State aid CEEAG revision - NGO letter on fossil fuels

A letter from a coalition of climate, environmental, and health NGOs to the European Commission urging the alignment of the draft Climate, Energy and Environment State Aid Guidelines (CEEAG) with the European Green Deal and the Paris Agreement.

• The NGOs argue that the draft CEEAG lacks a definitive deadline for coal plant closures, which could allow state aid to act as a lifeline for stranded assets. They propose that any state aid for profitable coal, oil shale, or peat operations should be contingent on full and definitive closure by 2030 at the latest, supported by independent expert closure plans.
• The coalition calls for a transparent, independent asset valuation methodology to assess the profitability of plants seeking compensation. They highlight that many European coal plants are already unprofitable and suggest that the methodology must internalize environmental and health externalities, which the IMF describes as 'implicit subsidies'.
• The NGOs request that the Commission make the rigorous application of Union environmental standards a precondition for accessing closure aid. They suggest that Member States should be required to end aid measures by the end of 2023 for activities that breach environmental law obligations or fail to meet Union Standards.
• The letter criticizes the draft CEEAG for treating fossil gas more favorably than other polluting fuels despite evidence of high methane leakage and an oversized gas infrastructure network. The authors state that state aid should instead incentivize a rapid end to fossil gas use to align with the 1.5°C global temperature limit.

APA

Ember (2021). State aid CEEAG revision - NGO letter on fossil fuels. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2024/11/NGOs_CEEAG-letter-to-the-Commission-FINALF.pdf

Chicago

Ember. State aid CEEAG revision - NGO letter on fossil fuels. 2021. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2024/11/NGOs_CEEAG-letter-to-the-Commission-FINALF.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Ember |title=State aid CEEAG revision - NGO letter on fossil fuels |date=7 October 2021 |url=https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2024/11/NGOs_CEEAG-letter-to-the-Commission-FINALF.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{ember2021state, author = {{Ember}}, title = {{State aid CEEAG revision - NGO letter on fossil fuels}}, publisher = {Ember}, year = {2021}, month = oct, url = {https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2024/11/NGOs_CEEAG-letter-to-the-Commission-FINALF.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }