The energy and climate change package has had several of its proposals substantially weakened by the French EU Presidency, as the dead-line for an agreement looms and negotiations continue to be tense. Trialogue talks took place between 24-26 November, involving the French Presidency, Commission and the European Parliament, with representatives trying to thrash out a deal that is both workable and appealing to all Member States.

Suggestions that have been tabled include free emission rights for coal plants when the emission trading scheme (ETS) come into practise in countries which are dependent on coal-energy for more than 30% of their power supply. This would benefit the majority of EU Member States, with only France, the UK and Ireland set to miss out on free carbon credits under such a deal.

This would clearly satisfy Poland especially, who have been calling for such exemptions, but this has also led to pressure for further concessions on other aspects of the package. Germany has expressed its disappointment at the degree to which Paris has bowed to demands by the Polish delegation, and has therefore called for similar exemptions for its energy-intensive industries. This has led the French to propose a financial compensation mechanism for energy-intensives that face higher electricity costs as a result of ETS as well.

Finally the last big change comes in the effort-sharing directive of CO2 reductions, with a proposal that EU Member States would be able to achieve 70% of their emission reduction targets by investing in clean development projects in the developing world. This would facilitate efforts to reach emission reduction goals for EU countries, since they could offset higher emissions by paying for development of clean technologies in poorer countries, without too much impact on their own energy sectors.

Each of the concessions is likely to anger green groups, as they mark substantial setbacks in achieving a strong and effective EU climate policy. Sanjeev Kumar, WWF’s ETS coordinator in Brussels, commenting on the financial compensation scheme that has been tabled, has warned such an idea would ‘wreck’ the ETS, and would imply a complete rethink of the system.

A further concern of a scaled-down deal would be to damage the EU’s credibility at the upcoming UN climate negotiations in Poznan. The EU has repeatedly spoken of its determination to be a leading player in combating the threat of global warming, however a weak deal could be seen as evidence that Europe is not translating this desire into action. This has led many MEPs to condemn the new proposals and may lead to the European Parliament rejecting a less ambitious compromise, which would mean the package would have to undergo a second reading some time next year.