{"id":45403,"date":"2020-12-15T16:18:39","date_gmt":"2020-12-15T15:18:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/?p=45403"},"modified":"2020-12-15T16:18:42","modified_gmt":"2020-12-15T15:18:42","slug":"eu-commission-sleight-of-hand-keeps-money-flowing-to-dirty-gas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/issues\/climate-energy\/45403\/eu-commission-sleight-of-hand-keeps-money-flowing-to-dirty-gas\/","title":{"rendered":"EU Commission sleight of hand keeps money flowing to dirty gas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Brussels<\/strong> \u2013 The European Commission\u2019s proposed update<\/a> of the rules for Europe\u2019s energy networks leaves the dominant role of the gas industry untouched and public money still flowing to dirty gas, said Greenpeace. The Trans-European Energy Networks (TEN-E) regulation sets the rules governing which energy infrastructure projects get public funding, and determines how the gas industry is involved in making those decisions.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n

The plan maintains the gas industry\u2019s role in the Commission\u2019s funding decisions, through the Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSO-G). While the Commission\u2019s proposal excludes subsidies for projects that are exclusively fossil gas, it leaves the door open to funding gas through \u201csmart\u201d grids which could carry fossil gas as well as other fuels in the future, and infrastructure for hydrogen made from fossil fuels.<\/p>\n\n

Silvia Pastorelli, Greenpeace EU climate and energy campaigner, <\/strong>said: <\/strong>\u201cThe EU Commission is playing a shell game with the climate emergency, taking money from fossil gas with one hand, then giving it back as support for fossil hydrogen with the other. The EU\u2019s energy network needs an overhaul to prioritise electrification, and public money should only be backing renewables. The Commission had the chance to finally reduce the extraordinary influence of gas companies, and to make energy policy in the public interest, but they\u2019re blowing it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n

ENTSO-G, whose members are directly dependent on the continued use of gas infrastructure, wields considerable influence over the EU\u2019s Projects of Common Interest (PCI) list which determines the allocation of EU funding. In the past, roughly three quarters of EU public funding<\/a> for gas infrastructure made available through this process directly benefited ENTSO-G members. <\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace and the Fossil Free Politics<\/a> campaign are calling for ending this kind of conflict of interest and the preferential treatment of the fossil fuel industry in EU climate and energy policy.<\/p>\n\n

Note to Editors:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

[1] The Trans-European Energy Networks regulation was first established in 2013 and is at the heart of European energy infrastructure planning as it decides what projects to support, including the Projects of Common Interest (PCI).<\/p>\n\n

Contact: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Silvia Pastorelli, Greenpeace EU climate and energy campaigner,  <\/strong>+32 496 12 20 94<\/p>\n\n

E-mail: silvia.pastorelli@greenpeace.org<\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace EU press desk<\/strong>: +32 (0)2 274 1911, pressdesk.eu@greenpeace.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n

For breaking news and comment on EU affairs: www.twitter.com\/GreenpeaceEU<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning organisation that acts to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace. We do not accept donations from governments, the EU, businesses or political parties. We have over three million supporters, and offices in more than 55 countries.<\/p>\n\n

EU Transparency Register: 9832909575-41<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The European Commission\u2019s proposed update of the rules for Europe\u2019s energy networks leaves the dominant role of the gas industry untouched and public money still flowing to dirty gas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":45404,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"not set","p4_basket_name":"not set","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,29],"p4-page-type":[14],"class_list":["post-45403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate-energy","tag-climatechange","tag-fossilfuels","p4-page-type-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45403"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45405,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45403\/revisions\/45405"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45403"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=45403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}