Comment:Visions

Platts Biofuels Conference 2012

Robert Zlokower — Thu, 17 May 2012 14:22:30 +0000

Location: Hilton Amsterdam Hotel, Amsterdam

Tackling Fragmentation in the International Biofuels Sector

Using our extensive knowledge of global biofuels markets, Platts Biofuels Conference 2012 will bring together producers, regional policy makers, trading and financial houses, and selected academic and media agencies to discuss how to expedite the alignment of policy and trade flows in the sector.

EU energy roadmap 2050: power choices and pathways

Editor — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:49:46 +0000

The European Union is mapping out an energy strategy for 2050 to meet its goals of ensuring a secure, affordable and sustainable energy supply. The EU has set itself the target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 80%-95% below 1990 levels by 2050 provided other developed countries sign up to similarly ambitious targets.

The European Commission published an energy roadmap for 2050 in December last year. The roadmap sets out a range of different options for the EU to achieve its goals but there are a number of common elements to all of the options. These include the need for huge investment in new energy infrastructure, the need to complete the EU’s internal energy market and to improve energy efficiency. All of the scenarios envisage a major increase in the share of energy from renewable sources in the overall energy mix. The share of energy from renewables is forecast to rise to at least 55% of final energy consumption.

The EU’s national energy ministers are planning to approve the energy roadmap at their meeting on 15 June. Energy policymakers and industry agree that the EU needs to set targets for 2030 to ensure that progress towards the 2050 goals is maintained when the 2020 targets expire.

Comment:Visions will organise an event on 20 June to examine the choices the EU has to make in order to achieve its 2050 goals. The event, which will part of the EU’s Sustainable Energy Week, will focus on what needs to be done to integrate the higher share of renewables in energy supply, the infrastructure investments needs and the role of gas as a transition fuel in the move to a decarbonised energy system. The event will consider what kind of targets the EU should set for 2030 on the road to the 2050 goals.

Timing

18.00-18.30 Welcome of participants and registration

18.30-18.35 Introduction of participants by Simon Taylor, assistant editor, European Voice

18.35-19.05 Panel discussion

Philip Lowe, director-general for energy, European Commission
Niki Tzavela MEP, rapporteur on the energy roadmap, European Parliament
Jason Anderson, head of European energy and climate change policy, WWF
Thomas Dalsgaard, executive vice-president, generation, DONG energy*

19.05-19.55 Debate (audience participation strongly encouraged)

19.55-20.00 Conclusions by Dick Benschop, Shell

20.00 Networking reception

Seeking expert viewpoints for ‘Innovation’ discussion on Comment:Visions

Robert Zlokower — Fri, 04 May 2012 10:06:05 +0000

Dear readers,

We would like to invite you to contribute a written online comment in our Comment:Visions discussion on ‘Innovation.’

To pre-submit a comment, click here to register or e-mail me at robert(at)commentvisions.com.

Comment:Visions was born out of a partnership between the global channel euronews, and the Economist-owned newspaper, European Voice, in association with Shell. This project explores the views of thinkers, innovators, decision-makers, and scientists about possible solutions to global warming, overpopulation and dwindling resources.

In addition to the online community, Comment:Visions produces and broadcasts a series of programmes, and hosts face-to-face debates in Brussels, which usually take place in the European Parliament. All of this activity is also hosted on www.commentvisions.com.

Coming up on the website, we are discussing the following question: What is the role of energy innovation in delivering a secure, affordable low carbon economy?

Moreover, contributing is a positive way to share your message amongst an influential online community in the industry, policy, and research of energy and environment.

Let me know if you are interested in participating in this opinion-leader discussion and I’ll contact you with further information.

Yours Sincerely,

Robert Zlokower
Community Manager, Comment:Visions

+44 20 3355 8060 ext. 102

e-mail: robert(at)commentvisions.com

World Biofuel Markets 2012: Q&A with JOil

Robert Zlokower — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 08:34:53 +0000

While at the World Biofuel Markets in March in Rotterdam, Comment:Visions spoke with Dr. Hong Yan, Cheif Scientific Officer at JOil, about developing regions and Jatropha.

CV: Can you tell us how successful projects have developed and thrived despite the developing world being concerned with issues such as sustainability and land use?

HY: That is a big topic for me. I would like to narrow down the topic a little bit, to how to develop biofuel feedstock plant and make it a commercially viable and sustainable choice. JOil is a company specializing on the improvement of jatropha curcas (Jatropha), and we (along with TLL, our promoter company) have been working since 2006 to improve the jatropha mostly on the productivity side, also for uniformity in the field performance. So after many years of work, now we have a few commercial offerings that have been widely tested in areas like India, Indonesia and South East Asian countries; and their performance so far has been very positive, and we have just issued a press release sharing the performance of our Jatropha varieties with 2.1 to 2.4 tonnes of seeds per hectare for the first year, in a marginal land in Southern India. So that was very encouraging for us and for all and even the industry players commented that this is one of the best examples of economic success that has ever been seen in the Jatropha market.

Dr. Hong Yan

CV: How can companies and governments be working together in this respect?

HY: Jatropha or bioenergy in general, is a new industry. And to develop a successful project requires a participation of multiple players. From a government point of view, they need to encourage the investment and provide whatever necessary, including a strong policy support. I see from an industry point of view, this is a new industry, so they have to be patient and a little bit tolerant, but there is also the need for investment. Biofuel plants need to be planted onto the fields, so the farmers are also stakeholders, hence the necessity to get involved, they need to be taught about new technology, but they also need to have the right compensational prices scheme to make it the viable choice for them. So we should not assume the farmers have no choice. They do. Even in the marginal land, they may have some other choices. So our choice of biofuels has to be better than others’. Good technology that can create good income will make them actively participating.

There is one consensus that everybody reached: it takes time and effort to develop a so-called bioenergy crop and we have been doing it with jatropha and we are happy to say that at this stage we are confident that jatropha will be ready and is now ready actually for commercial scale pilot plantation and the future will be better.

The UK Energy Summit 2012

Robert Zlokower — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:45:22 +0000

Location: The Grange St Pauls, London

The UK Energy Summit 2012 will bring together policy makers, industry leaders, investors, regulators, innovators and influential thinkers to discuss how the UK’s vision for the energy sector is unfolding and what further actions are required to achieve a secure, low carbon economy.

Transparency and extractive industries

Robert Zlokower — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 12:09:36 +0000

On 22 November, 2011 Comment:Visions invited a panel of policymakers and experts to discuss how transparency in extractive industries can contribute to reduce corruption and help extraction countries out of the ‘resources curse’.

A central point of the discussion was the recently proposed revision of the EU transparency directive, which would impose new, more stringent reporting mandatory requirements on companies from the extractive sector listed in Europe. The debate focussed on how this new directive might impact companies operating outside the EU and whether it would complement or undermine existing schemes to enhance transparency such as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), which is based on voluntary participation of both states and companies.

This April 2012, Comment:Visions hosts a follow-up online discussion.

Seeking expert opinions for ‘Transparency’ discussion on Comment:Visions

Robert Zlokower — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 09:27:54 +0000

Dear readers,

We would like to invite you to contribute a written online comment in our Comment:Visions discussion on ‘Transparency.’

To pre-submit a comment, click here to register or e-mail me at robert(at)commentvisions.com.

Coming up on the website, we are discussing the following question: How can meaningful transparency policies in the extractive and energy sectors deliver anti-corruption objectives?

Moreover, contributing is a positive way to share your message amongst an influential online community in the industry, policy, and research of energy and environment.

Let me know if you are interested in participating in this opinion-leader discussion and I’ll contact you with further information.

Yours Sincerely,

Robert Zlokower
Community Manager, Comment:Visions

+44 20 3355 8060 ext. 102

e-mail: robert(at)commentvisions.com

What impact did COP17 in Durban have on carbon prices?

Robert Zlokower — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 15:40:58 +0000

The EU’s emissions trading scheme (ETS), which was launched in 2005, is central to the European Union’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It provides a marketplace for buying and selling emissions trading rights. By setting a price for CO2 emissions, the scheme is intended to establish the most cost-effective way of lowering emissions and encouraging investment in low carbon technologies. So how is the ETS working and does it needs a major overhaul? What is the impact of including additional sectors such as airlines and shipping in the scheme on efforts to cut CO2 emissions and what are the possible political consequences? What is the importance of the ETS in maintaining the EU’s global leadership role in combating climate change?

Seeking expert opinions for ‘Emissions Trading’ discussion on Comment:Visions

Robert Zlokower — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 10:09:12 +0000

Dear readers,

We would like to invite you to contribute a written online comment in our Comment:Visions discussion on ‘Emissions Trading.’

To pre-submit a comment, click here to register or e-mail me at robert(at)commentvisions.com.

Comment:Visions was born out of a partnership between the global channel euronews, and the Economist-owned newspaper, European Voice, in association with Shell. This project explores the views of thinkers, innovators, decision-makers, and scientists about possible solutions to global warming, overpopulation and dwindling resources.

Coming up on the website, we are discussing the following question: What impact did COP17 in Durban have on carbon prices?

Moreover, contributing is a positive way to share your message amongst an influential online community in the industry, policy, and research of energy and environment.

Let me know if you are interested in participating in this opinion-leader discussion and I’ll contact you with further information.

Yours Sincerely,

Robert Zlokower
Community Manager, Comment:Visions

+44 20 3355 8060 ext. 102

e-mail: robert(at)commentvisions.com

EU Emissions Trading Scheme: fit for purpose?

Editor — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:34:03 +0000

7 February 2012 – European Parliament, Brussels

This year airlines will be required to take part in the scheme and pay for emissions rights for the first time. The decision, which applies to all airlines whose planes land and take off in the EU, has been attacked by airlines based outside the EU. A group of US airlines launched a legal challenge to having to pay for emissions rights in the European Court of Justice last year. In December the ECJ backed the EU’s right to include all airlines in the scheme. Authorities in the US and China have threatened to take retaliatory action if the EU goes ahead with forcing airlines to pay.

The ETS will enter its third stage from January 2013 with a further reduction in the total amount of allowances. Seven years since the ETS started operating, there are questions about whether the scheme is being as effective as it should in contributing towards reducing CO2 emissions. The economic downturn in the EU has reduced industrial activity which has, in turn, lowered the price of carbon to under €10 a tonne, a level which experts believe is too low to incentivise the necessary investment in low carbon technologies.

Some industry groups and environmental campaigners are calling for a revision of the ETS so it plays its intended part in combating climate change. In December, MEPs on the European Parliament’s environment committee voted on draft legislation on energy efficiency to take 1.4 billion emissions trading rights out of the system in 2013-2020. This would raise the carbon price by reducing the supply of emissions certificates. Energy-intensive industries, on the other hand, oppose tightening the scheme.

The aim of this event is to examine how the ETS is working and whether it needs a major overhaul. It will discuss the impact of including additional sectors such as airlines and shipping in the scheme on efforts to cut CO2 emissions and assess the possible political consequences. The event will also look at the importance of the ETS in maintaining the EU’s global leadership role in combating climate change.