Greece, Poland refuse to back Eurelectric’s carbon retreat

Eurelectric, the European electricity industry association, intends to stop supporting investments in carbon-based electricity generation from 2020 onwards as part of its commitment to helping achieve carbon-neutral power supply in Europe by 2050, the association noted in a statement released today.

Greece and Poland, still maintaing carbon-heavy energy mixes and planning to develop new carbon-fired power stations, will not back Eurelectric on this objective.

“EURELECTRIC believes that market-based mechanisms such as carbon markets are the most cost-effective and efficient tool for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and stimulating investments in low carbon technologies and energy efficiency,” Eurelectric noted in a statement.

The association also pointed out: “Only the combination of an effectively reformed EU ETS and improved EU electricity market design can lead to sustainable and credible carbon price signals to drive investments to mature low carbon technologies. The power sector is already widely investing into low-carbon and innovative solutions to achieve carbon-neutral electricity supply by 2050 and does not intend to invest in new-build coal-fired power plants after 2020. In this context, we strongly reiterate our belief in cost-efficiency as an essential to building a resilient and future-proof Energy Union. We therefore urge policy makers to refrain from introducing command and control tools and to support a market-based energy transition.

Antonio Mexia, president of Eurelecric and chief executive of Portugal’s EDP, noted that the electricity sector is “determined to lead the energy transition and support its commitments for a low-carbon economy through specific actions.”

Eurelectric represents 3,500 electricity sector enterprises in Europe with a total capitalization of over 200 billion euros.