EU regulations in their current form are hindering rather than enabling the energy transition, limiting access to funding and slowing renewable installations, delegates at the Financial Times International Energy Policy Forum in Brussels heard this week.
EU regulation has become "duplicative", Anthony Gooch Galvez, secretary general of the European Round Table for Industry (ERT), told delegates this week. "The burden is unsustainable" even for ERT members, which tend to be big companies, he said, pointing to the additional problems this would cause small to medium-sized businesses.
The EU is "too prescriptive" and expects perfection from day one, Ann Mettler of Bill Gates-founded Breakthrough Energy said, leading to low-carbon technologies not being deployed. The "regulatory tsunami did not lead to the desired outcome", and the bloc should give more space to the private sector to support their development, she said.
A lack of policy planning has contributed to the problem, Mettler said, pointing to the low number of final investment decisions that have been taken on hydrogen projects. Companies need to be able to implement their plans, she said.
"Very cumbersome licensing and permitting processes" are also impeding progress in the region, IEA executive director Fatih Birol told delegates, calling for these to become "much more nimble".
And while funding is technically on the table, it is often difficult to access, Gwenaelle Avice Huet of French firm Schneider Electric said, of which the EU's Recovery and Resilience Facility is a prime example. "It's not just about the level of money available."
US presents opportunity
But the stability of the EU's Green Deal, which was announced in 2021 and remains in place, does offer a stark contrast to the US, said Sebastien Treyer, executive director of think-tank the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations. Other speakers also noted the importance of stability and predictability within regulatory frameworks. "You need to have rules to play a good game", Galvez said.
In the US, policy has fluctuated wildly between regimes, with president Donald Trump pausing some funding from the country's Inflation Reduction Act in the first days of his new term. This shift could mean US-based investors in the transition look to the EU for opportunities, said Marcin Korolec, president of the Green Economy Institute. "The federal government is not the whole of America. Many other economic players are still very willing to collaborate," Treyer agreed.
But a lack of urgency from the European Commission could see the EU fail to capitalise on this, Korolec warned. He criticised in particular the bloc's planned competitiveness fund, announced last week, which would be funded under the EU's next budget starting in 2028, towards the end of Trump's term. "Sitting in a chair for three years waiting is absurd," he said.
