Meeting with CEFIC CEO delegation
Ref. Ares(2022)8209391 - 28/11/2022
Brussels, 13 January 2021
The role of renewable energy in the European chemical industry
The European chemical industry is asking what ideas the Commission is developing to
ensure sufficient renewables to decarbonise the chemical industry, specifically:
How to ensure the massive amounts of renewable electricity needed for
electrification and the production of hydrogen?
How to address the existing regulatory hurdles to kick-start industrial electrification
and greening chemistry (EEAG and ETS Indirect Compensation code for Hydrogen vs
non-compensation Basic Organic)?
How to start a structured dialogue with Commission services?
Main messages
The European Commission already has a target in place to increase the overall
renewable energy share from 20% today, to at least 32% by 2030. In the electricity
sector, this means a
doubling of the renewables mix f r o m ar oun d 30% t o d ay t o
more than 60% by 2030.
In absolute terms, the increase in renewables expected over the next 10 years is
the equivalent of
80% of the current energy consumption in the chemical
sector.
The target of 55% greenhouse gas emission reductions for 2030 is expected to
increase the share of renewables to 38-40% by 2030.
The energy system integration
strategy, the
hydrogen strategy, and the
offshore renewable energy st r ategy ar e
providing measures to accelerate the deployment of renewables
Regulatory hurdles on permitting and administrative issues for renewables are
already being addressed by the
clean energy Package (to be implemented by
June 2021), and will be further examined by the
revision of the renewable
energy directive (June 2021).
Increased production of renewables is pursued under the offshore energy
strategy, and the upcoming revision of the renewable energy directive (June 2021)
The increased use of
waste heat and agricultural waste , including through
bio-based products is addressed in the energy system integration str ategy, and
the revision of the renewable energy directive (June 2021).
The energy system integration strategy is explicitly examining measures to
facilitate electrification of end-use sectors, including through new pr ovisions to
support the necessary infrastructure.
Financial support for the scale up of renewable hydrogen prod uction in the
hydrogen strategy, and implemented through the different financial instruments
under the new multiannual financial framework (EU 7-year budget).
Upscaling of renewables and renewables hydrogen production is supported
under the ‘
Power Up’ flagship of NextGenerationEU (the EU recovery package).
The Commission foresees that efforts to increase renewables supply have to go hand -
in-hand with increased
measures for energy efficiency (according to CEF IC’s own
decarbonisation roadmap, the largest contribution will be energy efficiency measures –
see background):
The Climate Target Plan foresees that the existing target of at least 32.5% energy
efficiency
is increased to around 36% in terms of final energy consumption.
Several measures to support the
circular economy are being put in place to
ensure both increased use of energy efficiency as well as material resources.
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Meeting with CEFIC CEO delegation
Brussels, 13 January 2021
To safeguard competitiveness, the Commission will also propose
a carbon border
adjustment mechanism, for selected sectors, to reduce the risk of carbon
leakage as an alternative to measures currently in place to address that same risk.
Based on the strategies published in 2020, the Commission is currently preparing a
‘Fit
for 55%’ package of legislative proposals
Stakeholder engagement has already begun on the revision of the renewable
energy Directive, the energy efficiency Directive, and the EU emissions trading
scheme.
Background
The chemical industry accounts for 20% of industrial energy demand, and is as such
the largest industrial energy consumer.
34% of their consumption is natural gas, 30% is electricity, 16% is oil products, and
only 1% is direct use of renewables
According to CEFIC’s own decarbonisation roadmap, the largest contribution will be
energy efficiency measures (see below), followed by the decarbonisation of the
electricity mix.
Source: CEFIC (2019) European chemistry for growth
Contact – briefing contribution: […] (ENER, C1), tel.: […]
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