Page 9 - MEOG Week 46

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produced in the Gateway could be designated in three ways to allow them to get around various boycotts and restrictions and enable trade with countries that have no formal relations with one party or another. Full implementation of the free trade zone awaits the completion of an access road on the Israeli side.
Natural gas is one area in which relations between the two countries are actually improv- ing, despite internal opposition in Jordan. In 2016, Israel’s Leviathan Consortium and Jor- dan’s National Electric Power Co. (NEPCO) signed a second contract valued at 10bn shekels ($286mn) over 15 years. According to the con- tract, the Leviathan gas field will supply Jordan with 40% of its total energy.
Farmers on both sides have also developed interesting relations with joint conferences on growing crops, pest control, irrigation and more. Good relations exist between the respec- tive farming communities and these are likely to continue to prosper.
These more optimistic developments may well pave the way to advancing co-operation in other areas. If a new government is formed in Israel soon, this strategic interest will certainly be high on its list of priorities, and not just for secu- rity considerations, but also to show the people of Jordan that peace really is worth their while. For that purpose alone, it can only be hoped that the government will do whatever is necessary to expedite these economic initiatives.™
EIB to cease fossil fuel funding
CLImate
ThE European Investment Bank will no longer fund fossil fuel investments after the end of 2021, its board decided on November 15, cutting off financing to a raft of up and coming gas projects in Europe.
The EU bank’s new lending policy, approved with “overwhelming” support, was widely antic- ipated after a joint declaration by EU finance ministers earlier this month calling for an end to oil, gas and coal funding.
“Climate is the top issue on the political agenda of our time,” EIB President Werner hoyer said in a statement. “Today it has decided to make a quantum leap in its ambition. We will stop financing fossil fuels and we will launch the most ambitious climate investment strategy of any public financial institution anywhere.”
The EIB had intended to phase out fossil fuel funding a year earlier.
Its decision follows a recent move by the European Commission to reduce the number of gas-related projects of common interest (PCIs) – priority infrastructure investments that are eligible for fast-tracked regulation and extra EU funding, including from the EIB.
The bank will notably continue with financ- ing plans it has already approved for PCIs, however.
But other investments in the pipeline, includ- ing new gas links between EU member states and LNG import projects, could suffer.
In the past such projects have received broad support from EU financiers, because of their critical role in improving the security and diver- sity of gas supply.
“The EIB’s new financing criteria will make lending to gas projects very difficult,” Wood Mackenzie director Nicholas Browne com- mented in a research note. “In turn this would be a major strategic challenge for companies that have identified gas as the key driver of future growth.”
While environmental organisations cele- brated the bank’s decision, while expressing dis- appointment that it did not come sooner, the gas lobby was strongly critical.
The International Gas Union (IGU), which lobbies national governments to adopt pro-gas policies, said the EIB was undermining efforts to eradicate poverty as well as other UN Sustainable Development Goals.
“Natural gas is an essential component of the global energy mix if there is any hope of meeting the Sustainable Development Goals,” the IGU said in a press release issued on November 18.
“The IGU expresses its strong opposition and concern to the EIB decision,” it continued, “as we believe that prudent policy-making should be based on effective performance objectives and guided by desired outcomes, instead of picking technologies and prematurely choosing winners and losers.”
The EIB also set a new emissions limit for energy projects eligible for financing of 250 grams of carbon dioxide for every 1 kWh of elec- tricity they produce, compared with a previous cap of 550 grams.
This means that gas-fired power generation will need to employ carbon capture technology or switch to biogas to still qualify.™
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