On 11 September DG CLIMA invited Member States to review a draft ‘template for Annual Reporting’ that it had prepared. This is the report that, on 31 Dec of each year up to and including the year of (or following? – unclear) a project’s long-stop date, should describe the progress of the NER300 project concerned. It is distinct from the report that must be supplied to comply with NER300’s knowledge-sharing obligations. The Member States have until tomorrow to feed back comments to the EC. As the report will largely be compiled from information supplied by the Project Sponsor, some Member States have chosen to involve their Project Sponsors in the EC’s consultation.

NER300.com’s suggestions, embedded in the draft prepared by DG CLIMA, are downloadable here.

The EC will expect all Member States to follow the template in their Annual Reports once it has been agreed.

MEPs voted in the European Parliament on 11 September to proceed to a Second Reading on the revision of the RES-Directive to increase the greenhouse-gas savings from biofuels. One consequence of this will be to push back the date when discussions will reach a conclusion. Corinne Lepage, the MEP leading the EP’s discussions, said in a press conference following the vote that she did “not have too high hopes” (English interpretation) of a conclusion being reached before the EP elections in May 2014.

1. NER300.com’s commentary:

   Uncertainty over the future regulatory regime for biofuels could put some biofuel projects in NER300 at risk by causing them to delay signing their Legally Binding Instrument and making their Final Investment Decision. Under NER300 rules, projects must make a FID in by 18 December 2014.