The EU should not make wider changes to the bloc's methane emissions regulation (MER), EU energy commissioner Dan Jorgensen told the European Parliament on Tuesday, stressing that a proposed delay would last only one year and would apply solely to the regulation's import provisions.
Jorgensen — responding to calls from lawmakers for a postponement of the MER until 2030 — said he had to listen when a "clear" majority of member states and many others tell him implementation is not possible within the current timeframe. "We can live with a one-year postponement, not of the whole regulation, but of the import provisions," he said.
Jorgensen was speaking after European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen detailed the delay earlier on Tuesday as part of a package of measures aimed at reducing energy prices, including a new taskforce for joint energy procurement.
"I would also warn against introducing different kinds of other demands," Jorgensen said. Once the commission proposes legislation to delay the MER import provisions by a year, both parliament and EU member states will be able to suggest broader amendments.
The EU should suspend the methane regulation not just for one year, but until 2030, German lawmaker Christian Ehler said. "Otherwise we'll quite simply be sitting here again next year," said Ehler, a member of the parliament's largest political group, the centre-right EPP, adding that he could "in principle" support the commission's proposal.
But postponing the MER until 2030 would not "get the effects that we want with regards to fighting climate change and stopping the emissions of methane", Jorgensen replied. He added that a longer postponement would be unfair to companies that have already invested to comply with the legislation from 1 January.
"Now the obligation is on member states to make sure that they are ready in one year," Jorgensen said, adding that "a lot of new" contracts have been signed in recent months.
German Green lawmaker Jutta Paulus said suspending the methane regulation puts the EU's climate targets at risk and opens the door to further weakening of the rules. "With the announcement of the delay, the fossil fuel lobby has smelt blood and is already making further demands," said Paulus, who led Parliament's negotiations with EU member states on the final text of the law in 2024.
