Energy Regulation Round Up, April 2023

The energy regulation round up is a monthly blog produced by the ARC Energy & Industrial Sustainability team. This blog is a resource that provides a brief overview of the most notable global regulations and policies that made major headlines in the past 30 days. The round up is broken up into three main categories The Americas, Europe, and China. The category will include countries on a rotating basis that is in accordance with recent events.

The Americas:

The Biden and Harris Administration are showing no signs of slowing down even after the historic passing of the Inflation Reduction Act, that dedicated almost 400 billion in federal funding to clean energy. In the last month the Biden – Harris administration proposed one of the strongest regulations on vehicle emissions aiming to accelerate the transition to a clean transportation future. The proposed regulations would take effect in 2027 and would regulate light, medium, and heavy-duty vehicles. The EPA projects that the proposed standards would avoid nearly 10 billion tons of Co2 emissions see EPA: Transportation Emissions

The administration also announced an 8.8-million-dollar fund to support local clean energy projects that do not qualify for the larger grants included in the IRA. The DOE expects to make 10-20 awards ranging from 200,000 to $2 million, serving 20-50 communities.

Europe:

Despite where the company may operate, if they want to do business within the EU borders, they will be subjected to sustainability disclosures. The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive will likely require at least 10,000 foreign companies and 50,000 companies within the EU to disclose sustainability finances. The EU parliament also made significant progress on its flagship climate policy package that will include a climate tax, carbon market, and carbon border adjustment mechanism. Germany officially retired its last 3 operating nuclear power plants on April 15th, marking the end of an era. Since 2003, Germany has shut down 16 reactors and increased their renewable energy generation to 46%. Additionally, Germany announced a ban on new oil and gas heating systems which will take effect in 2024.

Asia:

The G7 met this past month and pledged on April 16th to “quit” fossil fuels faster and urged other countries to follow suit but left out any agreed upon deadlines. The Chinese government postponed country wide emission standards until January 2024 to assist the already struggling car dealerships. They also urged automakers to cease the production of vehicles that do not comply with the new stricter emission measures. During last weeks “Major Economies Forum on Climate” talk, Xie Zhenhua Chinese climate envoy formally invited US counterpart, John Kerry to speak for the first time after a few tense months. If they did meet, Kerry said “they would work together on reducing methane emissions, the energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables, and stopping forests from being destroyed”.