1 February 2018
It’s time for more transparency in the EU’s climate and energy planning and modelling
Dear President Juncker,
cc. First Vice-President Frans Timmermans,
Our organisations represent a broad spectrum of interests in the sustainable transition of the EU’s energy system. We have a common concern about the level of transparency and public participation in the development of pathways that are coherent with the long-term temperature goals of the Paris Agreement. In fact, stakeholder engagement in discussing the foundations, deciding on the modelling parameters and approaches for assessing the impacts of different pathways is crucial to ensure the right choices are made.
Expectations are high that the EU will set out what the Paris Agreement means for the future of its climate and energy policies, and that it will be a global leader. As the Commission enters a new round of assessment and modelling, we call on you to put in place a robust stakeholder process, which allows participation – starting at the inception phase and continuing throughout the process -, ensures dialogue and fosters ownership. Developing future pathways which are compliant with the Paris Agreement will be complex, particularly given the short timeframe to COP24 in December 2018. We believe that stakeholder participation will be helpful in tackling this challenge. We support the current Commission to publish these pathways before the end of its mandate, which seems feasible as preparations for climate and energy scenarios are ongoing and decisions on modelling assumptions and scope and the design of scenarios are being prepared.
Meaningful stakeholder participation requires continuous input, dialogue and feedback already during this design phase. Discussions between technical experts, legislators and stakeholders will help in the effective exchange of knowledge and robust data, whilst increased transparency will improve the legitimacy of future plans, and will therefore facilitate their implementation.
Involving stakeholders in this process represents an opportunity for harnessing the knowledge of a broad spectrum of actors and prepares for a stronger and more consensus-based 2050 Roadmap.
We call on you to ensure that there is a structured stakeholder dialogue on this issue and are looking forward to actively participating in the process.
