FLF, Alm.del - 2013-14 - Endeligt svar på spørgsmål 186: Spm. om, hvilke regler ansøgningen om kompensation for PSO til gartnerierhvervet behandles efter, til klima-, energi- og bygningsministeren

Memo on the problems of applying the carbon leakage criteria in the guidelines on environmentaland energy aid for 2014-2020 and policy proposals for suitable amendments to the Commission’sdraft guidelinesThe European Commission’s draft for Environmental and Energy Aid Guidelines for 2014-2020 intro-duces the possibility of granting partial compensation for the additional costs incurred by the fundingsupport for electricity from renewable sources.EU Member States have chosen different paths to finance the expansion of renewable energy (RE).Accordingly, some Member States finance the expansion of RE from the fiscal budget. In these Mem-ber States, electricity intensive enterprises do not contribute directly to the expansion of RE as op-posed to electricity intensive enterprises in countries, where the expansion is financed by a fee orthrough green certificates. To maintain a level playing field it is therefore necessary for the latterMember States to be able to compensate electricity intensive enterprises for the added productioncosts, resulting from the fees.Consequently, in the latter countries, electricity intensive enterprises, such as the industrial green-houses, are already put at a disadvantage compared to other enterprises in the same sector but inother countries with different funding systems. With the Commission’s strict selection criteria (article184), using the carbon leakage criteria, these electricity intensive enterprises are further put at adisadvantage in countries, where the renewable energy expansion is financed by fees. Thus, veryfew enterprises are able to fulfill the criteria.Using the strict carbon leakage criteria as a sole criterion means distorting competition betweenMember States.Whilst the carbon leakage criterion might be an appropriate criterion to use in rela-tion to regulations at the EU level – such as the ETS – it is not suitable as a sole criterion and shouldnot stand alone in relation to national schemes. This means that the Commission’s current draft givesde facto preferential treatment to electricity intensive enterprises in Member States, where the ex-pansion of RE is financed over the fiscal budget at the detriment of enterprises based in MemberStates where the expansion is financed by fees. This cannot be in the interest of the Commission northe EU at large;the European common market should provide the framework for competition onequal terms.Accordingly,it should be possible to partially compensate enterprises if Member States can demon-strate that the additional costs reflected in higher electricity prices faced by the beneficiaries only re-sult from the support to energy from renewable sources. In this way, enterprises will compete onequal terms and put the different financing schemes on an equal footing.

Policy proposalsDenmark proposes to amend the Commission’s draft guidelines in the following ways:- It is recognized that there are considerations to be made with regard to enterprises subjectto carbon leakage, and therefore particularly sensitive to high energy taxes and high PSO-payments. Existing guidelines for certain state aid measures under the scheme for tradinggreenhouse gas emissions after 20121allow Member States to aid this type of enterprises. Itis recognized that such enterprises should be eligible for partial compensation for the higherproduction costs.-In order to take into consideration the enterprises that face tough competition in Europe on-ly because of the way the financing system for RES has been designed, it is proposed to in-troduce a second criterion for these enterprises.For such enterprises, in order to make sure, that the choice of beneficiaries is made on thebasis of objective and transparent criteria and that the aid is granted in principle in the sameway for all competitors in the same sector or relevant market, an electricity intensity criteri-on is suitable.2It is proposed that aid in the form of reductions in funding support for elec-tricity from renewable sources should be allowed if the enterprise is electricity-intensive. An“electricity-intensive enterprise” shall mean a business entity, where more than [1.500]MWh is utilised per [1 million] euro value added or where the electricity is utilised for elec-tricity intensive processes such as mineralogical and metallurgical processes, electrolysis andchemical reduction and where "value added" shall mean the total turnover liable to VAT in-cluding export sales minus the total purchases liable to VAT including imports.3In order to ensure that the aid has an environmental effect, any aid to electricity intensiveenterprises which fulfil the electricity intensity-criterion, should be conditional on the con-clusion of agreements between the Member State and the beneficiary or associations ofbeneficiaries to achieve at least the same level of environmental protection as would havebeen achieved by paying the full PSO-costs. Alternatively, the Member State should be al-lowed to choose whether to make reductions in funding support for electricity from renewa-ble sources conditional on the conclusion of agreements.

The Commission and the Member States are already accustomed to this element, as it is already in-cluded in the Energy Taxation Directive (2003/96/EC) and in the Commission’s existing Guidelines onState Aid for Environmental Protection and the Commission’s draft guidelines’ section on non-harmonised environmental taxes. This rationale is along the same lines as the existing communityguidelines on state aid for environmental protection section 1.5.12, article 57, which say that- “aid may be necessary to target negative externalities indirectly by facilitating the introduc-tion or maintenance of relatively high national environmental taxation” and- “the necessity will depend on the extent to which the national tax impacts on productioncosts as well as on the possibility to pass on the tax to consumers and reduce profit margins.”- “Proportionality will depend on the extent to which the beneficiaries can further reduce theirconsumption or emission, pay a part of the national tax or enter into environmental agree-ments to reduce pollution.”4Similar wording is to be found in the Commissions draft Guidelines on environmental and energy aidfor 2014-2020.1