A coalition of UK and EU organisations has written to Theresa May and EU president Jean-Claude Juncker to plead for a comprehensive joint plan to work together on energy and climate after Brexit.
The organisations want the EU and UK to include an energy and climate chapter in a Brexit agreement that will “demonstrate international leadership”. They say cooperation will “catalyse increased ambitions from other countries” on decarbonisation.
The organisations, which include EnergyUK, the Electricity Association of Ireland, the British Ireland Chamber of Commerce, Unilever and EDF, say that among the priorities for the agreement should be:
- No tariffs on energy trading, efficient trading arrangements across interconnectors and cooperation to develop markets for shared balancing services. They say ”any imposition of tariff or non-tariff barriers to the flows of energy across interconnectors would increase the cost of the low carbon transition and set back action on climate change.”
- Co-investment in clean energy infrastructure and R&D projects of common interest such as the North Sea Offshore Grid, Horizon Europe and successor R&D programmes. Brexit will create an investment hiatus, they warn, and they call on the UK Government to develop additional mechanisms for delivering financial support to clean energy projects to fill the gap left by EU funding.
- Continued UK participation in the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) until at least the end of phase IV.
The organisations also warn that the Irish Single Electricity Market (SEM), one of the many benefits that resulted from the Good Friday Agreement, “would face a possibly existential risk if cross-border electricity tariffs were applied”.
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