See you in court – The European Commission has referred Poland to the EU Court of Justice for allowing energy intensive businesses to be exempt from coal and gas tax. Under Polish legislation and contrary to EU law, certain energy products such as coal and gas, used by energy intensive companies that fall under the EU ETS are exempt from excise duty. The Commission said: “Common EU energy tax rules require businesses that benefit from such exemptions, if they have introduced environmental or energy efficiency improvements, to go beyond what is required by binding EU instruments such as the EU ETS. However, the Polish legislation does not require such a level of energy efficiency. These rules favour highly polluting activities and as such run against EU climate objectives and generate major distortions of competition within the EU.” The decision to refer Poland to the ECJ follows the country’s failure to bring its legislation in line with EU law following the Commission’s “reasoned opinion” which was sent on July 25, 2019. (Energy Live News)

Don’t want to talk about it – Leaked documents show that the US is refusing toinclude any mention of climate change or greenhouse gas emissions in a future trade agreement with the UK, reports BusinessGreen. The documents show the UK “faces some tough choices post-Brexit”. “On one hand, yesterday’s documents suggest the US will refuse to even mention climate change, let alone include climate-related safeguards. At the same time the White House will also push for the UK to accept demonstrably lower environmental standards for imported goods. On the other hand, the EU has made it absolutely clear that any future trade deal with the UK is contingent on continued close alignment on environmental standards and climate goals.”