25.01.2017, 17:54
Germany's Eon suggests carbon floor price
OREANDA-NEWS. German utility Eon's chief executive Johannes Teyssen has suggested introducing a carbon floor price as the most efficient way to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the country's energy sector.
An initial price of €20/t CO2 or €30/t CO2, as mooted by the French government, would be a clear message to companies that protecting the environment is worthwhile, Teyssen said today at the annual Handelsblatt energy conference in Berlin.
Teyssen voiced his disappointment with the EU's winter energy package, which deals with a range of "micro-issues" but which he said insufficiently tackles the crucial issue of reforming the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS).
"Let's be honest, prospects for fulfilling the Paris agreement are not good," Teyssen said.
Teyssen warned that the future of the energy sector will be driven by what customers want, and not by policy decisions. For instance, increasingly linking up storage batteries of retail customers' installed photovoltaic (PV) sites may make a greater difference to the energy system than ambitious climate decisions, Teyssen said.
This century will see another wave of electrification, according to Teyssen. Consumers can produce their own electricity, as opposed to their own coal or heating oil. Energy is no longer made by companies or politicians, he said.
Teyssen joined calls to improve the distribution of high taxes and levies on power consumption to other energy sources. In particular the "striking" effect that in times of abundant renewable power supply, wholesale power prices fall, in turn lifting the renewable energy law (EEG) levy, should be tackled through some kind of "dynamisation" of the levy, Teyssen said.
The possibility of a carbon price had been discussed but ultimately shelved when the German government agreed on its 2050 climate protection roadmap.
Federal environment minister Barbara Hendricks told delegates she did not exclude the possibility of introducing a carbon price in the future, "but I don't want this to be understood as an announcement". Hendricks once again warned against setting dates for a coal phase-out in Germany. Demands by the Green party to phase out coal by as early as 2035 are simply "illusory", she said. "This simply cannot work."
The EU ETS will in the "foreseeable" future link up with the Chinese ETS due to start up this year, Hendricks said. This could happen in maybe five or 10 years, or possibly even earlier, Hendricks said. The US will at some point find it impossible to escape from this global dynamic towards increasingly connected ETS, Hendricks said.
Energy think-tank Agora Energiewende managing director Patrick Graichen warned that if the EU ETS is not fundamentally changed, prices for EU ETS certificates will remain at €5/tCO2e "for the next 10 years".
There is nothing wrong with Germany setting itself national climate targets, energy agency managing director Andreas Kuhlmann said. Waiting for Poland and other members of the Visegrad group - Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic - to be ready will mean a "long wait", Kuhlmann said.
An initial price of €20/t CO2 or €30/t CO2, as mooted by the French government, would be a clear message to companies that protecting the environment is worthwhile, Teyssen said today at the annual Handelsblatt energy conference in Berlin.
Teyssen voiced his disappointment with the EU's winter energy package, which deals with a range of "micro-issues" but which he said insufficiently tackles the crucial issue of reforming the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS).
"Let's be honest, prospects for fulfilling the Paris agreement are not good," Teyssen said.
Teyssen warned that the future of the energy sector will be driven by what customers want, and not by policy decisions. For instance, increasingly linking up storage batteries of retail customers' installed photovoltaic (PV) sites may make a greater difference to the energy system than ambitious climate decisions, Teyssen said.
This century will see another wave of electrification, according to Teyssen. Consumers can produce their own electricity, as opposed to their own coal or heating oil. Energy is no longer made by companies or politicians, he said.
Teyssen joined calls to improve the distribution of high taxes and levies on power consumption to other energy sources. In particular the "striking" effect that in times of abundant renewable power supply, wholesale power prices fall, in turn lifting the renewable energy law (EEG) levy, should be tackled through some kind of "dynamisation" of the levy, Teyssen said.
The possibility of a carbon price had been discussed but ultimately shelved when the German government agreed on its 2050 climate protection roadmap.
Federal environment minister Barbara Hendricks told delegates she did not exclude the possibility of introducing a carbon price in the future, "but I don't want this to be understood as an announcement". Hendricks once again warned against setting dates for a coal phase-out in Germany. Demands by the Green party to phase out coal by as early as 2035 are simply "illusory", she said. "This simply cannot work."
The EU ETS will in the "foreseeable" future link up with the Chinese ETS due to start up this year, Hendricks said. This could happen in maybe five or 10 years, or possibly even earlier, Hendricks said. The US will at some point find it impossible to escape from this global dynamic towards increasingly connected ETS, Hendricks said.
Energy think-tank Agora Energiewende managing director Patrick Graichen warned that if the EU ETS is not fundamentally changed, prices for EU ETS certificates will remain at €5/tCO2e "for the next 10 years".
There is nothing wrong with Germany setting itself national climate targets, energy agency managing director Andreas Kuhlmann said. Waiting for Poland and other members of the Visegrad group - Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic - to be ready will mean a "long wait", Kuhlmann said.
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