Second high-level impact lunch in Budapest
The Equilibrium Institute held its second high-level impact lunch in the framework of the project on 2 October 2023.
Non-financial reporting workshop in the Czech Republic
Workshop on non-financial reporting took place on January 19, 2023 in Prague
High-level impact lunch in Budapest
Meeting of the Industry Taskforce in Budapest
Green bonds workshop in Budapest
ESG Workshop in Budapest
The Equilibrium Institute held a closed-door workshop on November 29.
EUKI Networking Conference in Prague
We organized the Czech EUKI Community Conference in cooperation with the European Climate Initiative (EUKI). The event brought together implementers of Czech EUKI projects in the exciting times of the Czech presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Prague Workshop on Green Bonds
The International Sustainable Finance Centre (ISFC) held a closed-door workshop on September 22 themed around sustainability and green bonds.
Czech Republic faces a natural gas supply crunch
The 15% consumption cut is likely sufficient this winter. Over the medium term, however, Czech Republic needs to double its currently booked LNG capacity to cover the domestic consumption.
The Industry Doom in Czech Republic: Keen Policy Judgment is Needed
Energy intensive industries are nearing a tipping point. CEE region’s loss of competitiveness might prevail as alternative energy is scarce and there is lower confidence in the efficacy of swift electrification and green transition of the energy sector at scale.
Chemical Industry Will Go Bust. Where will the Emissions Go?
Soaring gas and carbon prices are painful for the chemical sector. The crisis may turn the EU's attention to chemical sectors’ complexity that the Taxonomy regulation could not fully appreciate and ESG reporting frameworks too have likely fallen short of reckoning. Planning for gas rationing might help to better model the chemicals value chains which indirectly can help efforts to derive better policies for decarbonisation.
The Polish Industry Can't Ignore Sustainable Finance Trends
Polish cement, steel and chemical companies can't afford to stay unfazed by their environmental footprint. Information capture is essential in the short run to secure finance.
Czech Republic needs an abundance of renewable energy
ISFC’s Head of Industry Decarbonisation workstream, Karel Voldřich, joined Štepán Chalupa, chair of the Chamber of Renewable Energy Sources to discuss sustainable transition in industry at CNN Prima NEWS programme.
EU Funds for Decarbonization in Hungary
Industry decarbonization is not featured in the Hungarian plans for the Resiliency and Recovery Facility. But amid fiscal consolidation, Hungary needs to lean into EU transfers more than ever. We see that the supply crisis lends itself to a major policy recalibration. The most recent retreat on the generous utility subsidies is a welcome step to alleviate the fiscal stress and will increase economic efficiency. But it is also time to anchor expectations for the long-term policy path and address the shortcomings of the climate strategy planning.
The Coal Come-Back
Woes over energy security prompted Central Europe to turn back to coal and lignite. Hungary just joined the coal club in Central Europe. Their announcement comes on the heels of the Poland’s plans to stick to coal well beyond 2049 foreshadowing a not-so-short term return to coal. What's all the more alarming is that the short-term gas scarcity and input price increases can put a dent in the decarbonization financing of the industries and threatens to chip away at the paltry gains in emission reductions.
There is a Risk of Industry Relocating
Karel Voldřich, Head of Industry Decarbonisation of the International Sustainable Finance Centre talked with Echo24 about decarbonization of hard to abate industries.
CEE Sustainable Finance Summit: Key Takeaways for Industries
Our short takeaways from the panel dedicated to Industry Decarbonisation at the CEE Sustainable Finance Summit
Decarbonizing Industries Requires a Policy Reframing Approach
Has the moment of reckoning finally reached the energy-intensive industries?
The climate agenda in the EU gained traction in recent years but the overall picture is far from rosy. From the policy improvements perspective, the conflicting issues between climate and industry strategies need to be resolved.
What's So Hard About Emission Abatement? It's the Incentives
Heavy industries’ emissions are deemed hard to abate. Not only are they energy intensive but steel, cement and chemical production also bring hefty carbon emissions from the processes used. The broad consensus related to the hard-to-abate sectors is that their decarbonization requires both demand and supply forces. We need significant demand reductions as well as material efficiency, recycling efforts and deployment of new technologies at the supply side.
Pursuing RePowerEU
In March, the European Commission announced unprecedented actions to double down on the EU’s decoupling from Russian gas imports.
