The one-stop source for daily energy and climate news. — EU members meet today to decide how to respond to U.S. pressure on diesel, after five of Europe's biggest countries met yesterday and promised a united front. — Governments are waking up to the threat of vital Atlantic ocean currents collapsing, a process that would wreak havoc on Europe's climate. — The reform of the Emissions Trading System divides the European Parliament, with the center left warning the center-right approach to the revision isn't in line with climate targets. Good morning and happy Friday. The EU’s self-styled “climate bank,” a.k.a. the European Investment Bank, has been accused of getting a little too cosy with Big Energy as it weighs whether to pour public money into Europe’s booming AI data center industry, our colleague Mari Eccles reports in her Influence newsletter.
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You can also go online to export and plan your week or suggest your own event. EUROPE MUSTERS DIESEL COUNTEROFFENSIVE: EU countries will meet today to discuss a joint response to the growing U.S. pressure on Europe to release fuel stocks or face a ban on exports of U.S. diesel, a spokesperson for the Commission said Thursday. Heavy hitters: It comes after a group of five of the biggest European countries agreed to mount a coordinated response to the threat at the International Energy Agency to defuse the transatlantic tensions, three European officials told Morning Energy and Climate.
Panic in the group chat: France, Italy, Germany, Ireland, and the U.K. all attended the emergency talks after Washington directly pressured all of them, according to the people cited above. At least one other major European country was also pressured, one of the people said. The European Commission also attended Thursday's meeting.
A third of diesel stocks: POLITICO reported earlier that U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright was asking for oil releases as an alternative to imposing a ban on U.S. exports of diesel, on which the EU is heavily dependent. The requested release of 120 million barrels of diesel over six months would account for well over a third of the EU's total reserves of the essential transport fuel. 'Assertive' response: Together, the countries decided on three things, according to two of the people familiar with the matter: To react to the pressure with a "coordinated voice," to make sure that "every decision about releasing stocks should be elevated to the IEA [International Energy Agency] level," and to formulate an "assertive" response while seeking to "decrease the tension when speaking to the U.S." Talk to the manager: It's a sign that European countries are keen not to give in to any attempts by the U.S. to divide and conquer with bilateral pressure campaigns, and to insist on formal channels of communication instead of diplomatic workarounds.
Not proper: An idea of the sort of argument that countries might muster in response to the pressure from Wright emerged from conversations with a smattering of other national energy officials, who told us that they were reluctant to accede to the EU's request on the grounds that IEA releases are supposed to be reserved for supply disruptions rather than price hikes. It's a fair point — but might not appeal to an administration hellbent on pushing down diesel costs, at any price. Diesel-geddon: Wondering how a U.S. diesel export ban would affect daily life this side of the Atlantic?
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