Some of the oldest universities in the world are located in the EU. Salerno, for example, where medical education was systematized and from there spread to other European countries. To ensure that EU universities continue to benefit from joint exchange in the future, the Commission intends to present several building blocks from its Higher Education Package today.
These include an initiative for a common European degree and two Commission proposals for Council recommendations on attractive and sustainable careers in higher education and a European quality assurance and recognition system.
When it comes to joint European degrees, for example, the Commission writes: It has become clear that it is still difficult to offer joint programs and degrees,in which higher education institutions from several countries are involved. Changing this is the self-declared “flagship project” in this area. After all, the EU member states have set themselves the target of more than 45 percent of 25 to 34-year-olds obtaining a university degree by 2030. This would then certainly be easier to achieve.
As always, you can continue your non-university education with today’s issue – that is also something!
Your Alina Leimbach
Feature
DSA guidelines: how digital platforms should prevent disinformation
The EU Commission has presented guidelines on how large platform operators should prepare for the upcoming elections concerning disinformation and the exertion of influence under the Digital Services Act (DSA). The rules are not binding but are recommendations.
Articles 34 and 35 of the DSA oblige the largest providers to identify and mitigate risks arising from their respective models. However, there are no precise requirements in this regard and the guidelines are also to be understood as assistance from the Commission. However, as the EU Commission is also the supervisory authority for the largest providers, the guidelines are inherently more binding.
Strong recommendations from the supervisory authority
The European elections at the beginning of June are the main reason for this. It is the second largest democratic election in the world, after the Indian elections: Around 350 million eligible voters, including a good 60 million EU citizens aged 16 and over in Germany, will then be able to cast their vote.
It is a challenge for the platform operators to secure such a large election in their area of responsibility – because it is not only the sheer size that is impressive but also the differences in the electoral system, party system and election dates between the member states.
This diversity is one reason why the EU Commission, as the Digital Services Act supervisory authority, strongly encourages the largest platforms to ensure that they align their internal processes with national, regional or local specificities. In particular, they should have sufficient employees with local language skills and knowledge of the specific features of the respective election country.
They should also appoint responsible internal teams in good time before the election. These teams should have expertise in content moderation, fact-checking, counteracting threats, cybersecurity, disinformation, attempts to exert foreign influence (FIMI), fundamental rights and public participation processes. In addition, the platforms should refer to special measures in the election context and their duration in their general terms and conditions. The measures should be implemented at least one month before the election date and at least one month after.
The Commission also recommends that the platforms take further measures, such as clearly labeling official accounts – for example, those of government agencies and election administrations, but also those of government agencies of third countries. Following intensive consultations with the operators, the Commission also provides clear guidance for recommendation systems: these should, for example, be set to stop fuelingdisinformation and deprioritize it if found to be untrue or coming from repeat offenders. The automated amplification of AI-generated content in the election context should also be limited. In addition, AI content should be labeled as such – and the use of generative AI systems should be constantly monitored so that measures can be taken if necessary.
No money for misinformation
Two requirements are also intended to reduce the attractiveness of misinformation in the election context: firstly, influencers on the platforms should state whether and to what extent they are engaging in political advertising and on whose behalf. Secondly, disinformation, hate, radicalization and extremist content are to be excluded from monetization.
In anticipation of the law on the regulation of political advertising, which has not yet been passed, the Commission also calls on operators to clearly label political advertising and to prepare for the entry into force of this legislation. Meaning to comply with the text of the law before it is passed.
Setting an example for the rest of the world?
It remains to be seen whether the new requirements will prove their worth in practice. Much of it is based on previous practices at individual providers. “Of course, these guidelines aim to ensure that we are better protected in the upcoming European Parliament elections – for example, against possible deep fakes – and can improve dealing with foreign disinformation campaigns,” says Renate Nikolay, Deputy Director General of DG Connect.
The European elections are under particular scrutiny and other democratic countries with upcoming elections – such as the USA or Brazil – are following very closely “how we deal with threats that we may encounter on the way to the European elections, for example, and how we make the best use of our new rules to protect ourselves.”
Most of the major platforms had already committed to the so-called Code of Practice against Disinformation. Only Elon Musk’s platform X opted out of the voluntary commitment after being purchased by the eccentric billionaire. The Commission is planning a stress test with the operators at the end of April. The guidelines now presented can be adjusted at any time. The Commission has opened formal proceedings against several providers in recent weeks because it believes that they have not sufficiently fulfilled their obligations under the DSA.
All texts on the 2024 European elections can be found here.
Desinformation
Digital Services Act
Europawahlen 2024
European Commission
European election 2024
USA: Trade in tax credits brings liquidity for cleantech
First Solar is particularly proud of its latest transaction. After all, it is one of the first of its kind. The American photovoltaic manufacturer wants to sell tax credits to which it is entitled for up to $700 million. The buyer, US financial services provider Fiserv, will pay $0.96 for every dollar that First Solar could claim back from the state. Company boss Mark Widmar sees himself as a pioneer. “This agreement sets an important precedent for the solar industry,” he says.
Trading in tax credits is becoming a billion-dollar market
The US government is currently attracting private capital for green technologies with billions in subsidies from the Inflation Reduction Act. If companies invest in renewable energy projects, for example, they qualify for generous tax credits. In the EU, people look enviously at the mechanism of the IRA, which makes it easy for companies to obtain support.
Another advantage of the IRA is that the subsidy recipients are not forced to redeem the claims themselves. They can resell their credits at a low threshold after the US government made the process easier last year. The measure is already having an effect: the trade in tax credits is growing into a multi-billion market. Experts see this as a great opportunity for start-ups in the cleantech sector in particular.
With the principle of portability, the US government wants to enable companies to take full advantage of the promised tax relief. This is because there is often a practical problem: if eligible companies do not make any profits, they do not have to pay corporation tax – and are therefore unable to claim some relief in the first place. In addition, it can take several years for the US authorities to offset the full tax refunds. By selling their claims, companies can obtain liquidity much earlier. Buyers, in turn, benefit from the discounts granted to them by the sellers. According to data from the US financial services provider Reunion, the price per dollar of tax credit last year was between $0.88 and $0.95 – depending on the type of credit.
Access to capital for new technologies improves
A total of eleven types of credits are eligible for transferability, including for electricity generation from renewable sources, new carbon capture technologies or investments in clean hydrogen. Last year, the volume of transferable credits was already estimated at $7 billion to $9 billion, explained the consulting firm KPMG at the request of Table.Briefings. “We assume that they will be four to five times as large in 2026,” says KPMG energy expert George Ward. After all, many tax credits will come into effect for the first time in 2024 and 2025 when eligible companies bring their new projects into operation. An example: “One of our customers claimed $5 million in credits in 2023. We expect this customer to claim over $100 million in transferable credits in 2025,” said Ward.
And so the first processors have long since specialized in credit transactions, including Crux Climate. The US company wants to use its platform to mediate between suppliers and potential buyers as well as banks and tax advisors. From the founders’ point of view, this is a huge opportunity for green start-ups in particular. “Transferability has significantly improved access to capital for smaller projects and new technologies,” explained Crux Climate co-founder Alfred Johnson in an interview with Table.Briefings. After all, they could sell their credits directly to third parties – and thus convert them into much-needed liquidity.
Bureaucratic hurdles removed
This is also reflected in the figures, said Johnson. According to a recent study by Crux Climate, around 80 percent of transactions last year were for projects with a volume of less than $50 million each. Projects of this size have often been too small to attract a traditional tax equity investor, Johnson said. The sale of tax credits is not new in the USA. In the solar industry, in particular, American subsidy policy has been based on tax credits for decades. As a rule, however, investors had to become co-owners of the projects in order to take advantage of the tax credits granted – a high hurdle that has now been removed.
However, companies such as the US financial services provider Reunion also speak of two core risks in the transactions. Firstly, buyers should ensure that the tax credits have been properly applied for – i.e. that they can rule out formal errors. Secondly, they should protect themselves against possible reclaims by the tax authorities, the company advises. Depending on the type of credit, this may be the case if an investment project fails within a certain period or is sold. Because the buyer bears the risk, the contracts often include compensation clauses. In addition, buyers often take out special tax credit insurance. The amount of the policy then depends on the respective cover and the estimated risk.
Money flows into investments in R&D
At First Solar, the transaction will ensure that the manufacturer can “continue to invest in key aspects of growth such as research and development,” explained CFO Alex Bradley in a statement. More than $2 billion will be invested in new production facilities in Alabama and Louisiana, and the photovoltaic company plans to expand its existing subsidiary in Ohio. And another $370 million will be used to build a development center in Perrysburg. Laurin Meyer, New York
Climate & Environment
Inflation Reduction Act
Investments
Subsidies
USA
News
Heated atmosphere: EU countries vote on trade with Ukraine
Under the impression of renewed, sometimes violent farmers’ protests in Brussels, EU ambassadors will vote on Wednesday on duty-free tradewith Ukraine. The vote on last week’s trilogue agreement was postponed several times due to growing criticism among the member states. In addition to Ukraine’s neighbors Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, France has now also openly opposed the agreement and calls for protective measures for agricultural products to take effect more quickly and to be extended to cereals.
It remains unclear whether the trilogue result will be reopened in order to make concessions to the critics. A spokesperson for the Belgian Presidency confirmed on Tuesday morning that they wanted to stick to the result and put it to the vote. In the evening, however, Belgian Agriculture Minister David Clarinval explained that the agreement was a basis for discussion. However, it could not be ruled out that there would still be “developments.”
Özdemir sees fuel for Russian propaganda
The four openly critical countries would not be able to block the extension of the trade measures on their own. However, at the meeting of agriculture ministers on Tuesday, several ministers from other countries, including Austria, Italy and Ireland, also called for effective protective measures for agricultural imports. However, they did not want to commit themselves as to what specific changes were needed and whether the trilogue compromise should be reopened.
The German Federal Minister of Agriculture, Cem Özdemir, sharply criticized the demands for stricter safeguard clauses. According to the Green politician, blaming Ukraine for distortions in the grain markets was helping “Putin propaganda.” He called for the already negotiated compromise to be adhered to and did not accept the complaints from Poland. “The fact that warehouses are full in Poland is because a minister in the PiS government, which has since been voted out of office, gave farmers the wrong recommendations.” According to Özdemir, Ukraine can not be blamed for this.
Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskyi, who attended the meeting, also told the Financial Times that high-yielding harvests in the USA and South America were the reason for falling grain prices.
Two police officers injured during farmers’ protests
Around the time of the meeting, there were again sometimesviolent protests by farmers in Brussels. According to police reports, one demonstrator was arrested for throwing Molotov cocktails. Two police officers were injured and taken to hospital. The police used tear gas against demonstrators who tried to break through barriers with tractors. The police spoke of 250 tractors.
The fact that the representatives of the EU countries had already given the green light for the proposed relaxation of environmental rules in the Common Agricultural Policy early in the morning had apparently not convinced the protesting farmers. jd
Bauernproteste
20 states rebel against the law on deforestation-free supply chains
Around 20 member states called on Brussels on Tuesday to scale back and possibly suspend the law on deforestation-free supply chains. They stated that the policy would harm farmers.
The deadline for implementing the law is actually the upcoming turn of the year. However, at a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, 20 agriculture ministers supported Austria’s call to revise the law, said Austrian Agriculture Minister Norbert Totschnig.
The Council approved the law in May 2023
Among other things, Austria is calling for the effort required to certify products as deforestation-free within the EU to be “drastically reduced” and for the deadline of December 30, when countries must start complying with the law, to be delayed. Three EU officials confirmed to the Reuters news agency that around 20 countries had supported the demand at the closed-door meeting, including France, Italy, Poland and Sweden.
Members of the European Parliament led by Peter Liese also called on Monday for the law to be streamlined and for the implementation period to be extended by twoyears. A spokesperson for the Commission did not immediately respond to a question from the Reuters news agency as to whether Brussels wanted to revise the law. Last spring, both the Parliament and the Council approved the law in its current form.rtr/lei
Entwaldung
Study: shipping companies make a profit from new carbon price
The four largest European shipping companies Maersk, MSC, CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd pass on the carbon price to their customers to a greater extent than the shipping companies themselves have to pay for it. This is the result of an investigation by the Brussels-based environmental umbrella organization Transport and Environment (T&E).
With the inclusion of the maritime sector in the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), shipping companies have had to purchase European emissions certificates for their voyages of ocean-going and inland waterway vessels of 5,000 gross tons or more since the beginning of the year. In the more than 500 voyages examined by T&E with origin or destination in European ports, the shipping companies charged their customers more than the actual costs of the ETS (currently around €60 per tonne of carbon) in almost 90 percent of cases.
“The shipping giants appear to be ripping off customers by using environmental measures as a means to charge more money,” says T&E shipping expert Jacob Armstrong. Southern European governments had warned that the ETS would force ships out of their ports to nearby third countries. “But why would they do that if they make money from it?” asks Armstrong.
Millions in profits from surcharges
T&E estimates that Maersk makes the highest profits from surcharges with an average of €60,000 per voyage, followed by MSC (€25,000), Hapag-Lloyd (€23,000) and CMA CGM (€14,000). Although the individual profits for each voyage are often not particularly high, for shipping companies with hundreds of ships this means profits in the millions every year from the surcharges, explain the authors of the study.
The experts do not necessarily consider the fact that shipping companies earn money from the carbon price to be wrong. Rather, they believe that criticism from the industry of market-based environmental measures is unjustified. “Costs are not an obstacle to the decarbonization of maritime transport if the most ambitious environmentally friendly measures would only make most consumer goods a few cents more expensive,” says Armstrong.
Currently, shipping companies only have to purchase ETS certificates for 40 percent of their emissions; from 2025, the proportion will rise to 70 percent, and finally to 100 percent in 2026. luk
Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz
Study expects increasing market share for Chinese EVs
A new analysis by the renowned lobby organization for clean transport, Transport & Environment (T&E), finds that the market share of electric cars produced in China in Europe is expected to rise to almost a quarter by 2024. Last year, the share of Chinese cars in the roughly 300,000 EVs sold across Europe was almost a fifth (19.5 percent), and 15 percent in Germany.
While most Chinese imports to date have been Tesla, Dacia and BMW cars produced in China, T&E expects Chinese brands to reach an eleven percent share of the European electric market by 2024 and rise to 20 percent by 2027. BYD alone aims to achieve a five percent share of the European electric car market by 2025.
The outcome will determine whether import tariffs for EVs manufactured in China will be raised from the current ten percent to protect EU manufacturers. The debate already seems to be having an effect. According to official Chinese data, imports of EVs from China have declined by 19.6 percent year-on-year, as Bloomberg reports. Just over 75,600 electric cars were shipped to the 27 EU member states in January and February.
According to the T&E study, raising EU tariffs by 15 percentage points to 25 percent for all Chinese EV imports would make some model segments from China slightly more expensive than cars from other countries. These include medium-sized EVs in the C segment and medium-sized e-SUVs (JD segment). Other model types will remain around eleven percent cheaper on average. “Tariffs can ensure manufacturers relocate their production to Europe or expand here locally,” says Sebastian Bock, Managing Director of T&E Germany. “But tariffs will not protect established European car manufacturers forever. Chinese companies will build factories in Europe. Our car industry must be prepared for this.”
Meanwhile, a brutal price war is raging in the Chinese car market. The largest EV manufacturer, BYD, is also feeling the effects. The company could only increase its revenue by 15 percent to 180.04 billion yuan (23 billion euros) in the fourth quarter. Net profit increased by 19 percent to 8.67 billion yuan, as BYD explained in a mandatory announcement on Tuesday. While this may sound like a lot, it was the lowest quarterly profit growth in almost two years. BYD’s full-year 2023 profit of 30.04 billion yuan was 81 percent higher than the previous year. ck/ari
China
France’s government deficit unexpectedly large – finance minister calls for cuts
The deficit in the French national budget grew surprisingly significantly last year. It amounted to 5.5 percent of gross domestic product, as announced by the Insee statistics office in Paris on Tuesday. In 2022, new debt was still at 4.8 percent. The government had only targeted a small increase to 4.9 percent.
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire explained that tax revenues were lower than expected. The reason for this is that inflation has fallen more than expected. If prices rise, the state usually benefits from this – for example in the form of higher VAT revenue. However, expenditure on unemployment benefits and municipal administration was also higher than expected.
“I am calling for a collective wake-up call to reduce public spending,” Le Maire told journalists. “We must resolutely abandon all spending that does not bring the expected results.” He announced that he would be writing to hundreds of public institutions in France to ask them to make as many savings as possible. Local authorities would also have to cut their budgets.
Reduce debt to three percent by 2027
The government has already announced additional cuts of €10 billion for this year. Le Maire confirmed that the deficit would be reduced to below the permissible EU debt ceiling of three percent by 2027. He ruled out tax increases.
Also on Tuesday, French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced that he was considering confiscating stocks from weapons manufacturers or instructing companies to give priority to certain orders. Weapons and ammunition are currently needed on the battlefield in Ukraine, for example. Lecornu cited the Aster missiles manufactured by MBDA as a possible case for such a step. rtr
EU debt rules
EU-Schuldenregeln
Fiscal policy
France
Dessert
Works of culinary art from Europe
A real treat from Greece: Kalamata olives.
Eating is a necessity, relish is an art. François VI Duc de La Rochefoucauld already knew this in the 17th century. The prerequisite to relish something, however, is the art of producing high-quality and tasty food.
Europe can not only be proud of many of its regional specialties – from Aachener Printe to Beelitz asparagus and Žatecký chmel (the latter is a hop that is used extensively in Bohemia to flavor beer). These protected products also have such a good reputation around the world that they fetch higher prices. On average twice as high as non-protected products, according to the Commission.
Protection of special quality
Geographical indications therefore protect products with special characteristics, a special quality or a special reputation. This benefits not only the producers but also the consumers. They do not pay champagne prices for a German Perlwein (sparkling wine) that only claims to be as good as champagne.
The EU has set out to protect this gastronomic heritage throughout the world. On Tuesday, the Council formally adopted the regulation with which the EU wants to improve the protection of geographical indications and other quality regulations for wine, spirits and agricultural products. At the same time, it wants to simplify the registration procedure.
GI-View and eAmbrosia provide clarification
However, will it also be easier for consumers? Not so much. Because the cryptic abbreviations remain – with certain inconsistencies. For example, there are protected designations of origin (PDO) and protected geographical indications (PGI) for the protection of agricultural products and wine, while there are also geographical indications (GIs) for spirits. Well.
Producers of Parmigiano Reggiano, Kalamata olives, Polish vodka or Queso Manchego, for example, have long been familiar with these designations. So do connoisseurs. Everyone else relies on the EU to effectively monitor compliance with the rules it introduces.
Please take a look at the menu: The EU portal for geographical indications, GI-View, can be found here. The EU register of geographical indications, eAmbrosia, here. On that a Quetsch d’Alsace as a digestif to the health of Mr. de La Rochefoucauld. vis
Some of the oldest universities in the world are located in the EU. Salerno, for example, where medical education was systematized and from there spread to other European countries. To ensure that EU universities continue to benefit from joint exchange in the future, the Commission intends to present several building blocks from its Higher Education Package today.
These include an initiative for a common European degree and two Commission proposals for Council recommendations on attractive and sustainable careers in higher education and a European quality assurance and recognition system.
When it comes to joint European degrees, for example, the Commission writes: It has become clear that it is still difficult to offer joint programs and degrees,in which higher education institutions from several countries are involved. Changing this is the self-declared “flagship project” in this area. After all, the EU member states have set themselves the target of more than 45 percent of 25 to 34-year-olds obtaining a university degree by 2030. This would then certainly be easier to achieve.
As always, you can continue your non-university education with today’s issue – that is also something!
Your Alina Leimbach
Feature
DSA guidelines: how digital platforms should prevent disinformation
The EU Commission has presented guidelines on how large platform operators should prepare for the upcoming elections concerning disinformation and the exertion of influence under the Digital Services Act (DSA). The rules are not binding but are recommendations.
Articles 34 and 35 of the DSA oblige the largest providers to identify and mitigate risks arising from their respective models. However, there are no precise requirements in this regard and the guidelines are also to be understood as assistance from the Commission. However, as the EU Commission is also the supervisory authority for the largest providers, the guidelines are inherently more binding.
Strong recommendations from the supervisory authority
The European elections at the beginning of June are the main reason for this. It is the second largest democratic election in the world, after the Indian elections: Around 350 million eligible voters, including a good 60 million EU citizens aged 16 and over in Germany, will then be able to cast their vote.
It is a challenge for the platform operators to secure such a large election in their area of responsibility – because it is not only the sheer size that is impressive but also the differences in the electoral system, party system and election dates between the member states.
This diversity is one reason why the EU Commission, as the Digital Services Act supervisory authority, strongly encourages the largest platforms to ensure that they align their internal processes with national, regional or local specificities. In particular, they should have sufficient employees with local language skills and knowledge of the specific features of the respective election country.
They should also appoint responsible internal teams in good time before the election. These teams should have expertise in content moderation, fact-checking, counteracting threats, cybersecurity, disinformation, attempts to exert foreign influence (FIMI), fundamental rights and public participation processes. In addition, the platforms should refer to special measures in the election context and their duration in their general terms and conditions. The measures should be implemented at least one month before the election date and at least one month after.
The Commission also recommends that the platforms take further measures, such as clearly labeling official accounts – for example, those of government agencies and election administrations, but also those of government agencies of third countries. Following intensive consultations with the operators, the Commission also provides clear guidance for recommendation systems: these should, for example, be set to stop fuelingdisinformation and deprioritize it if found to be untrue or coming from repeat offenders. The automated amplification of AI-generated content in the election context should also be limited. In addition, AI content should be labeled as such – and the use of generative AI systems should be constantly monitored so that measures can be taken if necessary.
No money for misinformation
Two requirements are also intended to reduce the attractiveness of misinformation in the election context: firstly, influencers on the platforms should state whether and to what extent they are engaging in political advertising and on whose behalf. Secondly, disinformation, hate, radicalization and extremist content are to be excluded from monetization.
In anticipation of the law on the regulation of political advertising, which has not yet been passed, the Commission also calls on operators to clearly label political advertising and to prepare for the entry into force of this legislation. Meaning to comply with the text of the law before it is passed.
Setting an example for the rest of the world?
It remains to be seen whether the new requirements will prove their worth in practice. Much of it is based on previous practices at individual providers. “Of course, these guidelines aim to ensure that we are better protected in the upcoming European Parliament elections – for example, against possible deep fakes – and can improve dealing with foreign disinformation campaigns,” says Renate Nikolay, Deputy Director General of DG Connect.
The European elections are under particular scrutiny and other democratic countries with upcoming elections – such as the USA or Brazil – are following very closely “how we deal with threats that we may encounter on the way to the European elections, for example, and how we make the best use of our new rules to protect ourselves.”
Most of the major platforms had already committed to the so-called Code of Practice against Disinformation. Only Elon Musk’s platform X opted out of the voluntary commitment after being purchased by the eccentric billionaire. The Commission is planning a stress test with the operators at the end of April. The guidelines now presented can be adjusted at any time. The Commission has opened formal proceedings against several providers in recent weeks because it believes that they have not sufficiently fulfilled their obligations under the DSA.
All texts on the 2024 European elections can be found here.
Desinformation
Digital Services Act
Europawahlen 2024
European Commission
European election 2024
USA: Trade in tax credits brings liquidity for cleantech
First Solar is particularly proud of its latest transaction. After all, it is one of the first of its kind. The American photovoltaic manufacturer wants to sell tax credits to which it is entitled for up to $700 million. The buyer, US financial services provider Fiserv, will pay $0.96 for every dollar that First Solar could claim back from the state. Company boss Mark Widmar sees himself as a pioneer. “This agreement sets an important precedent for the solar industry,” he says.
Trading in tax credits is becoming a billion-dollar market
The US government is currently attracting private capital for green technologies with billions in subsidies from the Inflation Reduction Act. If companies invest in renewable energy projects, for example, they qualify for generous tax credits. In the EU, people look enviously at the mechanism of the IRA, which makes it easy for companies to obtain support.
Another advantage of the IRA is that the subsidy recipients are not forced to redeem the claims themselves. They can resell their credits at a low threshold after the US government made the process easier last year. The measure is already having an effect: the trade in tax credits is growing into a multi-billion market. Experts see this as a great opportunity for start-ups in the cleantech sector in particular.
With the principle of portability, the US government wants to enable companies to take full advantage of the promised tax relief. This is because there is often a practical problem: if eligible companies do not make any profits, they do not have to pay corporation tax – and are therefore unable to claim some relief in the first place. In addition, it can take several years for the US authorities to offset the full tax refunds. By selling their claims, companies can obtain liquidity much earlier. Buyers, in turn, benefit from the discounts granted to them by the sellers. According to data from the US financial services provider Reunion, the price per dollar of tax credit last year was between $0.88 and $0.95 – depending on the type of credit.
Access to capital for new technologies improves
A total of eleven types of credits are eligible for transferability, including for electricity generation from renewable sources, new carbon capture technologies or investments in clean hydrogen. Last year, the volume of transferable credits was already estimated at $7 billion to $9 billion, explained the consulting firm KPMG at the request of Table.Briefings. “We assume that they will be four to five times as large in 2026,” says KPMG energy expert George Ward. After all, many tax credits will come into effect for the first time in 2024 and 2025 when eligible companies bring their new projects into operation. An example: “One of our customers claimed $5 million in credits in 2023. We expect this customer to claim over $100 million in transferable credits in 2025,” said Ward.
And so the first processors have long since specialized in credit transactions, including Crux Climate. The US company wants to use its platform to mediate between suppliers and potential buyers as well as banks and tax advisors. From the founders’ point of view, this is a huge opportunity for green start-ups in particular. “Transferability has significantly improved access to capital for smaller projects and new technologies,” explained Crux Climate co-founder Alfred Johnson in an interview with Table.Briefings. After all, they could sell their credits directly to third parties – and thus convert them into much-needed liquidity.
Bureaucratic hurdles removed
This is also reflected in the figures, said Johnson. According to a recent study by Crux Climate, around 80 percent of transactions last year were for projects with a volume of less than $50 million each. Projects of this size have often been too small to attract a traditional tax equity investor, Johnson said. The sale of tax credits is not new in the USA. In the solar industry, in particular, American subsidy policy has been based on tax credits for decades. As a rule, however, investors had to become co-owners of the projects in order to take advantage of the tax credits granted – a high hurdle that has now been removed.
However, companies such as the US financial services provider Reunion also speak of two core risks in the transactions. Firstly, buyers should ensure that the tax credits have been properly applied for – i.e. that they can rule out formal errors. Secondly, they should protect themselves against possible reclaims by the tax authorities, the company advises. Depending on the type of credit, this may be the case if an investment project fails within a certain period or is sold. Because the buyer bears the risk, the contracts often include compensation clauses. In addition, buyers often take out special tax credit insurance. The amount of the policy then depends on the respective cover and the estimated risk.
Money flows into investments in R&D
At First Solar, the transaction will ensure that the manufacturer can “continue to invest in key aspects of growth such as research and development,” explained CFO Alex Bradley in a statement. More than $2 billion will be invested in new production facilities in Alabama and Louisiana, and the photovoltaic company plans to expand its existing subsidiary in Ohio. And another $370 million will be used to build a development center in Perrysburg. Laurin Meyer, New York
Climate & Environment
Inflation Reduction Act
Investments
Subsidies
USA
News
Heated atmosphere: EU countries vote on trade with Ukraine
Under the impression of renewed, sometimes violent farmers’ protests in Brussels, EU ambassadors will vote on Wednesday on duty-free tradewith Ukraine. The vote on last week’s trilogue agreement was postponed several times due to growing criticism among the member states. In addition to Ukraine’s neighbors Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, France has now also openly opposed the agreement and calls for protective measures for agricultural products to take effect more quickly and to be extended to cereals.
It remains unclear whether the trilogue result will be reopened in order to make concessions to the critics. A spokesperson for the Belgian Presidency confirmed on Tuesday morning that they wanted to stick to the result and put it to the vote. In the evening, however, Belgian Agriculture Minister David Clarinval explained that the agreement was a basis for discussion. However, it could not be ruled out that there would still be “developments.”
Özdemir sees fuel for Russian propaganda
The four openly critical countries would not be able to block the extension of the trade measures on their own. However, at the meeting of agriculture ministers on Tuesday, several ministers from other countries, including Austria, Italy and Ireland, also called for effective protective measures for agricultural imports. However, they did not want to commit themselves as to what specific changes were needed and whether the trilogue compromise should be reopened.
The German Federal Minister of Agriculture, Cem Özdemir, sharply criticized the demands for stricter safeguard clauses. According to the Green politician, blaming Ukraine for distortions in the grain markets was helping “Putin propaganda.” He called for the already negotiated compromise to be adhered to and did not accept the complaints from Poland. “The fact that warehouses are full in Poland is because a minister in the PiS government, which has since been voted out of office, gave farmers the wrong recommendations.” According to Özdemir, Ukraine can not be blamed for this.
Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskyi, who attended the meeting, also told the Financial Times that high-yielding harvests in the USA and South America were the reason for falling grain prices.
Two police officers injured during farmers’ protests
Around the time of the meeting, there were again sometimesviolent protests by farmers in Brussels. According to police reports, one demonstrator was arrested for throwing Molotov cocktails. Two police officers were injured and taken to hospital. The police used tear gas against demonstrators who tried to break through barriers with tractors. The police spoke of 250 tractors.
The fact that the representatives of the EU countries had already given the green light for the proposed relaxation of environmental rules in the Common Agricultural Policy early in the morning had apparently not convinced the protesting farmers. jd
Bauernproteste
20 states rebel against the law on deforestation-free supply chains
Around 20 member states called on Brussels on Tuesday to scale back and possibly suspend the law on deforestation-free supply chains. They stated that the policy would harm farmers.
The deadline for implementing the law is actually the upcoming turn of the year. However, at a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, 20 agriculture ministers supported Austria’s call to revise the law, said Austrian Agriculture Minister Norbert Totschnig.
The Council approved the law in May 2023
Among other things, Austria is calling for the effort required to certify products as deforestation-free within the EU to be “drastically reduced” and for the deadline of December 30, when countries must start complying with the law, to be delayed. Three EU officials confirmed to the Reuters news agency that around 20 countries had supported the demand at the closed-door meeting, including France, Italy, Poland and Sweden.
Members of the European Parliament led by Peter Liese also called on Monday for the law to be streamlined and for the implementation period to be extended by twoyears. A spokesperson for the Commission did not immediately respond to a question from the Reuters news agency as to whether Brussels wanted to revise the law. Last spring, both the Parliament and the Council approved the law in its current form.rtr/lei
Entwaldung
Study: shipping companies make a profit from new carbon price
The four largest European shipping companies Maersk, MSC, CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd pass on the carbon price to their customers to a greater extent than the shipping companies themselves have to pay for it. This is the result of an investigation by the Brussels-based environmental umbrella organization Transport and Environment (T&E).
With the inclusion of the maritime sector in the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), shipping companies have had to purchase European emissions certificates for their voyages of ocean-going and inland waterway vessels of 5,000 gross tons or more since the beginning of the year. In the more than 500 voyages examined by T&E with origin or destination in European ports, the shipping companies charged their customers more than the actual costs of the ETS (currently around €60 per tonne of carbon) in almost 90 percent of cases.
“The shipping giants appear to be ripping off customers by using environmental measures as a means to charge more money,” says T&E shipping expert Jacob Armstrong. Southern European governments had warned that the ETS would force ships out of their ports to nearby third countries. “But why would they do that if they make money from it?” asks Armstrong.
Millions in profits from surcharges
T&E estimates that Maersk makes the highest profits from surcharges with an average of €60,000 per voyage, followed by MSC (€25,000), Hapag-Lloyd (€23,000) and CMA CGM (€14,000). Although the individual profits for each voyage are often not particularly high, for shipping companies with hundreds of ships this means profits in the millions every year from the surcharges, explain the authors of the study.
The experts do not necessarily consider the fact that shipping companies earn money from the carbon price to be wrong. Rather, they believe that criticism from the industry of market-based environmental measures is unjustified. “Costs are not an obstacle to the decarbonization of maritime transport if the most ambitious environmentally friendly measures would only make most consumer goods a few cents more expensive,” says Armstrong.
Currently, shipping companies only have to purchase ETS certificates for 40 percent of their emissions; from 2025, the proportion will rise to 70 percent, and finally to 100 percent in 2026. luk
Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz
Study expects increasing market share for Chinese EVs
A new analysis by the renowned lobby organization for clean transport, Transport & Environment (T&E), finds that the market share of electric cars produced in China in Europe is expected to rise to almost a quarter by 2024. Last year, the share of Chinese cars in the roughly 300,000 EVs sold across Europe was almost a fifth (19.5 percent), and 15 percent in Germany.
While most Chinese imports to date have been Tesla, Dacia and BMW cars produced in China, T&E expects Chinese brands to reach an eleven percent share of the European electric market by 2024 and rise to 20 percent by 2027. BYD alone aims to achieve a five percent share of the European electric car market by 2025.
The outcome will determine whether import tariffs for EVs manufactured in China will be raised from the current ten percent to protect EU manufacturers. The debate already seems to be having an effect. According to official Chinese data, imports of EVs from China have declined by 19.6 percent year-on-year, as Bloomberg reports. Just over 75,600 electric cars were shipped to the 27 EU member states in January and February.
According to the T&E study, raising EU tariffs by 15 percentage points to 25 percent for all Chinese EV imports would make some model segments from China slightly more expensive than cars from other countries. These include medium-sized EVs in the C segment and medium-sized e-SUVs (JD segment). Other model types will remain around eleven percent cheaper on average. “Tariffs can ensure manufacturers relocate their production to Europe or expand here locally,” says Sebastian Bock, Managing Director of T&E Germany. “But tariffs will not protect established European car manufacturers forever. Chinese companies will build factories in Europe. Our car industry must be prepared for this.”
Meanwhile, a brutal price war is raging in the Chinese car market. The largest EV manufacturer, BYD, is also feeling the effects. The company could only increase its revenue by 15 percent to 180.04 billion yuan (23 billion euros) in the fourth quarter. Net profit increased by 19 percent to 8.67 billion yuan, as BYD explained in a mandatory announcement on Tuesday. While this may sound like a lot, it was the lowest quarterly profit growth in almost two years. BYD’s full-year 2023 profit of 30.04 billion yuan was 81 percent higher than the previous year. ck/ari
China
France’s government deficit unexpectedly large – finance minister calls for cuts
The deficit in the French national budget grew surprisingly significantly last year. It amounted to 5.5 percent of gross domestic product, as announced by the Insee statistics office in Paris on Tuesday. In 2022, new debt was still at 4.8 percent. The government had only targeted a small increase to 4.9 percent.
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire explained that tax revenues were lower than expected. The reason for this is that inflation has fallen more than expected. If prices rise, the state usually benefits from this – for example in the form of higher VAT revenue. However, expenditure on unemployment benefits and municipal administration was also higher than expected.
“I am calling for a collective wake-up call to reduce public spending,” Le Maire told journalists. “We must resolutely abandon all spending that does not bring the expected results.” He announced that he would be writing to hundreds of public institutions in France to ask them to make as many savings as possible. Local authorities would also have to cut their budgets.
Reduce debt to three percent by 2027
The government has already announced additional cuts of €10 billion for this year. Le Maire confirmed that the deficit would be reduced to below the permissible EU debt ceiling of three percent by 2027. He ruled out tax increases.
Also on Tuesday, French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced that he was considering confiscating stocks from weapons manufacturers or instructing companies to give priority to certain orders. Weapons and ammunition are currently needed on the battlefield in Ukraine, for example. Lecornu cited the Aster missiles manufactured by MBDA as a possible case for such a step. rtr
EU debt rules
EU-Schuldenregeln
Fiscal policy
France
Dessert
Works of culinary art from Europe
A real treat from Greece: Kalamata olives.
Eating is a necessity, relish is an art. François VI Duc de La Rochefoucauld already knew this in the 17th century. The prerequisite to relish something, however, is the art of producing high-quality and tasty food.
Europe can not only be proud of many of its regional specialties – from Aachener Printe to Beelitz asparagus and Žatecký chmel (the latter is a hop that is used extensively in Bohemia to flavor beer). These protected products also have such a good reputation around the world that they fetch higher prices. On average twice as high as non-protected products, according to the Commission.
Protection of special quality
Geographical indications therefore protect products with special characteristics, a special quality or a special reputation. This benefits not only the producers but also the consumers. They do not pay champagne prices for a German Perlwein (sparkling wine) that only claims to be as good as champagne.
The EU has set out to protect this gastronomic heritage throughout the world. On Tuesday, the Council formally adopted the regulation with which the EU wants to improve the protection of geographical indications and other quality regulations for wine, spirits and agricultural products. At the same time, it wants to simplify the registration procedure.
GI-View and eAmbrosia provide clarification
However, will it also be easier for consumers? Not so much. Because the cryptic abbreviations remain – with certain inconsistencies. For example, there are protected designations of origin (PDO) and protected geographical indications (PGI) for the protection of agricultural products and wine, while there are also geographical indications (GIs) for spirits. Well.
Producers of Parmigiano Reggiano, Kalamata olives, Polish vodka or Queso Manchego, for example, have long been familiar with these designations. So do connoisseurs. Everyone else relies on the EU to effectively monitor compliance with the rules it introduces.
Please take a look at the menu: The EU portal for geographical indications, GI-View, can be found here. The EU register of geographical indications, eAmbrosia, here. On that a Quetsch d’Alsace as a digestif to the health of Mr. de La Rochefoucauld. vis
