Julia Poliscanova – Transport & Environment

The year Europe got its industrial strategy into gear

Sam Hargreaves — Tue, 19 Dec 2023 12:49:04 +0000

2023 saw a turbulent start for the electric vehicle industry across Europe. The continent’s flagship 2035 cars law, which sets the entire automotive transformation into gear, was being held hostage by the German Liberals and their oil friends’ demands for credits for synthetic fuels. Elsewhere the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and its generous subsidies were causing an exodus from Europe’s...

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E-fuels cannot save Europe from Chinese electric vehicles

Eoin Bannon — Wed, 11 Oct 2023 09:02:29 +0000

At the International Motor Show (IAA) in Munich last month two things stood out: the number of sleek electric models from Chinese brands, and the European auto executives who had little to offer except to talk up e-fuels. The risk of European carmakers losing ground to Chinese rivals on electric cars is real. Export-driven German brands have already lost in China. And the sales of China-made EVs...

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How the Innovation Fund can supercharge our critical minerals aspirations

Eoin Bannon — Mon, 11 Sep 2023 08:52:45 +0000

The global race for critical minerals is on. Put simply, the green transformation of our energy and transport systems is impossible without metals such as copper, lithium and rare earths. The challenge is at least three-fold: onshore some of the supply, ensure diversity of global supply, and do all this sustainably. This quest has seen a mushrooming of national industrial strategies.

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The Critical Raw Materials Act: EU’s attempt to have quality and speed

Eoin Bannon — Mon, 24 Jul 2023 09:48:23 +0000

Critical metals are top of the global agenda. Both the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) have recently published powerful reports. Metals including copper, nickel and lithium are at the heart of geopolitics, as investments into new mines, as well as concentration concerns, escalate. Europe attempts to catch up with its European Critical Raw...

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Critical Raw Materials Act: a good start, but sharper safeguards and global thinking is missing to make it work

Eoin Bannon — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 06:00:41 +0000

Critical metals is the current buzzword around the world. Energy transition at scale and speed is impossible without more of everything from copper to lithium. China is ahead of Europe. We can have a debate on whether they got there fairly, but we should also recognise our role in letting this happen. China started building a domestic electric car market and investing in batteries early.

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The real cost of Germany blocking the car engine ban

Diane Vitry — Fri, 24 Mar 2023 09:52:15 +0000

Back in 2013, I was a pink-spectacled advisor in the European Parliament working on a law to set the CO2 standard for cars sold from 2020. Pretty much all car sales were combustion, and reaching even a few percent of electric sales was questioned by every major carmaker. After tough negotiations, the agreement to adopt the 95g CO2 per km standard was reached. All parties, including Germany...

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Industrial policy is back, but Europe needs new thinking to secure minerals

Sam Hargreaves — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 16:49:25 +0000

Originally published in Euractiv Industrial policy is back in vogue. After decades of China subsidising its battery and EV industry, now the US Inflation Reduction Act has unleashed an avalanche of subsidies and local content rules. Europe is scrambling to stay in the green tech game. Nowhere is the global race for green tech dominance more obvious than in the competition for critical metals...

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The 2022 clean cars’ naughty or nice list

Sam Hargreaves — Fri, 16 Dec 2022 17:17:11 +0000

Nearly one in four cars sold in France, Germany and the UK by the end of 2022 was battery electric. So, just as Christmas turkey, mulled wine and craft gifts are on everyone’s minds, I’d like to take stock of another bumper year for electric vehicles. What’s Santa’s 2022 naughty or nice list when it comes to clean cars in Europe? The Naughty list Let’s start with what’s on the naughty list.

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Europe is on a mission to secure critical metals. Here are three things it should do

Sam Hargreaves — Mon, 31 Oct 2022 06:00:03 +0000

“Lithium and rare earths will soon be more important than oil and gas,” proclaimed EU Commission president von der Leyen during her recent annual address to the European Parliament. This marks a change for Europe as just months ago its leaders were flying around the world desperately trying to secure oil and gas supplies (they still are). But the twin priority of green and digital transformation...

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How cars can help us undermine Putin’s power

Eoin Bannon — Thu, 17 Mar 2022 10:41:25 +0000

As the gruesome events are unfolding in Ukraine, my heart goes out to all the victims of Putin’s assault. As a half-Russian, I also feel for those Russians who are vehemently opposing the war and bearing great mental hardship for the cruel actions of the Putin regime. Having lived in a western European country for a long time I’m now, like many, asking myself what can I do to help?

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