Leaked
TTIP documents show the EU is promoting unrestricted trade in fossil
fuels and working to limit the implementation of clean energy
policies, just months after the bloc proudly claimed to have “been
at the forefront of international efforts towards a global climate
deal”
Six
months ago in Paris, almost 200 Governments committed for the first
time to a universal agreement that would tackle climate change,
promising to reduce the use of fossil fuels and increase the use of
renewable energy.
The
EU proudly claims it has “been at the forefront of international
efforts towards a global climate deal”. However, a leak of the
European Commission (EC) proposal for a chapter on Energy and Raw
materials in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership
(TTIP) presented on 20 June 2016 to the European Council, shows that
the EC is promoting unrestricted trade in fossil fuels while working
to restrict the implementation of clean energy policies.
The
EU demands that TTIP “must” include “a legally binding
commitment to eliminate all existing restrictions on the export of
natural gas in trade between” the U.S. and EU. Liquefied
Natural Gas (LNG) is a fossil fuel with high climate emissions. Under
this proposal, TTIP would lead to an increase in the export of LNG
from the US to the EU, expanding in this way the dependency on fossil
fuels and undermining the energy transition needed to meet greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets set by the EU.
The
EU’s proposal could also undermine efforts to increase the use of
renewable energy. The EU actively supports EU states' intervention to
stimulate renewable energy. Yet, their TTIP proposal prevents
positive discrimination in favour of clean energy when it states that
electricity utilities shall not discriminate “between types of
energy” in granting access to the electrical grid.
Through
this document, the EU promotes industry “self-regulation” by
corporations on energy efficiency, as opposed to mandatory
requirements. The EU also proposes the establishment of a “Working
Group for Energy and Raw Materials” that would institutionalise
lobbying opportunities for fossil fuel corporations and could provide
industry representatives an express route to use TTIP rules as a way
to push back policies which restrict trade or investment in fossil
fuels.
This
leak exposes how trade deals such as TTIP would help entrench fossil
fuel dependency and impair efforts to tackle global warming.
“Despite
the lofty rhetoric heard at Paris, this leak of the backdoor
secretive dealings of the EU and US shows that trade and corporate
interests always trumps climate action. In the face of an ever
worsening climate crisis, we urgently need trade deals that put
climate and people first”, said Cecilia Olivet, researcher on
trade and investment at the Transnational Institute.
"This
text looks like it has been drafted with the main purpose of
safeguarding the interests of industry, and the producers and
consumers of fossil fuels. Instead of including text that would help
to ensure that climate targets can be met, as we had hoped, this text
will only make it more difficult to reach the needed energy
transition" said Burghard Ilge, Senior policy officer at
Both ENDS.
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