Some consider e-cigarettes the healthier way to smoke – or vaporize, to stay in the jargon. Others think they are the devil’s stuff. But the future of disposable e-cigarettes in the EU will be decided not by health considerations but by environmental ones – the Battery Regulation will probably mean their end, as my colleague Markus Grabitz reports, because the manufacturers can’t or don’t want to meet the requirements.
Annette Bruhns and Stefan Braun‘s interview with Norwegian Ambassador Torgeir Larsen dealt with environmental issues of a different kind. He talked about joint energy supply, CO2 storage and the guilty conscience of earning money with gas. And I’m sure the ambassador surprised not just me by saying that Norway also has an energy crisis to deal with.
What else happened? The German Minister for Foreign Affairs is visiting China and trying to demonstrate European unity. And generative AI – the category to which ChatGPT also belongs – continues to stir the minds, not only of the media and data protectionists, but also of the defenders of democracy. Austrian State Secretary Florian Tursky talks about his point of view.
We hope you have a wonderful day,
The disposable e-cigarette will disappear from the market in the EU by the end of 2026. This is the result of the compromise between Parliament and Council in the trilogue procedure on the Battery Regulation. It requires that three and a half years after the regulation comes into force, the batteries in portable devices, including disposable e-cigarettes, must be removable and replaceable by the user.
The regulation also prohibits the use of adhesives, as the batteries must be able to be dismantled without solvents. In addition, the manufacturer would have to provide instructions on how to remove the batteries as well as safety instructions. The compromise still has to be approved by the plenum of the European Parliament. However, this is considered a formality. Presumably, the compromise will be adopted by Parliament in June.
Disposable e-cigarettes, which were launched with overwhelming success in the EU in early 2022, do not meet the requirements imposed by the Battery Regulation. It is estimated that disposable e-cigarettes now have a market share of at least 60 percent in Germany.
According to the industry association “Bündnis für Tabakfreien Genuss” (BfTG – lit. Alliance for Tobacco-Free Enjoyment), suppliers in Germany generated total sales of €575 million with e-cigarettes and accessories in 2022. That was 40 percent more than in the previous year. Much of the additional business was done with disposable e-cigarettes, it is said. Dustin Dahlmann of the BfTG assumes that “several hundred thousand cigarette smokers in Germany alone have come into contact with the significantly pollutant-reduced e-cigarette via the disposable product“.
The industry rules out modifying disposable e-cigarettes to meet the conditions of the Battery Regulation. To do this, a take-back system for disposable e-cigarettes would have to be set up. This would be too costly. Instead, efforts will be made to make reusable e-cigarettes more attractive through innovations. “Manufacturers are working on bringing the reusable e-cigarette closer to the disposable e-product in terms of external appearance and vaping behavior”, says Dahlmann.
Because of the battery, e-cigarettes may not be disposed of in household waste, but must be disposed of as electronic waste. The first take-back systems have been set up. Nevertheless, many users often do not dispose of disposable e-cigarettes properly.
The disposable e-cigarette differs from the previously common reusable e-cigarette in price and sustainability: The disposable e-cigarette costs around €10. Both the battery for heating the liquid and the reservoir for the two milliliters of liquid, which usually contains nicotine, cannot be recharged. After 500 to 600 puffs, the disposable e-cigarette becomes unusable and must be disposed of. A filter cigarette allows about twelve puffs. Depending on the individual habits of the vaper, they use a disposable e-cigarette for up to five days.
The reusable e-cigarette, on the other hand, has a rechargeable battery. The reservoir is also refillable. The reusability of the battery and the refill function of the reservoir make vaporizing with this device much more affordable. Reusable vapes start at €25 including two milliliters of liquid. The battery is designed to be charged up to 1000 times. The success of disposable e-cigarettes in Germany has surprised observers and the industry.
In Germany, a vaporizer tax of 16 cents per milliliter of liquids was introduced in July. The tax applies to liquids vaporized in both disposable and reusable e-cigarettes. Both nicotine-containing and non-nicotine-containing liquids will be taxed. It is planned to increase the tax in several steps to 32 cents by 2026.
Table.Media: Mr. Larsen, Olaf Scholz said during the visit of your Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre that Norway is a particularly important partner for Germany. Was that the usual polite phrase or something more?
Torgeir Larsen: Definitely more. The Ukraine war has changed the whole of Europe in one fell swoop. Northern Europe has now moved closer to the continent, and we need each other more than ever – for our security and for energy supplies. Germany is also more important than ever for Norway.
We are also talking about a conflict between democracies and autocracies in the war in Ukraine. The concern is that democracies are weaker because decision-making processes take longer.
One can certainly be of the opinion that things are moving too slowly in some areas. But one must not forget how much has changed in just twelve months. How much energy is suddenly flowing to Germany from all parts of the world, how many weapons are being supplied to Ukraine. It really is a turn of the times, especially in view of Germany’s history. In the middle of Europe, Germany must now define a new role, together with all its neighbors, in Eastern, Southern and Northern Europe.
Norway also plays a major role in defense. But the Norwegian ammunition manufacturer Nammo cannot expand its production, despite full order books, because it does not receive the necessary quantities of electricity. How can that be?
That’s because of our energy crisis. Yes, we Norwegians also have an energy crisis! In our country, everything runs on electricity from hydro and wind power. And now there are bottlenecks. Recently, electricity in southern Norway was more expensive than in Germany. The electrification of Norwegian society is already extensive and gaining momentum. We now have to build the infrastructure for more renewable electricity, so we face the same challenge as Germany.
And at the same time, Norway exports electricity to Germany or the UK via undersea cables?
Right. We don’t just supply gas, oil and electricity. We can also supply hydrogen, blue and green. In a transitional period, blue hydrogen will be necessary to satisfy the enormous demand of German industry quickly enough. It will take time before this is possible with green hydrogen, i.e. hydrogen produced by renewable energies, for example Norwegian offshore wind power.
Do you have customers for underground carbon storage on the West Coast yet?
This is still being tested. However, there are already agreements with several European companies. Heidelberg Materials, for example, wants to store 400,000 metric tons of CO2 per year from Norwegian cement production as early as 2024. Robert Habeck visited this facility during his visit to Norway in January. Another example is the British company Cory, which wants to ship 1.2 million metric tons of CO2 from energy-related waste incineration from London to Norway from 2030.
In Germany, CCS is still prohibited.
Germany has not ratified the London Protocol, which regulates the cross-border transport of CO2. But I believe that Germany will open up to CO2 storage in order to make its industry climate-neutral. In Norway, we have been storing CO2 safely under the seabed since 1996.
How long will it technically take for blue hydrogen to turn green? The 30 gigawatts targeted by Norway correspond to 30 nuclear power plants, and Norway is planning 1500 wind turbines. In Germany, we would probably need 100 years …
… we plan to complete it between 2035 and 2040. From 2030 onwards, our gas production will drop quite steeply, which is probably when our reserves peak. There are many “Memorandums of Understanding”, but there is still a long way to go to create a European market for hydrogen. There are still no concrete contracts between future producers and buyers, nor the necessary regulatory framework in Germany. But there are now talks between Germany and Norway on both the government and company sides. The talks are about the production of hydrogen and the corresponding transport infrastructure between the two countries. A feasibility study will be presented within a few months.
Germany is building such large LNG terminals that critics worry that more gas fields will be developed for them, delaying the phase-out of fossil fuels. You were once a risk analyst for gas and oil at Statoil, Equinor’s predecessor. What do you think of Germany’s LNG activism?
I think the planning is absolutely right. Firstly, because you don’t know how the markets will develop and therefore need buffers. Secondly, because LNG terminals can be converted to hydrogen. And third, the European gas markets don’t play a crucial role in world production. Asia has a much greater – and rising – demand for gas.
From the outside, Norway’s energy economy sounds pretty perfect to us: It exports energy and disposes of the waste, i.e. the CO₂. So you benefit twice from the current needs. What does Norway give back in return?
We give European industry the opportunity to produce in a climate-neutral way and still remain competitive. And we do so very safely, because we have a lot of experience in CO2 storage. That’s what we give back.
Is there such a thing as a guilty conscience about still making so much money from gas today?
In Norway, we are discussing the question of how moral we are when we export gas. Shouldn’t we have phased it out completely long ago? But it will take time before the world can do without fossil fuels. If Norway were to shut down gas production, the raw material would, therefore, simply be supplied from other parts of the world. The transformation away from the oil and gas industry and toward renewables and climate neutrality has long been underway in Norway. Many engineers have changed industries accordingly and now work in offshore wind. But any transition takes time. There is a fine line between over-moralism and over-pragmatism. We know that.
There has been no shortage of superlatives to describe this package, nor has there been a lack of sarcasm about the name of this package, which many in the European bubble consider more appropriate to describe a fitness program for people in their mid-50s. Despite the unusual name, “Ff55” has been called historic. The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, used the same word to welcome the entry of the oval ball into the European Parliament.
Indeed, since March of this year, the institution known more for rhetorical arguments than for the art of tackling on the turf has officially had its first rugby team. It will represent the European Union in the Parliamentary Rugby World Cup, which will take place from Aug. 31 to Sept. 7 in the south of France – a region where passion for the oval ball is kindled with mother’s milk. This cup will serve as a prelude to the World Cup for professionals.
Gabriel Richard-Molard, parliamentary assistant to French MEP Pascal Durand (S&D), who is himself captain of this team, is the driving force behind the project. He explains: “There are three mixed teams, composed mainly and in descending order of social democrats, environmentalists and EPP conservatives”.
As a result of Brexit, the English, Welsh and Scots are absent, which explains the “very strong French dominance”, although Romanians and Bulgarians are also strongly represented, points out Richard-Molard, who was born in Montpellier (southern France). “We have a total of 17 different nationalities, which you can clearly hear on the field”.
In addition, the European Parliament’s first rugby team is open to non-elected members of the European Parliament (administrators, assistants and others) and the other European institutions (Commission and Council), he stresses. So every other Monday, about 40 players leave their files, offices and hallways to train on the pitch of the Boisfort Rugby Club in a suburb of Brussels.
Mais voilà, even when parliamentarians play sports, politics doesn’t stay on the sidelines. “The Parliamentary World Cup was created by Nelson Mandela in 1995“, said Éric Andrieu (S&D), co-president of the club at a press conference. He added that one must properly appreciate the importance of this moment. “There will be MPs from New Zealand, Australia, England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Italy and France, and there will be the European Union team. It’s important that we be at this event at this time of geopolitical turmoil“.
Germany was also a great rugby nation until the 1930s, when the sport was neglected because it came from Anglo-Saxon countries, Richard-Molard explains. “The last match between France and Germany was in 1935 and Germany won”, he recalls.
And it is no surprise that we also find the famous “Ff55” in the parliamentary rugby team: The European team does not draw anything from the European budget. It lives on the contributions of its members and two partners that comply with transparency rules. “So, according to our rules of procedure, no cigarette manufacturer and no airline may support the club“, explains Éric Andrieu. The money from ticket sales collected at the games will be donated to humanitarian organizations.
The next match is scheduled for Saturday, June 10. The Ode to Joy will resound when games against the teams from England and Japan will take place. We wish the whole team the best of luck and hope that the World Cup trophy will soon find its new home in Rue Wiertz.
Some consider e-cigarettes the healthier way to smoke – or vaporize, to stay in the jargon. Others think they are the devil’s stuff. But the future of disposable e-cigarettes in the EU will be decided not by health considerations but by environmental ones – the Battery Regulation will probably mean their end, as my colleague Markus Grabitz reports, because the manufacturers can’t or don’t want to meet the requirements.
Annette Bruhns and Stefan Braun‘s interview with Norwegian Ambassador Torgeir Larsen dealt with environmental issues of a different kind. He talked about joint energy supply, CO2 storage and the guilty conscience of earning money with gas. And I’m sure the ambassador surprised not just me by saying that Norway also has an energy crisis to deal with.
What else happened? The German Minister for Foreign Affairs is visiting China and trying to demonstrate European unity. And generative AI – the category to which ChatGPT also belongs – continues to stir the minds, not only of the media and data protectionists, but also of the defenders of democracy. Austrian State Secretary Florian Tursky talks about his point of view.
We hope you have a wonderful day,
The disposable e-cigarette will disappear from the market in the EU by the end of 2026. This is the result of the compromise between Parliament and Council in the trilogue procedure on the Battery Regulation. It requires that three and a half years after the regulation comes into force, the batteries in portable devices, including disposable e-cigarettes, must be removable and replaceable by the user.
The regulation also prohibits the use of adhesives, as the batteries must be able to be dismantled without solvents. In addition, the manufacturer would have to provide instructions on how to remove the batteries as well as safety instructions. The compromise still has to be approved by the plenum of the European Parliament. However, this is considered a formality. Presumably, the compromise will be adopted by Parliament in June.
Disposable e-cigarettes, which were launched with overwhelming success in the EU in early 2022, do not meet the requirements imposed by the Battery Regulation. It is estimated that disposable e-cigarettes now have a market share of at least 60 percent in Germany.
According to the industry association “Bündnis für Tabakfreien Genuss” (BfTG – lit. Alliance for Tobacco-Free Enjoyment), suppliers in Germany generated total sales of €575 million with e-cigarettes and accessories in 2022. That was 40 percent more than in the previous year. Much of the additional business was done with disposable e-cigarettes, it is said. Dustin Dahlmann of the BfTG assumes that “several hundred thousand cigarette smokers in Germany alone have come into contact with the significantly pollutant-reduced e-cigarette via the disposable product“.
The industry rules out modifying disposable e-cigarettes to meet the conditions of the Battery Regulation. To do this, a take-back system for disposable e-cigarettes would have to be set up. This would be too costly. Instead, efforts will be made to make reusable e-cigarettes more attractive through innovations. “Manufacturers are working on bringing the reusable e-cigarette closer to the disposable e-product in terms of external appearance and vaping behavior”, says Dahlmann.
Because of the battery, e-cigarettes may not be disposed of in household waste, but must be disposed of as electronic waste. The first take-back systems have been set up. Nevertheless, many users often do not dispose of disposable e-cigarettes properly.
The disposable e-cigarette differs from the previously common reusable e-cigarette in price and sustainability: The disposable e-cigarette costs around €10. Both the battery for heating the liquid and the reservoir for the two milliliters of liquid, which usually contains nicotine, cannot be recharged. After 500 to 600 puffs, the disposable e-cigarette becomes unusable and must be disposed of. A filter cigarette allows about twelve puffs. Depending on the individual habits of the vaper, they use a disposable e-cigarette for up to five days.
The reusable e-cigarette, on the other hand, has a rechargeable battery. The reservoir is also refillable. The reusability of the battery and the refill function of the reservoir make vaporizing with this device much more affordable. Reusable vapes start at €25 including two milliliters of liquid. The battery is designed to be charged up to 1000 times. The success of disposable e-cigarettes in Germany has surprised observers and the industry.
In Germany, a vaporizer tax of 16 cents per milliliter of liquids was introduced in July. The tax applies to liquids vaporized in both disposable and reusable e-cigarettes. Both nicotine-containing and non-nicotine-containing liquids will be taxed. It is planned to increase the tax in several steps to 32 cents by 2026.
Table.Media: Mr. Larsen, Olaf Scholz said during the visit of your Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre that Norway is a particularly important partner for Germany. Was that the usual polite phrase or something more?
Torgeir Larsen: Definitely more. The Ukraine war has changed the whole of Europe in one fell swoop. Northern Europe has now moved closer to the continent, and we need each other more than ever – for our security and for energy supplies. Germany is also more important than ever for Norway.
We are also talking about a conflict between democracies and autocracies in the war in Ukraine. The concern is that democracies are weaker because decision-making processes take longer.
One can certainly be of the opinion that things are moving too slowly in some areas. But one must not forget how much has changed in just twelve months. How much energy is suddenly flowing to Germany from all parts of the world, how many weapons are being supplied to Ukraine. It really is a turn of the times, especially in view of Germany’s history. In the middle of Europe, Germany must now define a new role, together with all its neighbors, in Eastern, Southern and Northern Europe.
Norway also plays a major role in defense. But the Norwegian ammunition manufacturer Nammo cannot expand its production, despite full order books, because it does not receive the necessary quantities of electricity. How can that be?
That’s because of our energy crisis. Yes, we Norwegians also have an energy crisis! In our country, everything runs on electricity from hydro and wind power. And now there are bottlenecks. Recently, electricity in southern Norway was more expensive than in Germany. The electrification of Norwegian society is already extensive and gaining momentum. We now have to build the infrastructure for more renewable electricity, so we face the same challenge as Germany.
And at the same time, Norway exports electricity to Germany or the UK via undersea cables?
Right. We don’t just supply gas, oil and electricity. We can also supply hydrogen, blue and green. In a transitional period, blue hydrogen will be necessary to satisfy the enormous demand of German industry quickly enough. It will take time before this is possible with green hydrogen, i.e. hydrogen produced by renewable energies, for example Norwegian offshore wind power.
Do you have customers for underground carbon storage on the West Coast yet?
This is still being tested. However, there are already agreements with several European companies. Heidelberg Materials, for example, wants to store 400,000 metric tons of CO2 per year from Norwegian cement production as early as 2024. Robert Habeck visited this facility during his visit to Norway in January. Another example is the British company Cory, which wants to ship 1.2 million metric tons of CO2 from energy-related waste incineration from London to Norway from 2030.
In Germany, CCS is still prohibited.
Germany has not ratified the London Protocol, which regulates the cross-border transport of CO2. But I believe that Germany will open up to CO2 storage in order to make its industry climate-neutral. In Norway, we have been storing CO2 safely under the seabed since 1996.
How long will it technically take for blue hydrogen to turn green? The 30 gigawatts targeted by Norway correspond to 30 nuclear power plants, and Norway is planning 1500 wind turbines. In Germany, we would probably need 100 years …
… we plan to complete it between 2035 and 2040. From 2030 onwards, our gas production will drop quite steeply, which is probably when our reserves peak. There are many “Memorandums of Understanding”, but there is still a long way to go to create a European market for hydrogen. There are still no concrete contracts between future producers and buyers, nor the necessary regulatory framework in Germany. But there are now talks between Germany and Norway on both the government and company sides. The talks are about the production of hydrogen and the corresponding transport infrastructure between the two countries. A feasibility study will be presented within a few months.
Germany is building such large LNG terminals that critics worry that more gas fields will be developed for them, delaying the phase-out of fossil fuels. You were once a risk analyst for gas and oil at Statoil, Equinor’s predecessor. What do you think of Germany’s LNG activism?
I think the planning is absolutely right. Firstly, because you don’t know how the markets will develop and therefore need buffers. Secondly, because LNG terminals can be converted to hydrogen. And third, the European gas markets don’t play a crucial role in world production. Asia has a much greater – and rising – demand for gas.
From the outside, Norway’s energy economy sounds pretty perfect to us: It exports energy and disposes of the waste, i.e. the CO₂. So you benefit twice from the current needs. What does Norway give back in return?
We give European industry the opportunity to produce in a climate-neutral way and still remain competitive. And we do so very safely, because we have a lot of experience in CO2 storage. That’s what we give back.
Is there such a thing as a guilty conscience about still making so much money from gas today?
In Norway, we are discussing the question of how moral we are when we export gas. Shouldn’t we have phased it out completely long ago? But it will take time before the world can do without fossil fuels. If Norway were to shut down gas production, the raw material would, therefore, simply be supplied from other parts of the world. The transformation away from the oil and gas industry and toward renewables and climate neutrality has long been underway in Norway. Many engineers have changed industries accordingly and now work in offshore wind. But any transition takes time. There is a fine line between over-moralism and over-pragmatism. We know that.
There has been no shortage of superlatives to describe this package, nor has there been a lack of sarcasm about the name of this package, which many in the European bubble consider more appropriate to describe a fitness program for people in their mid-50s. Despite the unusual name, “Ff55” has been called historic. The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, used the same word to welcome the entry of the oval ball into the European Parliament.
Indeed, since March of this year, the institution known more for rhetorical arguments than for the art of tackling on the turf has officially had its first rugby team. It will represent the European Union in the Parliamentary Rugby World Cup, which will take place from Aug. 31 to Sept. 7 in the south of France – a region where passion for the oval ball is kindled with mother’s milk. This cup will serve as a prelude to the World Cup for professionals.
Gabriel Richard-Molard, parliamentary assistant to French MEP Pascal Durand (S&D), who is himself captain of this team, is the driving force behind the project. He explains: “There are three mixed teams, composed mainly and in descending order of social democrats, environmentalists and EPP conservatives”.
As a result of Brexit, the English, Welsh and Scots are absent, which explains the “very strong French dominance”, although Romanians and Bulgarians are also strongly represented, points out Richard-Molard, who was born in Montpellier (southern France). “We have a total of 17 different nationalities, which you can clearly hear on the field”.
In addition, the European Parliament’s first rugby team is open to non-elected members of the European Parliament (administrators, assistants and others) and the other European institutions (Commission and Council), he stresses. So every other Monday, about 40 players leave their files, offices and hallways to train on the pitch of the Boisfort Rugby Club in a suburb of Brussels.
Mais voilà, even when parliamentarians play sports, politics doesn’t stay on the sidelines. “The Parliamentary World Cup was created by Nelson Mandela in 1995“, said Éric Andrieu (S&D), co-president of the club at a press conference. He added that one must properly appreciate the importance of this moment. “There will be MPs from New Zealand, Australia, England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Italy and France, and there will be the European Union team. It’s important that we be at this event at this time of geopolitical turmoil“.
Germany was also a great rugby nation until the 1930s, when the sport was neglected because it came from Anglo-Saxon countries, Richard-Molard explains. “The last match between France and Germany was in 1935 and Germany won”, he recalls.
And it is no surprise that we also find the famous “Ff55” in the parliamentary rugby team: The European team does not draw anything from the European budget. It lives on the contributions of its members and two partners that comply with transparency rules. “So, according to our rules of procedure, no cigarette manufacturer and no airline may support the club“, explains Éric Andrieu. The money from ticket sales collected at the games will be donated to humanitarian organizations.
The next match is scheduled for Saturday, June 10. The Ode to Joy will resound when games against the teams from England and Japan will take place. We wish the whole team the best of luck and hope that the World Cup trophy will soon find its new home in Rue Wiertz.
