By Harry Floudopoulos
Significant changes in our lives are brought by the new climate law that is put directly in public consultation by the Ministry of Environment and Energy, with the aim of submitting it to Parliament in the near future. This is a historic legislative initiative. For the first time, tackling climate change is being transformed into a legislative initiative, said the competent Minister of Environment and Energy, K. Skrekas.
The new law sets national targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Specifically, the goal is to make Greece climate neutral by 2050, while intermediate goals are set for reducing emissions compared to 1990 by 55% by 2030 and by 80% by 2040.
Among the measures introduced by the new law are: the closure of lignite plants, the promotion of electrification by immediate modernization of the taxi fleet, interventions to reduce CO2 emissions from buildings and measures to reduce emissions on non-interconnected islands.
More specifically, the measures included in the new law for the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions concern:
The closure of the lignite plants by 2028 at the latest with the possibility of revising the target in 2023 if the earliest withdrawal is possible based on security of supply.
Apart from the regions, the municipalities are also involved in municipal plans to reduce CO2 emissions every 5 years, which will be a condition for funding.
For buildings, the installation of oil burners where there is a natural gas network is prohibited from 2023, from 2025 the installation of oil burners in new buildings is generally prohibited, while from 2030 the use of oil burners is prohibited. Today, gas connections are estimated at 500,000 out of a total of 4.5 million buildings. The buildings that are currently heated with oil burners and will have to replace their systems by 2030, are estimated at up to 40% of all buildings. According to the minister, in addition to the “Save” program, other financial tools are being studied that will help households to invest in changing their burner and benefit from the reduction of heating costs.
To promote e-mobility from 2023, 1/4 of new registered company cars must be electric or hybrid. From 2025 in Athens and Thessaloniki all new taxis and 1/3 of the new rental vehicles become mandatory. New cars with internal combustion engines will be banned from 2030 and all new vehicles registered will have zero emissions.
In the non-interconnected islands, a target is set to reduce emissions by 80% by banning the use of fuel oil from 2030.
Finally, from 2025 on all new buildings in high vulnerability zones, insurance against climate change risks becomes mandatory. These are the areas where there is a high risk of fires, floods, etc.
Account subsidy
Answering a relevant question, regarding the energy crisis and the possibility of increasing the subsidy for electricity bills, Mr. Skrekas noted that the increase of the subsidy to 39 euros / month covers the increase of the wholesale price up to 220 euros / MWh which is the current price in November. “We are here if we need to see by the end of the year what we will do after January. We are discussing the creation of an automatic mechanism that will calculate depending on the wholesale price and the surplus of the RES account, the increase of the subsidy. We are the only government of the EU that we evaluate and review the subsidy if necessary, noted Mr. Skrekas.
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Source From: Capital
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