This report documents work completed for the Directorate-General for Energy (DG ENER) of the European Commission (EC) on energy subsidies and other government interventions in the EU. The work was done by a two-member consortium: Enerdata, the project lead, and Trinomics. It is the latest in a series of DG ENER studies going back to…
Trinomics, in collaboration with lead partner ADE and with CLIMACT, is proud to share the publication on the evaluation of Belgian international climate finance. The report is the result of a year-long study across Belgium and two of its partner countries for development cooperation: Senegal and Tanzania. It explains how Belgium is tackling the global…
This is the question that Trinomics and our partners aimed to answer through the recently finished ESPON EU-TITAN project (“European Territorial Impacts Tackled by improved economic Appraisal of Natural Disasters”). Using innovative methodologies, the project analysed the distribution and territorial patterns of the impacts of four natural hazards that often occur in Europe, namely river floods, storms, droughts, and earthquakes. Trinomics’ work specifically focused on…
The European Commission (EC) has published a new policy proposal to remove chargers (external power supplies) from the box of new mobile phones. The proposal followed the publication in September 2021 of an Impact Assessment study carried out by Trinomics and IPSOS. The project is a follow-up to the Impact Assessment Study on Common Chargers…
How does and can the Dutch international cooperation and trade programs contribute to the shift to circular economy? In the Dutch policy context, there are large ambitions when it comes to circular economy – the country aims to be 50% circular in 2030 and fully circular in 2050. Lately, circular economy also became a hot…
The European Commission launched a project to support the innovation analysis required for the European energy transition. In an effort to achieve net carbon neutrality by 2050, Europe needs to undergo major transformations in the energy system, increase the energy efficiency and also the share of renewables in energy supply. These changes will require innovations in existing energy technologies, introduction of new ones as well as the development of energy infrastructure for conventional and…
What is the role of solid biomass in the future development of electricity and heating in Europe? The main aim of this study was to provide an overview of the planned use of forest biomass for heating and cooling and electricity generating purposes, as described in the National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) of 24…
What are the main environmental impacts of the Association Agreement between the EU and its Member States and Central America? The evaluation study will support the European Commission – DG Trade in developing an ex-post evaluation of the implementation of the Association Agreement Trade Pillar (EU-CA TP) between the EU and its Member states and…
Should the Flemish government support biomethane production? The project aims to estimate the technical and economic potential for increased biomethane production and to evaluate whether or not it makes sense to stimulate this production. Key insights of the study will include the potential assessment, the comparison of different options for utilising biogas (including converting to…
What are the impacts of the Flemish Coalition Agreement on fuel oil heating? The Flemish coalition agreement for 2019-2024 includes provisions to phase out fuel oil heating in buildings. From 2021 restrictions are put in place on installing new fuel oil installations and performing maintenance on existing installations. The study aims to estimate the impacts…
Which policy options should the EU apply to mitigate carbon leakage impacts of higher emission reduction targets? The European Green Deal has led to an increase in the climate ambition of the EU to a 55% emissions reduction by 2030, this has implications for EU climate policies including the EU Emission Trading System (EU ETS).…
Was the Risk Sharing Finance Facility successful? The project concerns an ex-post evaluation which aims to assess the overall implementation and impact of the Risk Sharing Finance Facility (RSFF), examining its implementation and the results achieved compared with the Facility’s objectives. The ex-post evaluation is to cover the period from the launch of the RSFF…
Updating Spain’s modelling capacity to support the energy transition The study aims to assist the Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) and other public stakeholders to improve the main modelling tool for the Spanish Climate and Energy Strategies and Plans, TIMES-SINERGIA, as well as to develop a detailed model of…
The Energy and Climate Governance Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 requires the European Commission (EC) to assess whether the national long-term strategies are adequate for the collective achievement of the objectives and targets of the Energy Union and the long-term Union greenhouse gas (GHG) commitments consistent with the Paris Agreement. It also requires the European Commission to…
Evaluation of Belgian international climate finance The Federal Government of Belgium, along with other countries listed in Annex II to the 1992 United Nations (UN) Climate Convention, committed to financially support developing countries in their climate actions. Countries’ current contributions to emissions reduction beyond 2020 are not consistent with the Paris temperature goal and need…
How can policy ensure that only sustainable products are sold in the EU? The European Green Deal includes a Circular Economy Action plan (published in March 2020), of which a core component is a revised and ambitious product policy, aiming at increasing the sustainability of the products placed on the Internal Market. The project supports…
How has the NFRD been implemented to date? The Non-Financial Reporting Directive (Directive 2014/95/EU) was adopted in 2014. Companies under the scope of the Directive had to report for the first time according to its provisions in 2018, covering financial year 2017. The NFRD amended the Accounting Directive (Directive 2013/34/EU). It aims to improve the…
Assessing the potential carbon leakage risk under EU ETS Phase 3 and 4 Carbon leakage can be defined as a ‘situation that may occur if, for reasons of costs related to climate policies, businesses were to transfer production to other countries with laxer emission constraints – consequently, this could result in an increase in their…
Assessing the Dutch public contribution to the healthy oceans debate The Netherlands has a long and rich history of working with the marine environment. The ocean and sea have been closely linked to economic prosperity, food security and cultural identity since the settlement of the low-lying deltas that would become the Netherlands. Trade, a cornerstone…
How will EIB track and monitor its ambition for CA&ES finance by 2025? The European Investment Bank (EIB)’s funding and lending practice could be a bellwether for sustainable investments. By acting as an interface between the dimensions of policymaking, project evaluation and technical assessment, the EIB is also helping the capital market to identify sustainable…
How will EIB track and monitor its ambition for CA&ES finance by 2025? The European Investment Bank (EIB)’s funding and lending practice could be a bellwether for sustainable investments. By acting as an interface between the dimensions of policymaking, project evaluation and technical assessment, the EIB is also helping the capital market to identify sustainable…
How can the ICT sector contribute to delivering on climate action? With €125 billion invested globally in Climate Action (Mitigation and Adaptation) over 2012-2018, the EIB is the largest multi-lateral provider of finance in support of Climate Action worldwide and the Bank remains a major player in terms of both the volume and proportion of…
How will the EU and its Member States report on support provided to developing countries? The European Commissions’ 2015 Communication on a Framework Strategy for a Resilient Energy Union with a forward-looking Climate Change policy outlined that the Energy Union needs an integrated monitoring and reporting process to make sure energy and climate-related actions at…
How is the Sewage Sludge Directive performing and what is the future of sludge use in Europe? Sewage sludge is rich in nutrients and therefore is used in agriculture as a fertiliser and organic soil improver. However, since sludge originates from the treatment of wastewater, it also tends to concentrate heavy metals, poorly biodegradable trace…
Is the Market Stability Reserve fit to protect the EU Emission Trading System from shocks and to put upward pressure on emission allowance prices? This project will review the performance of the Market Stability Reserve (MSR) since January 2019, from when it began its operations to stabilize emission allowance prices in the EU Emission Trading…
How would an EU-wide green label for renewables work? The main objective of this study is to provide a technical and economic analysis for a Union-wide green label with a view to promoting the use of renewable energy coming from new installations. This analysis will be used by the European Commission to elaborate the report…
What are the technical, legal and political issues related to the decommissioning of offshore oil and gas platforms, and how could these be addressed at EU level? Planning for decommissioning and dismantlement of offshore oil and gas production infrastructure presents significant engineering, safety, environmental, societal and economic challenges to organisations with assets entering their end…
How to develop an integrated area management approach for the Netherlands? Urbanisation, sustainability, and climate adaptation are major intertwined challenges that the Netherlands faces today. The pressure on the physical living environment in the Netherlands is so great that conflicting interests can often not be resolved separately. Therefore, employing an integrated approach in natural area…
How to decarbonise Sweden’s energy intensive industry, in a socially just manner Sweden has high ambitions regarding the transition to a fossil free society. In 2020, the Swedish government published the National Energy and Climate Plan which sets out priority climate and energy policies up to 2045, including energy and carbon taxes, renewable energies initiatives…
Would excluding chargers from new devices really help the environment? And what would the other impacts be on consumers and industry? The evaluation study will support the European Commission – DG GROW to assess the economic and environmental impacts deriving from the unbundling of chargers from mobile phones and other portable devices. The outcomes of…
How can carbon border adjustment mechanisms support increased climate ambitions in the EU? In this study we analyse the impacts of a possible EU carbon border adjustment to discover how they may influence the outlook of the energy system in Europe. While these dynamics impact the entire global economy, the question for the energy system…
Trinomics is pleased to announce that it is now an official member of the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN). “The CTCN is the operational arm of the UNFCCC Technology Mechanism, hosted by the UN Environment Programme and the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)”. It aims at promoting the rapid uptake and transfer of environmentally sound technologies in the fields of climate…
Scaling up viable water sector investment opportunities in Kenya The Kenya Innovative Finance Facility for Water (KIFFWA) is a co-developer of water initiatives in Kenya. It provides early stage capital, finance and engineering expertise to support the creation of viable water investment opportunities and attract (private) providers of finance. A growth in the investments in…
Supporting M&E activities for CIFF’s core funding to ECF ECF was established in 2008 as a major philanthropic initiative to help Europe foster the development of a low-carbon society and play an even stronger international leadership role to mitigate climate change. The foundation works through several sectoral, cross-cutting and regional initiatives and collaborates with a…
Which European sectors are deemed to be exposed to Carbon Leakage under the EU ETS? Trinomics led this project on one of the most influential components of the EU’s Emission Trading System (ETS): The Carbon Leakage List (CLL). Carbon Leakage occurs if companies transfer their production from inside EU countries towards regions with less strict…
How can the air quality monitoring, modelling and plans be further strengthened? The aim of this project is to support the European Commission in the process to strengthen air quality monitoring, modelling and plans. It will do so in particular by further mapping and analysing established practice across Member States, as well as by assessing…
Budget and Staffing for the Cooperation of European Regulators ACER, the Agency for the Cooperation of European Regulators, has suffered for several years of substantial shortages of financial and human resources. It is challenging for ACER to deal with these shortages, and the Agency has had to deprioritise several activities. This is because of a…
With the adoption of the European Green Deal in December 2019, climate change and environmental challenges are now at the top of the EU political agenda. The main objective of the European Green Deal is reaching a climate neutral Europe (that is, net-zero greenhouse gas emissions (GHG)) by 2050. In order to set the EU…
The European Commission (EC) is expected to adopt a common charger solution at EU-level in 2021. In preparation for the new initiative, Trinomics will support DG GROW to assess the economic and environmental impacts deriving from the unbundling of chargers from mobile phones and other portable devices (decoupling). The project is a follow-up to the Impact Assessment Study on Common Chargers of Portable Devices that Trinomics carried out in…
In line with the Commissions establishment of the Just Transition Fund, all Member States must prepare one or more territorial just transition plans for 2030. These must be consistent with the National Energy and Climate Plans, and the objective of a climate neutral economy. Support from this fund will be provided based on these Just…
The Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking, in consultation with European Commission – DG Energy, published a study on the Opportunities for Hydrogen Energy Technologies Considering the National Energy & Climate Plans, prepared by Trinomics together with LBST. The study focuses on the potential and opportunities of renewable hydrogen, produced by electrolysers using renewable electricity…
How to incentivise the usage of wood in construction as a carbon sink – while ensuring that its harvest is sustainable? Using wood timber or engineered wood as construction materials can lead to a double benefit in terms of climate change mitigation: it avoids the intense GHG emissions related to the production of concrete, steel…
The EU Taxonomy: was it usable for stakeholders? The challenge of achieving global sustainable development is also an investment challenge – enormous investments will be needed in the upcoming decades to provide solutions to key climate pressures. To achieve the volumes required, the share of investments going into sustainable activities will need to shift upwards…
Does the EU policy on forest products and deforestation have it’s effect? Global forests continue to be threatened by deforestation and forest degradation, despite the integral role they play in supporting a healthy and prosperous planet. This trend must be reversed but it has become evident that the current international, regional and national policies have…
How can ecosystems be effectively restored throughout Europe? Maintaining functional, healthy ecosystems is imperative for the conservation of biodiversity and the essential ecosystem services that humans depend on. However, throughout Europe the status of many ecosystems have continued to degrade due to anthropogenic drivers and stressors. To tackle this, several policies in Europe have aimed…
Should we regulate hydrogen infrastructure and markets, and how? The main objective of this study is to develop and assess options for a regulatory framework for dedicated hydrogen infrastructure (with a focus on networks) and for a hydrogen market design at the EU level. Starting from diverse pathways for the development hydrogen infrastructures and renewable…
What have been the main environmental impacts of the Trade Agreement between the EU and its Member States and Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador? The evaluation study will support the European Commission – DG Trade in developing an ex-post evaluation of the implementation of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the EU and its Member states…
How can we improve climate finance tracking methodologies in order to support countries in their NDC implementation? According to a range of studies, the financial sums involved in a rapid shift to a low-emission, climate resilient economy are considerable but not impossible to achieve. However, the fundamental problem is not just capital generation. Rather, the…
How will the Circular Economy affect European workers and employers? “The European cross-sectoral social partners (i.e. the European Trade Union Confederation – ETUC on the workers’ side, BusinessEurope, SMEUnited and the European Centre of Employers and Enterprises providing Public Services – CEEP on the employers’ side) have identified Circular Economy as a major development affecting…
How can the public sector in Ireland reach its energy efficiency targets for 2030? The Irish National Climate Action Plan provides an ambitious framework and targets for Ireland to respond to the Climate and Energy Transition agendas. In this Plan, the Public Sector has been identified as having to lead by example with specific targets…
How can countries track their progress on clean-energy innovation? The objective of this study is to develop an indicator-based framework aimed at tracking the evolution of clean-energy innovation performance based on a limited set of output indicators, namely patents, trade and publications. The project objective is to define a set of indicators and to extract,…
Trinomics is now accepting applications for several Senior Consultant roles: An experienced Senior Consultant – Climate Mitigation full-time) to join our EU climate policy team in Rotterdam (NL) or Brussels (BE). The successful applicant will support the cluster manager in further expanding Trinomics’ project portfolio in European and international policy development and assessments in the…
How high can recycling targets fly? In light of increasing recycling targets and the drive for a more circular economy in Europe, the aim of the contract was to identify and assess the limits to the recycling of selected waste streams in Europe. The waste streams were Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), Waste from Electrical and…
How do Member State climate ambitions contribute to the EU 2050 objectives? The Energy and Climate Governance Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 requires the European Commission (EC) to assess whether the national long-term strategies are adequate for the collective achievement of the objectives and targets of the Energy Union and the long-term Union greenhouse gas (GHG) commitments…
Supporting the EU to create a network and tools to grow Industrial Symbiosis Earlier work by Trinomics et al established that whilst there are a number of active initiatives on Industrial symbiosis (IS) across the EU, particularly in some industry sectors (e.g. cement), there remains significant untapped market potential (http://trinomics.eu/project/industrial-symbiosis/). There are multiple reasons for…
Efforts of the Netherlands to scale-up international biodiversity finance The world is witnessing a steady loss of biodiversity, which has profound consequences for human well-being. This is the main conclusion of the Global Assessment of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services (IPBES), which was released in May 2019. The IPBES-report concludes that developing…
How much private finance was mobilised by Dutch public interventions for development aid and climate in 2019? For the fourth year in a row, Trinomics has supported the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Netherlands by analysing and reporting on private climate finance that has been mobilised by the Netherlands. In addition, Trinomics also ran…
What is an appropriate rate of return for renewable energy investors? The Flemish government stimulates investments in sustainable energy generation (renewables and CHP) through portfolio standards and certificates. For estimating the number of certificates for each technology an assumption on the minimum required internal rate of return (IRR) is needed. In this study, we evaluated…
The “study on energy storage – contribution to the security of the electricity supply in Europe” developed for the European Commission – DG Energy can now be downloaded. The project aimed to assess the role of the different energy storage technologies in the decarbonisation of the EU electricity system, to evaluate their contribution to…
Trinomics, together with Ricardo and Tyrsky Consulting, is supporting the European Commission in analysing and presenting the results of two open public consultations that are integral part of the European Green Deal. We invite all citizens and interested stakeholders to share their views on the European Climate Pact and on the 2030 Climate Plan! The consultations are open until 27 May 2020 and 23 June…
