Union Australia Sustainable Finance project, an initiative of the European Commission which aims to facilitate knowledge sharing among Australian and European experts on the implementation of financial system frameworks to build knowledge and capability in the Australian market and support the implementation of Australian Sustainable Finance Roadmap.
ASFI, Climate-KIC Australia and European Union-Australian Climate Business Network are partnering on a series of industry roundtables and public events during September to December 2021, convening representatives from government; regulatory agencies; financial and investment sectors; researchers; industry, labour and professional associations.
Speakers for this event included:
The industry webinar on ‘Global Ocean Energy Solutions: from Technology Push to Market Pull’, which took place on 6 July 2021 in collaboration with the Australian Ocean Energy Group (AOEG), highlighted the role of ocean energy, future energy systems to balance the renewables mix and as part of integrated energy solutions with multiple business cases.
The global effort to decarbonise has sparked rapid growth in renewable energy production. To understand more about global ocean energy market opportunities, underscoring the drivers for ocean energy update and implementation constraints such as policy settings, finance and risk; and specialised markets such as aquaculture, utilities, offshore infrastructure and others, the Dutch Marine Energy Centre (DMEC) presented its market development approach and learnings demonstrated through case studies on on offshore wind developers and the oil and gas sector as end users of ocean energy.
Key highlights from the Forum were:
Speakers for this event included:
Presentation: Marine Energies From Technology Push To Market Pull
The second webinar in our Circular Economy series on ‘Financing the Circular Economy’ took place on 10 December. Circular economy experts from The Netherlands, Italy and Hong Kong engaged in a panel discussion on the role of finance in enabling the transition to a circular economy.
The circular economy makes efficient use of existing resource so that they are not consumed and discarded but re-entered into a system that creates value again and again. This requires investment capital and innovative financial instruments that reflect the changing money flows and risks of these new ways of doing business.
This system shift fundamentally changes the role of both the business as well as the financier. In this webinar, we discussed questions such as:
Speakers for this event included:
This webinar is an opportunity to hear European financial sector institutions present on comparative approaches to the role of finance and policy in enabling the transition through case studies including the global policy landscape, how the transition at national level is being supported, the policy and institutional capabilities required, and the approach to mobilizing capital for circular investments.
The commercialisation of green hydrogen is an essential step toward a 100% renewable future. Green hydrogen has the potential to meet the exponentially growing demands for renewable energy to support the electrification and decarbonisation of heavy industry and transport sectors.
A significant amount of research and effort is taking place exploring ways to cost-effectively produce green hydrogen. EMEC is investigating several ocean-related hydrogen projects, including tidal energy as generation source to produce green hydrogen. http://www.emec.org.uk/projects/hydrogen-projects/iteg/.
The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney Scotland, is the only centre to provide developers of both wave and tidal energy converters – technologies that generate electricity by harnessing the power of waves and tidal streams – with purpose-built, accredited open-sea testing facilities.
The recently announced EMEC ‘Flow’ project using a unique combination of tidal power and flow batteries at EMEC’s tidal energy test site on the island of Eday, will power EMEC’s hydrogen production plant, demonstrating the world’s first continuous hydrogen production from variable renewable generation. This is the first time that a flow battery will be coupled with tidal energy and hydrogen production, which will support the development of innovative energy storage solutions being developed in the Interreg NWE ITEG project.
Our speaker Rob Flynn shared relevant EMEC experience on:
The first part of a three-part event series on Circular Economy took place on 1 December. We talked to experts to deepen our understanding on the systemic and coherent circular policy famework and the opportunities presented by new business models.
Australian jurisdictions have a shared vision of transitioning to a circular economy and this shift involves fundamental changes across value chains – everything from the design of products and circularity of materials flows, to creating the right incentives and legal structures to stimulate circular business ideas.
Equally essential is the consumer, who must be encouraged to create demand in order to drive the success of the circular economy, alongside investment capital and innovative financial instruments that reflect the changing money flows and risks of these new ways of doing business.
The webinar featured speakers from the European Union and Australia, including
Presentation: New EU Circular Economy Action Plan
Presentation: Creating Values with Circular Business Models
Hear Adrian Joyce, Secretary General of The European Alliance of Companies for Energy Efficiency in Buildings (EuroACE) talk with Luke Menzel, CEO of the Energy Efficiency Council, about the Renovate Europe campaign and the growing momentum for the Renovation Wave as a part of the EU green recovery.
The Australian Smart Energy Council‘s online event ‘ The impact of COVID-19 on Global Smart Energy” on 29 April 2020 heard Mate Heisz, Head of International Co-operation at Solar Power Europe give his perspective on the impact of COVID-19 on the smart energy industry in Europe.