G7 and climate clubs + Czech presidency • Table.Briefings

Dear reader,

Women in traditional dirndl dresses, men in lederhosen, plus a proud prime minister in a traditional janker: The G7 heads of state and government were met with a large helping of local flair when they arrived at Munich Airport. A very Bavarian prelude to a summit marked by serious global crises.

A price cap on Russian oil, a ban on imports of Russian gold: US President Joe Biden drew attention to himself from the beginning with several topics. Host Olaf Scholz also has a lot planned for the summit. On the agenda for the first day was the goal of advancing climate clubs – one of the chancellor’s core approaches in the fight against climate change. Lukas Scheid gives an overview of the first day at Schloss Elmau.

The French presidency of the EU Council will soon end, and the Czech Republic will take over on July 1. Lucky for Europe: The new government under Prime Minister Petr Fiala is pursuing a constructive course and wants to make the European economy more resilient with an ambitious program. Hans-Peter Siebenhaar took a closer look at the Czech Republic’s plans for the coming six months. His conclusion: “In Prague, the days of national populism are over for the time being. The goals of the Czech presidency leave no doubt about that.”

The NewClimate Institute is known for its Climate Action Tracker, among other things. It shows how global warming will develop – taking into account the voluntary commitments of individual countries. The founder of the institute is Niklas Höhne, who has also taken to the streets with Fridays for Future. Read more about the climate scientist in today’s Profile by Janna Degener-Storr.

Your
Sarah Schaefer

G7: Climate clubs slowly begin to take shape

By

Lukas Knigge

The agenda for the first day of the summit included “advancing climate clubs”. Their establishment is considered one of the Chancellor’s core issues in the fight against climate change. Although no one knows exactly what these climate clubs will look like at the end of the day, a negotiated document from the G7 countries is to be published later today.

The climate clubs are to comprise three pillars, government circles said even before the summit. First: “carbon mitigation” and “carbon pricing“. Second: industrial decarbonization. And third: cooperation with emerging and developing countries. However, how a climate club can contribute to this in the future is still completely open. Only the third pillar has already been given more concrete form, but it raises new questions.

The so-called Just Energy Transition Partnerships have already taken shape and are to be expanded. The energy partnership with South Africa, which was agreed upon at COP26 in Glasgow, is to serve as a model. Emerging countries are to be enabled to make the energy transition away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy sources. Climate clubs are also to help with this.

Expansion of gas infrastructure despite climate clubs

South Africa will be a guest at Schloss Elmau today – as will Senegal. Scholz is also planning an energy partnership with the West African country. However, this is highly controversial and contradicts the idea of the climate clubs. During his visit to the Senegalese capital Dakar at the end of May, the Chancellor pledged support for the development of gas fields.

The idea: Senegal could supply LNG to Germany and Europe in the future. “In the current situation, there is a short-term need for large-scale investment in gas infrastructure in developing countries and elsewhere,” confirmed Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi on Sunday afternoon at Schloss Elmau at the presentation of a “Partnership for Global Infrastructure”.

The word from negotiating circles is that the second pillar in particular still requires discussion. At the same time, the heads of state and government have agreed in principle on the climate club goals and “like the idea” of working together to make progress on industrial decarbonization. However, the Sherpas still need to work out the details, according to a senior EU official. The sticking point is the comparability of the different instruments for climate protection. The issue is still how to establish standards for a decarbonized industry that apply to all countries. How the countries’ different climate policies and CO2 pricing methods can be brought together will be discussed in the next step.

Alternative to the New Silk Road from Beijing

With the “Partnership for Global Infrastructure”, the G7 actually want to provide a counter-design to China’s new Silk Road, with which the country is opening up new trade routes to Europe, Africa, Latin America, and in Asia. US President Joe Biden announced $600 billion by 2027. The goal is to create sustainable infrastructure “that will improve the lives of people around the world”. The USA is the initiator of the project.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that “Team Europe” would provide €300 billion as a contribution to the G7 investment initiative. This amount of government and private money is earmarked until 2027, von der Leyen said. “It is up to us to give the world a positive and strong investment impulse to show our partners in the developing world that they have a choice and that we want to work in solidarity to meet their development needs,” she said on Sunday.

Price cap on Russian oil

Joe Biden brought two other proposals with him to Elmau. One is to force Russia to sell oil to large customers such as India for a significantly lower price in the future. This could work by the West tying services such as insurance for oil transports to compliance with the price cap. On the one hand, the cap is intended to ensure that Russia no longer benefits from price increases on the energy market. On the other hand, it should contribute to easing tensions on the oil markets worldwide.

The round is well on the way to reaching consensus, according to German government sources. From the EU’s point of view, not all details have been clarified yet. The goal of a price cap is to ensure that Russia no longer benefits from price increases on the energy market and can thus finance its war of aggression against Ukraine. At the same time, further price jumps for oil are to be prevented.

Embargo on gold finds broad support

The EU, on the other hand, is expected to support the plans for a gold import ban. EU Council President Charles Michel said he was confident that the Russian gold sector could be targeted in such a way as to avoid becoming a victim of negative repercussions himself. “We want to target Russian financing of the war.” However, it was first important “to implement what we have already decided,” Michel said, referring to previous Western sanctions against Russia. As for gold, he said, they are willing to look at the plans in detail. He wants to push ahead with coordination between the EU states.

According to US President Joe Biden, the G7 countries want to announce an import ban on Russian gold. This would deprive Russia of tens of billions of dollars in revenue from this important export commodity, Biden announced on Twitter. A senior US government official said Sunday in a telephone exchange with reporters that the G7 countries would officially announce the import ban on Tuesday, the final day of the summit. France supports the ban on gold exports from Russia, according to government sources.

The German proposal for a temporary waiver on biofuels, on the other hand, apparently does not meet with approval. Germany no longer expects to reach an agreement on this at the G7 summit. The opposition of the USA and Canada is responsible, according to government circles.

“A temporary waiver on biofuel would be an important signal by the G7 to reduce grain prices in the short term and to relax the market situation.” A White House official said the issue would be negotiated by the Sherpas at the summit. With dpa and Reuters

Czech presidency: Europe as a task

Europe is lucky: The five-party coalition under Prime Minister Petr Fiala (Civic Democrats), which took office at the end of last year, has pursued a constructive course from the start. Taking over the EU Council presidency from France on July 1 was therefore carefully prepared by the government in Prague.

Former long-term Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, on the other hand, had made no secret of his aversion. The populist and billionaire considered the expense too high; he wanted to cut the budget by half. At the time, the cheap presidency was also meant as a strong signal against Brussels.

EU veterans still have unpleasant memories of the first Council presidency in 2009. Back then, a serious government crisis paralyzed the presidency – Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek was ousted by a vote of no confidence. Such turbulences are unlikely this time.

The current government wants to act as a motivator for Europe in economic, political, and geostrategic terms. Head of government Fiala, a political scientist, sees the Council presidency as an opportunity to redefine his country’s European policy profile as a reliable partner. The 57-year-old has long been head of the liberal-conservative Občanská demokratická strana (ODS).

Václav Havel as a role model

Fiala and his government are tying in historically with the legendary Czech President Václav Havel. In his speech awarding the Charlemagne Prize in Aachen in 1996, the poet president called on Europeans to “rediscover their conscience and take responsibility for global environmental, social and economic challenges,” according to the current program of the Czech presidency. Havel’s slogan “Europe as a task” has been adapted by the government: “Rethink, rebuild, repower” is its motto for the Council presidency in the second half of the year.

The Russian war of aggression on Ukraine has hit the Czech Republic to the core. The invasion of the Red Army in 1968, with which the Soviet leadership put an end to the Prague Spring, is etched in the collective memory of the country of just under eleven million inhabitants. When the country joined the EU in 2004, security and peace were central motives.

Against this backdrop, it is obvious that the Czech Republic wants to mobilize all available resources to deal with the refugee crisis and reconstruction in Ukraine. Prague is focusing in particular on the restoration of critical infrastructure but also on economic recovery and securing essential services.

Faster implementation of REPowerEU

In this context, the Council Presidency also aims to reduce dependence on gas, oil, and coal from Russia as quickly as possible. For example, it is planned to implement REPowerEU more quickly to diversify resources and achieve energy savings. Like its neighbors, Poland, Slovakia, Austria, and Germany, the Czech Republic is heavily dependent on energy imports from Russia.

However, the Czechs do have one strategic advantage: Nuclear energy has always been an important component of the energy supply. However, this repeatedly leads to discussions with Austria when safety problems arise in nuclear power plants. However, Prague’s basic stance on energy policy is entirely in line with Brussels.

Unlike his predecessor Babiš, Fiala relies on close contact with the Commission and Parliament. That is why the post of Minister for European Affairs was created with Mikuláš Bek. Under Babiš, there was previously only a state secretary. The government in Prague is very aware of the importance of the EU in view of the economic turmoil caused by the Ukraine war and the COVID-19 crisis.

The country is currently struggling with above-average inflation. Added to this are economic worries such as the fragile supply chains, which are causing severe problems for the automotive industry, for example. The Volkswagen subsidiary Škoda near Prague is one of the largest employers in the Czech Republic.

Visegrád quartet disintegrates

Against this backdrop, it is not surprising that the Czech presidency wants to strengthen the “strategic resilience” of the EU economy. “The EU must drastically reduce its dependence on hostile and unstable regimes,” the list of priorities in Prague reads verbatim. “Decarbonization is no longer just about climate protection. It is now above all a prerequisite for our independence and energy security,” Prime Minister Fiala said. “This transformation must be done in an economically and socially sensitive way so as not to jeopardize the living standards of our citizens and the competitiveness of our industry.”

Particular attention is being paid to raw materials and key supply chains, such as semiconductors. The solution, however, is not autarky. Instead, the Czech presidency proposes to promote technological competitiveness in a targeted manner. Trade with other democratic countries around the world and, in particular, transatlantic cooperation with the USA should be expanded.

The EU has the opportunity to set global standards as a first mover in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), for example. One of Prague’s financial policy goals is to increase transparency in the cryptocurrency, which has recently run into difficulties, and to reduce abuse.

With its pro-European program, the Czech Republic deliberately departs from the line of the Visegrád Group. The quartet with Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia has now become two tandems. On many issues, Prague and Bratislava are pulling in the same direction. Warsaw and Budapest, on the other hand, are taking a completely different approach to European policy. The days of national populism are over in Prague for the time being. The goals of the Czech presidency leave no doubt about that. By Hans-Peter Siebenhaar

Bulgaria’s parliament votes to override North Macedonia veto

The Bulgarian parliament has voted in favor of lifting the veto against the start of EU accession negotiations with North Macedonia. On Friday, a majority of deputies voted in favor of a bill to this effect, although it also contained conditions. The Bulgarian government was charged with accepting the French EU presidency’s proposal to settle the dispute between the two neighboring countries. There were 170 votes in favor, 36 against, and 21 abstentions.

Bulgaria has blocked the start of EU accession talks with North Macedonia since the end of 2020 because North Macedonia refuses to address demands on, for example, the rights of Bulgarians in the country. Sofia insists that Bulgarians be treated equally in North Macedonia. The veto also affected EU candidate Albania.

Attempts to break the deadlock ahead of a Western Balkans meeting organized on Thursday on the sidelines of the EU summit failed.

For the withdrawal of the veto, Bulgaria demands, for example, that Bulgarians enjoy equal rights with others in North Macedonia by establishing them as a people in the constitution. In addition, Bulgaria does not want to recognize the “Macedonian language” as independent – from the Bulgarian point of view, it is a form of the Bulgarian language. Sofia also insists that EU institutions monitor whether North Macedonia is implementing a 2017 bilateral good-neighborhood treaty. Among other things, this treaty regulates the handling of the partly shared history.

The proposal of the French EU Presidency gives Bulgaria a chance to obtain a high level of guarantees for its concerns, said the co-chairman of the Democratic Bulgaria (DB) alliance, Hristo Ivanov, before the vote. The lawyer had introduced the bill to parliament. He praised that with this proposal, the problems between the two countries would become European problems.

For the nationalists, overriding the veto would be a “national betrayal”. French President Emmanuel Macron hailed the vote as “important progress” .The necessary technical work, as well as talks, would soon continue to formalize an agreement in the coming days. dpa

Kaliningrad dispute: Moscow questions Lithuania’s border

Due to the transit restriction to Russia’s Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad between Lithuania and Poland, the legality of the Lithuanian border is now being disputed in Moscow. “Basically, Lithuania has questioned its own borders,” the head of the Russian space agency Roskosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, told state television on Saturday. The unimpeded transit was a condition for Russia to recognize the borders of the former Soviet republic of Lithuania, he said. “Lithuania has not only shot itself in the leg with this, but in the head.”

The current EU country had stopped transit of goods on the EU sanctions list a week ago. According to Kaliningrad Governor Anton Alichanov, 40 to 50 percent of transit between core Russia and Kaliningrad is affected. Among other things, no cement, building materials, or metals may now be brought into the Russian Baltic Sea region by land. Russian officials had, therefore, already announced countermeasures. For example, the exclusion of Lithuania from the joint electricity grid has been proposed.

The now suggested abrogation of the Russian-Lithuanian treaty on the state border would mean an escalation. Russian talk shows have been buzzing for weeks with calls to seize a “corridor” to Kaliningrad. Rogozin is the first high-ranking Russian official whose demands are along these lines. dpa

Energy investment treaty update fails to win over environmentalists

Years-long talks over updating an international energy investment treaty ended on Friday with a provisional deal which would allow the exclusion of fossil fuels interests but not fast enough to silence environmental campaigners’ complaints that it undermines efforts to curb climate change.

The 1994 Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) was conceived to support the energy sector in former Soviet Union countries, allowing investors to sue governments over policies that jeopardise their investments.

The updated version gives countries the option to remove protection from investments in fossil fuels made on their own territory, which had attracted criticism from some European governments and campaigners who said it threatened the transition to low-carbon energy. Existing investments can be excluded 10 years after the new mechanism comes into force, and new investments nine months after. The updated agreement introduces technologies that were not previously covered, including hydrogen and synthetic fuels. Countries have reached what the European Union described as a “tentative agreement” on the changes, two years after formally starting negotiations.

European energy commissioner Kadri Simson said on Twitter that negotiations had been “long and difficult“, but that the “revised ECT will be better aligned with the #EU’s climate ambition & help direct new investments toward #cleanenergy technologies”.

EU countries bring exit under discussion

But charity ClientEarth said the proposal was still not in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. “EU countries could still be sued for putting in place progressive climate policies for at least another decade – the key window for action if humanity is to avoid climate catastrophe,” said ClientEarth lawyer Amandine Van Den Berghe.

German utility RWE used the treaty last year to seek compensation for a Dutch plan to phase out coal-fuelled power by 2030, which would affect its Eemshaven power plant.

Spain, FrancSpain, France and Luxembourg have raised the possibility of EU countries leaving the treaty. Spanish Energy and Environment Minister Teresa Ribera was quoted by Politico this week calling for a “coordinated withdrawal” by the EU.

The provisional agreement means that if all parties stay silent until a conference in November, the text will be formally adopted, the EU said. It will then require the agreement of the European Council and the consent of the European Parliament. rtr/sas

Hydrogen: Rapporteur wants to limit blending

The admixture of hydrogen in long-distance pipelines favored by natural gas network operators is meeting with resistance in the EU Parliament. The Commission had proposed to oblige transport network operators to accept an admixture of up to five percent at the border crossing from October 2025. ITRE’s rapporteur on the gas market regulation, Jerzy Buzek (EPP), wants to delete the corresponding paragraph. This is according to the draft report published by “Contexte” on Friday.

Instead, Buzek wants to allow a maximum quota of two percent. Only then should the procedure for cross-border coordination, which the Commission wants to enshrine in the regulation, take effect. The procedure is intended to settle disputes between pipeline operators and regulatory authorities in neighboring member states if they consider the gas quality of the other state to be incompatible with their national regulations. The European regulatory authority ACER would have the final say in the event of a dispute.

In the corresponding recital, Buzek wants to establish blending as a “last resort” and make it clear that application in the industrial and transport sectors has priority. In principle, however, the member states should be free to decide whether to add hydrogen to their gas networks. ber

Bundestag approves parts of coalition plan for more renewable energies

The Bundestag has passed parts of the legislative package planned by the coalition to accelerate the expansion of renewable energies. The parliamentary groups of the traffic light coalition of SPD, Greens, and FDP voted in favor of several amendments to the energy industry law from the so-called Easter package on Friday. The CDU/CSU, the largest opposition party, also voted in favor, while the Left Party and the AfD each voted against. The cabinet had approved the plan in April.

The amendments will directly incorporate the goal of making Germany climate-neutral by 2045 into law and anchor it more firmly in the planning procedures for the expansion of the electricity networks. The procedures will be more closely bundled. According to the Ministry for Economic Affairs, in the future there will, for example, be regulations for an early start to construction on certain projects already during the approval process. “This means that an important stage has been reached that will, above all, accelerate the expansion of the electricity grids,” said Federal Economic Affairs Minister Robert Habeck (Greens).

The demand plan for the expansion of the networks is also updated. 19 construction projects will be newly included, 17 projects will be modified, and one will be deleted. “The realization of the projects newly included in the federal requirements plan is estimated to incur investment costs of around €10.8 billion, which will be spread over a period of several years,” the draft law states.

In the future, companies that no longer wish to supply households with energy must notify the Federal Network Agency at least three months in advance. The agency will also be given additional powers vis-à-vis energy suppliers. Ad-hoc cancellations had caught many consumers cold last winter and caused a great deal of uncertainty, Habeck said. “We are now putting a stop to this. There can be no more of this in the future.”

The measures adopted are also a reaction to the Russian attack on Ukraine, which has significantly increased fossil energy prices. Germany wants to become less dependent on Russian supplies, on which it relies heavily, especially gas. The Easter package – a whole bundle of legislative changes – is the biggest amendment in decades in the energy sector, according to the Economic Affairs Ministry. It is intended to triple the speed of the expansion of renewable energies. rtr

France prepares restart of coal-fired power plant

France is preparing to restart the coal-fired power plant in Saint-Avold near Saarbrücken given the energy crisis triggered by the Ukraine war. The power plant, which was only taken off the grid at the end of March, is to be put back into operation next winter as a precautionary measure in view of the tensions on the energy market and the situation in Ukraine, the energy ministry in Paris announced on Sunday, as the broadcaster BFMTV reported. This does not change the fundamental decision to phase out coal. Except for a reserve power plant, the plant in Lorraine near Saint-Avold was the last in France.

The basis for the restart of the power plant is a law to cushion the crisis, which is to be passed in July, the broadcaster RTL reported. According to the law, the 71 employees who were laid off at the end of March could already be rehired in the short term and on a temporary basis until the end of 2023 to prepare the power plant for a new start.

In the weeks before its closure, the power plant had already been firing coal at full capacity to meet its electricity needs. Russian natural gas does not play a major role for France. However, around half of the nuclear power plants are currently off the grid due to defects or maintenance, so that the reactors are supplying less electricity than usual. dpa

Google: Cell phones spied on with Italian spy software

According to Google, there has been a hacking attack on cell phones in Italy and Kazakhstan, reminiscent of the use of the Pegasus spy software. Apple and Android smartphones were affected by the attack using hacking tools from Italian company RCS Lab, Google announced on Thursday. Programs from the Milan-based company could read private messages and contacts on smartphones. No comment was initially available from Apple or the governments of Italy and Kazakhstan.

RCS Lab condemned any misuse of its products in an email to Reuters news agency. The company’s own offering would comply with European regulations and help law enforcement agencies solve crimes. According to RCS Lab’s website, the company spies on 10,000 targets a day in Europe alone. The “lawful interception” offering included voice, data collection, and tracking systems.

“These vendors are enabling the proliferation of dangerous hacking tools and arming governments that would not be able to develop these capabilities in-house,” Google said. The spy software industry had been in the headlines because of the Pegasus program by Israeli company NSO. This software had been used by several governments to spy on critics and journalists.

Google went on to say that in some of the cases now uncovered involving the spying software from Italy, the hackers may have used the spying software with the cooperation of Internet service providers. From this, it could be concluded that the buyers of the programs had connections to state-backed actors. rtr

Niklas Höhne – the man who measures climate protection

Niklas Höhne founded the NewClimate Institute in Cologne.

When Niklas Höhne began researching climate protection in the early 2000s, political decision-makers lacked information: How high is the emission level? What is its impact? What would have to change for the consequences to be sustainable? What do we need to do about it? That’s why the physicist decides to pursue a doctorate on the future of international climate negotiations at Utrecht University and at the consulting firm Ecofys.

“I wanted to support the climate negotiations with knowledge because that is the basis for good decisions,” says the Cologne native. He knows what is needed in climate policy because even during his studies, he worked at the UN Climate Secretariat in Bonn, where draft decision texts were written and the subsequent votes prepared.

For Niklas Höhne, the first successes are already becoming apparent during his doctorate. A table he created on possible emission reductions is included in the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: “The EU and some countries like the USA, Japan, and South Korea decided to use these figures as a guide. It was nice to see that my work was really being used,” he recalls.

‘Now we have to pull the emergency brake’

He has been present at 24 of the 26 international climate conferences. He defends the United Nations’ lengthy process, in which every single country involved has a veto: “What comes out of it is not the most ambitious, of course. But it has the support of all 196 countries. That’s why it has very, very great value.”

For him, too, this process is frustrating: “Fifteen years ago, we were still at the point where we had to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions roughly as fast as they had risen before. Today, emissions are one-third higher and accordingly need to come down much more quickly,” Höhne says. “Now we have to step on the emergency brake.”

For thirteen years, after completing his doctorate, he worked for the Dutch consulting firm Ecofys before deciding to found the NewClimate Institute in Germany. “We liked the commercial consultancy model less and less, but there was no suitable nonprofit research institute,” says the 51-year-old. As a professor at Wageningen University, he continues to work part-time in the Netherlands.

Among other things, the NewClimate Institute became known for the Climate Action Tracker, which shows how global warming will develop, taking into account the voluntary commitments of individual countries.

Taking to the streets with Fridays for Future

So today, it is no longer the lack of knowledge that is causing the energy transition to fail. Niklas Höhne now sees his main task as bringing the existing knowledge to the people, for example by talking to journalists and supporting Fridays for Future. “As a society, we don’t yet feel threatened by climate change enough to act as would be appropriate for the situation,” says the family man. Sometimes he takes to the streets himself on Fridays. After all, Niklas Höhne has not yet given up hope.

Because today there is talk of getting out of coal, oil and gas completely. There are courts that deal with climate protection. And people are even thinking about zero emissions in areas such as cement, steel, ships and aircraft. “We can bring about the energy transition if we really want it,” the expert says. “We still need a push as a society to actually do it.” Janna Degener-Storr

EUROPE.TABLE EDITORS

Till
Hoppe

Charlotte
Wirth

Falk
Steiner

Timo
Landenberger

Corinna
Visser

Lukas
Knigge

Eric
Bonse

Sarah
Schaefer

Manuel
Berkel

Lisa-Martina
Klein

Markus
Grabitz

Stephan
Israel

Claire
Stam

Dear reader,

Women in traditional dirndl dresses, men in lederhosen, plus a proud prime minister in a traditional janker: The G7 heads of state and government were met with a large helping of local flair when they arrived at Munich Airport. A very Bavarian prelude to a summit marked by serious global crises.

A price cap on Russian oil, a ban on imports of Russian gold: US President Joe Biden drew attention to himself from the beginning with several topics. Host Olaf Scholz also has a lot planned for the summit. On the agenda for the first day was the goal of advancing climate clubs – one of the chancellor’s core approaches in the fight against climate change. Lukas Scheid gives an overview of the first day at Schloss Elmau.

The French presidency of the EU Council will soon end, and the Czech Republic will take over on July 1. Lucky for Europe: The new government under Prime Minister Petr Fiala is pursuing a constructive course and wants to make the European economy more resilient with an ambitious program. Hans-Peter Siebenhaar took a closer look at the Czech Republic’s plans for the coming six months. His conclusion: “In Prague, the days of national populism are over for the time being. The goals of the Czech presidency leave no doubt about that.”

The NewClimate Institute is known for its Climate Action Tracker, among other things. It shows how global warming will develop – taking into account the voluntary commitments of individual countries. The founder of the institute is Niklas Höhne, who has also taken to the streets with Fridays for Future. Read more about the climate scientist in today’s Profile by Janna Degener-Storr.

Your
Sarah Schaefer

G7: Climate clubs slowly begin to take shape

By

Lukas Knigge

The agenda for the first day of the summit included “advancing climate clubs”. Their establishment is considered one of the Chancellor’s core issues in the fight against climate change. Although no one knows exactly what these climate clubs will look like at the end of the day, a negotiated document from the G7 countries is to be published later today.

The climate clubs are to comprise three pillars, government circles said even before the summit. First: “carbon mitigation” and “carbon pricing“. Second: industrial decarbonization. And third: cooperation with emerging and developing countries. However, how a climate club can contribute to this in the future is still completely open. Only the third pillar has already been given more concrete form, but it raises new questions.

The so-called Just Energy Transition Partnerships have already taken shape and are to be expanded. The energy partnership with South Africa, which was agreed upon at COP26 in Glasgow, is to serve as a model. Emerging countries are to be enabled to make the energy transition away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy sources. Climate clubs are also to help with this.

Expansion of gas infrastructure despite climate clubs

South Africa will be a guest at Schloss Elmau today – as will Senegal. Scholz is also planning an energy partnership with the West African country. However, this is highly controversial and contradicts the idea of the climate clubs. During his visit to the Senegalese capital Dakar at the end of May, the Chancellor pledged support for the development of gas fields.

The idea: Senegal could supply LNG to Germany and Europe in the future. “In the current situation, there is a short-term need for large-scale investment in gas infrastructure in developing countries and elsewhere,” confirmed Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi on Sunday afternoon at Schloss Elmau at the presentation of a “Partnership for Global Infrastructure”.

The word from negotiating circles is that the second pillar in particular still requires discussion. At the same time, the heads of state and government have agreed in principle on the climate club goals and “like the idea” of working together to make progress on industrial decarbonization. However, the Sherpas still need to work out the details, according to a senior EU official. The sticking point is the comparability of the different instruments for climate protection. The issue is still how to establish standards for a decarbonized industry that apply to all countries. How the countries’ different climate policies and CO2 pricing methods can be brought together will be discussed in the next step.

Alternative to the New Silk Road from Beijing

With the “Partnership for Global Infrastructure”, the G7 actually want to provide a counter-design to China’s new Silk Road, with which the country is opening up new trade routes to Europe, Africa, Latin America, and in Asia. US President Joe Biden announced $600 billion by 2027. The goal is to create sustainable infrastructure “that will improve the lives of people around the world”. The USA is the initiator of the project.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that “Team Europe” would provide €300 billion as a contribution to the G7 investment initiative. This amount of government and private money is earmarked until 2027, von der Leyen said. “It is up to us to give the world a positive and strong investment impulse to show our partners in the developing world that they have a choice and that we want to work in solidarity to meet their development needs,” she said on Sunday.

Price cap on Russian oil

Joe Biden brought two other proposals with him to Elmau. One is to force Russia to sell oil to large customers such as India for a significantly lower price in the future. This could work by the West tying services such as insurance for oil transports to compliance with the price cap. On the one hand, the cap is intended to ensure that Russia no longer benefits from price increases on the energy market. On the other hand, it should contribute to easing tensions on the oil markets worldwide.

The round is well on the way to reaching consensus, according to German government sources. From the EU’s point of view, not all details have been clarified yet. The goal of a price cap is to ensure that Russia no longer benefits from price increases on the energy market and can thus finance its war of aggression against Ukraine. At the same time, further price jumps for oil are to be prevented.

Embargo on gold finds broad support

The EU, on the other hand, is expected to support the plans for a gold import ban. EU Council President Charles Michel said he was confident that the Russian gold sector could be targeted in such a way as to avoid becoming a victim of negative repercussions himself. “We want to target Russian financing of the war.” However, it was first important “to implement what we have already decided,” Michel said, referring to previous Western sanctions against Russia. As for gold, he said, they are willing to look at the plans in detail. He wants to push ahead with coordination between the EU states.

According to US President Joe Biden, the G7 countries want to announce an import ban on Russian gold. This would deprive Russia of tens of billions of dollars in revenue from this important export commodity, Biden announced on Twitter. A senior US government official said Sunday in a telephone exchange with reporters that the G7 countries would officially announce the import ban on Tuesday, the final day of the summit. France supports the ban on gold exports from Russia, according to government sources.

The German proposal for a temporary waiver on biofuels, on the other hand, apparently does not meet with approval. Germany no longer expects to reach an agreement on this at the G7 summit. The opposition of the USA and Canada is responsible, according to government circles.

“A temporary waiver on biofuel would be an important signal by the G7 to reduce grain prices in the short term and to relax the market situation.” A White House official said the issue would be negotiated by the Sherpas at the summit. With dpa and Reuters

Czech presidency: Europe as a task

Europe is lucky: The five-party coalition under Prime Minister Petr Fiala (Civic Democrats), which took office at the end of last year, has pursued a constructive course from the start. Taking over the EU Council presidency from France on July 1 was therefore carefully prepared by the government in Prague.

Former long-term Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, on the other hand, had made no secret of his aversion. The populist and billionaire considered the expense too high; he wanted to cut the budget by half. At the time, the cheap presidency was also meant as a strong signal against Brussels.

EU veterans still have unpleasant memories of the first Council presidency in 2009. Back then, a serious government crisis paralyzed the presidency – Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek was ousted by a vote of no confidence. Such turbulences are unlikely this time.

The current government wants to act as a motivator for Europe in economic, political, and geostrategic terms. Head of government Fiala, a political scientist, sees the Council presidency as an opportunity to redefine his country’s European policy profile as a reliable partner. The 57-year-old has long been head of the liberal-conservative Občanská demokratická strana (ODS).

Václav Havel as a role model

Fiala and his government are tying in historically with the legendary Czech President Václav Havel. In his speech awarding the Charlemagne Prize in Aachen in 1996, the poet president called on Europeans to “rediscover their conscience and take responsibility for global environmental, social and economic challenges,” according to the current program of the Czech presidency. Havel’s slogan “Europe as a task” has been adapted by the government: “Rethink, rebuild, repower” is its motto for the Council presidency in the second half of the year.

The Russian war of aggression on Ukraine has hit the Czech Republic to the core. The invasion of the Red Army in 1968, with which the Soviet leadership put an end to the Prague Spring, is etched in the collective memory of the country of just under eleven million inhabitants. When the country joined the EU in 2004, security and peace were central motives.

Against this backdrop, it is obvious that the Czech Republic wants to mobilize all available resources to deal with the refugee crisis and reconstruction in Ukraine. Prague is focusing in particular on the restoration of critical infrastructure but also on economic recovery and securing essential services.

Faster implementation of REPowerEU

In this context, the Council Presidency also aims to reduce dependence on gas, oil, and coal from Russia as quickly as possible. For example, it is planned to implement REPowerEU more quickly to diversify resources and achieve energy savings. Like its neighbors, Poland, Slovakia, Austria, and Germany, the Czech Republic is heavily dependent on energy imports from Russia.

However, the Czechs do have one strategic advantage: Nuclear energy has always been an important component of the energy supply. However, this repeatedly leads to discussions with Austria when safety problems arise in nuclear power plants. However, Prague’s basic stance on energy policy is entirely in line with Brussels.

Unlike his predecessor Babiš, Fiala relies on close contact with the Commission and Parliament. That is why the post of Minister for European Affairs was created with Mikuláš Bek. Under Babiš, there was previously only a state secretary. The government in Prague is very aware of the importance of the EU in view of the economic turmoil caused by the Ukraine war and the COVID-19 crisis.

The country is currently struggling with above-average inflation. Added to this are economic worries such as the fragile supply chains, which are causing severe problems for the automotive industry, for example. The Volkswagen subsidiary Škoda near Prague is one of the largest employers in the Czech Republic.

Visegrád quartet disintegrates

Against this backdrop, it is not surprising that the Czech presidency wants to strengthen the “strategic resilience” of the EU economy. “The EU must drastically reduce its dependence on hostile and unstable regimes,” the list of priorities in Prague reads verbatim. “Decarbonization is no longer just about climate protection. It is now above all a prerequisite for our independence and energy security,” Prime Minister Fiala said. “This transformation must be done in an economically and socially sensitive way so as not to jeopardize the living standards of our citizens and the competitiveness of our industry.”

Particular attention is being paid to raw materials and key supply chains, such as semiconductors. The solution, however, is not autarky. Instead, the Czech presidency proposes to promote technological competitiveness in a targeted manner. Trade with other democratic countries around the world and, in particular, transatlantic cooperation with the USA should be expanded.

The EU has the opportunity to set global standards as a first mover in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), for example. One of Prague’s financial policy goals is to increase transparency in the cryptocurrency, which has recently run into difficulties, and to reduce abuse.

With its pro-European program, the Czech Republic deliberately departs from the line of the Visegrád Group. The quartet with Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia has now become two tandems. On many issues, Prague and Bratislava are pulling in the same direction. Warsaw and Budapest, on the other hand, are taking a completely different approach to European policy. The days of national populism are over in Prague for the time being. The goals of the Czech presidency leave no doubt about that. By Hans-Peter Siebenhaar

Bulgaria’s parliament votes to override North Macedonia veto

The Bulgarian parliament has voted in favor of lifting the veto against the start of EU accession negotiations with North Macedonia. On Friday, a majority of deputies voted in favor of a bill to this effect, although it also contained conditions. The Bulgarian government was charged with accepting the French EU presidency’s proposal to settle the dispute between the two neighboring countries. There were 170 votes in favor, 36 against, and 21 abstentions.

Bulgaria has blocked the start of EU accession talks with North Macedonia since the end of 2020 because North Macedonia refuses to address demands on, for example, the rights of Bulgarians in the country. Sofia insists that Bulgarians be treated equally in North Macedonia. The veto also affected EU candidate Albania.

Attempts to break the deadlock ahead of a Western Balkans meeting organized on Thursday on the sidelines of the EU summit failed.

For the withdrawal of the veto, Bulgaria demands, for example, that Bulgarians enjoy equal rights with others in North Macedonia by establishing them as a people in the constitution. In addition, Bulgaria does not want to recognize the “Macedonian language” as independent – from the Bulgarian point of view, it is a form of the Bulgarian language. Sofia also insists that EU institutions monitor whether North Macedonia is implementing a 2017 bilateral good-neighborhood treaty. Among other things, this treaty regulates the handling of the partly shared history.

The proposal of the French EU Presidency gives Bulgaria a chance to obtain a high level of guarantees for its concerns, said the co-chairman of the Democratic Bulgaria (DB) alliance, Hristo Ivanov, before the vote. The lawyer had introduced the bill to parliament. He praised that with this proposal, the problems between the two countries would become European problems.

For the nationalists, overriding the veto would be a “national betrayal”. French President Emmanuel Macron hailed the vote as “important progress” .The necessary technical work, as well as talks, would soon continue to formalize an agreement in the coming days. dpa

Kaliningrad dispute: Moscow questions Lithuania’s border

Due to the transit restriction to Russia’s Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad between Lithuania and Poland, the legality of the Lithuanian border is now being disputed in Moscow. “Basically, Lithuania has questioned its own borders,” the head of the Russian space agency Roskosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, told state television on Saturday. The unimpeded transit was a condition for Russia to recognize the borders of the former Soviet republic of Lithuania, he said. “Lithuania has not only shot itself in the leg with this, but in the head.”

The current EU country had stopped transit of goods on the EU sanctions list a week ago. According to Kaliningrad Governor Anton Alichanov, 40 to 50 percent of transit between core Russia and Kaliningrad is affected. Among other things, no cement, building materials, or metals may now be brought into the Russian Baltic Sea region by land. Russian officials had, therefore, already announced countermeasures. For example, the exclusion of Lithuania from the joint electricity grid has been proposed.

The now suggested abrogation of the Russian-Lithuanian treaty on the state border would mean an escalation. Russian talk shows have been buzzing for weeks with calls to seize a “corridor” to Kaliningrad. Rogozin is the first high-ranking Russian official whose demands are along these lines. dpa

Energy investment treaty update fails to win over environmentalists

Years-long talks over updating an international energy investment treaty ended on Friday with a provisional deal which would allow the exclusion of fossil fuels interests but not fast enough to silence environmental campaigners’ complaints that it undermines efforts to curb climate change.

The 1994 Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) was conceived to support the energy sector in former Soviet Union countries, allowing investors to sue governments over policies that jeopardise their investments.

The updated version gives countries the option to remove protection from investments in fossil fuels made on their own territory, which had attracted criticism from some European governments and campaigners who said it threatened the transition to low-carbon energy. Existing investments can be excluded 10 years after the new mechanism comes into force, and new investments nine months after. The updated agreement introduces technologies that were not previously covered, including hydrogen and synthetic fuels. Countries have reached what the European Union described as a “tentative agreement” on the changes, two years after formally starting negotiations.

European energy commissioner Kadri Simson said on Twitter that negotiations had been “long and difficult“, but that the “revised ECT will be better aligned with the #EU’s climate ambition & help direct new investments toward #cleanenergy technologies”.

EU countries bring exit under discussion

But charity ClientEarth said the proposal was still not in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. “EU countries could still be sued for putting in place progressive climate policies for at least another decade – the key window for action if humanity is to avoid climate catastrophe,” said ClientEarth lawyer Amandine Van Den Berghe.

German utility RWE used the treaty last year to seek compensation for a Dutch plan to phase out coal-fuelled power by 2030, which would affect its Eemshaven power plant.

Spain, FrancSpain, France and Luxembourg have raised the possibility of EU countries leaving the treaty. Spanish Energy and Environment Minister Teresa Ribera was quoted by Politico this week calling for a “coordinated withdrawal” by the EU.

The provisional agreement means that if all parties stay silent until a conference in November, the text will be formally adopted, the EU said. It will then require the agreement of the European Council and the consent of the European Parliament. rtr/sas

Hydrogen: Rapporteur wants to limit blending

The admixture of hydrogen in long-distance pipelines favored by natural gas network operators is meeting with resistance in the EU Parliament. The Commission had proposed to oblige transport network operators to accept an admixture of up to five percent at the border crossing from October 2025. ITRE’s rapporteur on the gas market regulation, Jerzy Buzek (EPP), wants to delete the corresponding paragraph. This is according to the draft report published by “Contexte” on Friday.

Instead, Buzek wants to allow a maximum quota of two percent. Only then should the procedure for cross-border coordination, which the Commission wants to enshrine in the regulation, take effect. The procedure is intended to settle disputes between pipeline operators and regulatory authorities in neighboring member states if they consider the gas quality of the other state to be incompatible with their national regulations. The European regulatory authority ACER would have the final say in the event of a dispute.

In the corresponding recital, Buzek wants to establish blending as a “last resort” and make it clear that application in the industrial and transport sectors has priority. In principle, however, the member states should be free to decide whether to add hydrogen to their gas networks. ber

Bundestag approves parts of coalition plan for more renewable energies

The Bundestag has passed parts of the legislative package planned by the coalition to accelerate the expansion of renewable energies. The parliamentary groups of the traffic light coalition of SPD, Greens, and FDP voted in favor of several amendments to the energy industry law from the so-called Easter package on Friday. The CDU/CSU, the largest opposition party, also voted in favor, while the Left Party and the AfD each voted against. The cabinet had approved the plan in April.

The amendments will directly incorporate the goal of making Germany climate-neutral by 2045 into law and anchor it more firmly in the planning procedures for the expansion of the electricity networks. The procedures will be more closely bundled. According to the Ministry for Economic Affairs, in the future there will, for example, be regulations for an early start to construction on certain projects already during the approval process. “This means that an important stage has been reached that will, above all, accelerate the expansion of the electricity grids,” said Federal Economic Affairs Minister Robert Habeck (Greens).

The demand plan for the expansion of the networks is also updated. 19 construction projects will be newly included, 17 projects will be modified, and one will be deleted. “The realization of the projects newly included in the federal requirements plan is estimated to incur investment costs of around €10.8 billion, which will be spread over a period of several years,” the draft law states.

In the future, companies that no longer wish to supply households with energy must notify the Federal Network Agency at least three months in advance. The agency will also be given additional powers vis-à-vis energy suppliers. Ad-hoc cancellations had caught many consumers cold last winter and caused a great deal of uncertainty, Habeck said. “We are now putting a stop to this. There can be no more of this in the future.”

The measures adopted are also a reaction to the Russian attack on Ukraine, which has significantly increased fossil energy prices. Germany wants to become less dependent on Russian supplies, on which it relies heavily, especially gas. The Easter package – a whole bundle of legislative changes – is the biggest amendment in decades in the energy sector, according to the Economic Affairs Ministry. It is intended to triple the speed of the expansion of renewable energies. rtr

France prepares restart of coal-fired power plant

France is preparing to restart the coal-fired power plant in Saint-Avold near Saarbrücken given the energy crisis triggered by the Ukraine war. The power plant, which was only taken off the grid at the end of March, is to be put back into operation next winter as a precautionary measure in view of the tensions on the energy market and the situation in Ukraine, the energy ministry in Paris announced on Sunday, as the broadcaster BFMTV reported. This does not change the fundamental decision to phase out coal. Except for a reserve power plant, the plant in Lorraine near Saint-Avold was the last in France.

The basis for the restart of the power plant is a law to cushion the crisis, which is to be passed in July, the broadcaster RTL reported. According to the law, the 71 employees who were laid off at the end of March could already be rehired in the short term and on a temporary basis until the end of 2023 to prepare the power plant for a new start.

In the weeks before its closure, the power plant had already been firing coal at full capacity to meet its electricity needs. Russian natural gas does not play a major role for France. However, around half of the nuclear power plants are currently off the grid due to defects or maintenance, so that the reactors are supplying less electricity than usual. dpa

Google: Cell phones spied on with Italian spy software

According to Google, there has been a hacking attack on cell phones in Italy and Kazakhstan, reminiscent of the use of the Pegasus spy software. Apple and Android smartphones were affected by the attack using hacking tools from Italian company RCS Lab, Google announced on Thursday. Programs from the Milan-based company could read private messages and contacts on smartphones. No comment was initially available from Apple or the governments of Italy and Kazakhstan.

RCS Lab condemned any misuse of its products in an email to Reuters news agency. The company’s own offering would comply with European regulations and help law enforcement agencies solve crimes. According to RCS Lab’s website, the company spies on 10,000 targets a day in Europe alone. The “lawful interception” offering included voice, data collection, and tracking systems.

“These vendors are enabling the proliferation of dangerous hacking tools and arming governments that would not be able to develop these capabilities in-house,” Google said. The spy software industry had been in the headlines because of the Pegasus program by Israeli company NSO. This software had been used by several governments to spy on critics and journalists.

Google went on to say that in some of the cases now uncovered involving the spying software from Italy, the hackers may have used the spying software with the cooperation of Internet service providers. From this, it could be concluded that the buyers of the programs had connections to state-backed actors. rtr

Niklas Höhne – the man who measures climate protection

When Niklas Höhne began researching climate protection in the early 2000s, political decision-makers lacked information: How high is the emission level? What is its impact? What would have to change for the consequences to be sustainable? What do we need to do about it? That’s why the physicist decides to pursue a doctorate on the future of international climate negotiations at Utrecht University and at the consulting firm Ecofys.

“I wanted to support the climate negotiations with knowledge because that is the basis for good decisions,” says the Cologne native. He knows what is needed in climate policy because even during his studies, he worked at the UN Climate Secretariat in Bonn, where draft decision texts were written and the subsequent votes prepared.

For Niklas Höhne, the first successes are already becoming apparent during his doctorate. A table he created on possible emission reductions is included in the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: “The EU and some countries like the USA, Japan, and South Korea decided to use these figures as a guide. It was nice to see that my work was really being used,” he recalls.

‘Now we have to pull the emergency brake’

He has been present at 24 of the 26 international climate conferences. He defends the United Nations’ lengthy process, in which every single country involved has a veto: “What comes out of it is not the most ambitious, of course. But it has the support of all 196 countries. That’s why it has very, very great value.”

For him, too, this process is frustrating: “Fifteen years ago, we were still at the point where we had to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions roughly as fast as they had risen before. Today, emissions are one-third higher and accordingly need to come down much more quickly,” Höhne says. “Now we have to step on the emergency brake.”

For thirteen years, after completing his doctorate, he worked for the Dutch consulting firm Ecofys before deciding to found the NewClimate Institute in Germany. “We liked the commercial consultancy model less and less, but there was no suitable nonprofit research institute,” says the 51-year-old. As a professor at Wageningen University, he continues to work part-time in the Netherlands.

Among other things, the NewClimate Institute became known for the Climate Action Tracker, which shows how global warming will develop, taking into account the voluntary commitments of individual countries.

Taking to the streets with Fridays for Future

So today, it is no longer the lack of knowledge that is causing the energy transition to fail. Niklas Höhne now sees his main task as bringing the existing knowledge to the people, for example by talking to journalists and supporting Fridays for Future. “As a society, we don’t yet feel threatened by climate change enough to act as would be appropriate for the situation,” says the family man. Sometimes he takes to the streets himself on Fridays. After all, Niklas Höhne has not yet given up hope.

Because today there is talk of getting out of coal, oil and gas completely. There are courts that deal with climate protection. And people are even thinking about zero emissions in areas such as cement, steel, ships and aircraft. “We can bring about the energy transition if we really want it,” the expert says. “We still need a push as a society to actually do it.” Janna Degener-Storr