The Government of Malaysia has on 15 April 2024 announced that it will establish an Energy Exchange Malaysia (“ENEGEM”) to facilitate cross-border sales of green electricity to neighboring countries, namely Singapore and Thailand. The ENEGEM platform will implement cross-border energy sales based on the latest Guide for Cross-Border Electricity Sales issued by the Energy Commission of Malaysia.
On 15 March 2024, Ministerial Resolution No. 000069-2024-PRODUCE was published, approving the Annual Plan for Environmental Assessment and Control (PLANEFA) for the fisheries subsector and the aquaculture subsector of the Ministry of Production for the year 2025. The PLANEFA is a planning instrument through which each Environmental Audit Entity (EFA) schedules the environmental audit actions to be carried out during the corresponding calendar year. This plan is essential to strengthen coordination between the Peruvian Environmental Assessment and Enforcement Authority (OEFA) and the EFAs in the formulation, execution and evaluation of their respective environmental auditing plans.
The Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) established a new way of calculating the Environmental Control and Inspection Fee (TCFA) and, as of the first quarter of 2024, the economic size to be declared by subsidiaries will be the economic size of the parent company and the subsidiary jointly, considering the annual gross income of the legal entity as a whole for the basis for calculating this fee.
On 13 March 2024, Ministerial Resolution No. 104-2024-MINEM/DM (“Resolution”) was published. It approves the administrative measures that are subject to the prior consultation process in the electricity subsector. This Resolution annuls the regulations contained in Ministerial Resolution No. 209-2015-MEM/DM, only with respect to the electricity subsector.
On 11 March 2024, the Head of Government published Circular n° 03/2024 concerning the implementation of the Moroccan Offer for the development of the green hydrogen sector (“Circular”). The Circular applies to all investors wishing to develop projects integrating the entire value chain of green hydrogen production, including the components of renewable energy, electrolysis production, storage, transport and logistics, whether these projects are intended for import or export.
Excerpt: Vietnam has acknowledged the importance of hydrogen and recently made initial steps in the regulatory formulation for the development of hydrogen. Together with the recently approved national power development master plan (PDP8) and its implementation plan as well as the national overall master plan for energy, on 7 February 2024, the Prime Minister of Vietnam issued Decision No. 165/QD-TTg approving the national strategy for the development of hydrogen to 2030, with a vision to 2045 (“Hydrogen Strategy”). The Hydrogen Strategy lays the preliminary foundation for the development of hydrogen in the upcoming period by officially setting out the viewpoints, goals, directions, and the relevant implementation tasks and measures. Accordingly, this marks a significant step in Vietnam’s transition to green energy, focusing on new and clean energy sources (including hydrogen).
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On 8 December 2023, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) presented its energy storage strategy. The strategy paper provides an overview of the measures and challenges involved in establishing energy storage systems. The energy storage strategy aims to promote the expansion and integration of energy storage systems and thus support the energy transition.
The Department of Climate Change and Environment under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is pushing ahead with the second draft of the Climate Change Bill (“Bill”), which is currently undergoing the process of public hearing until mid-April 2024. It is expected that the Bill will be considered by the cabinet for approval in principle in June 2024.
The Bill lays out Thailand’s action plan for climate actions and, importantly, imposes obligations and penalties for the private sector for the purposes of advancing climate mitigation and adaptation efforts. Some of the key elements of the Bill are summarized in this article.
On 5 February 2024, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Economy Minister Robert Habeck and Finance Minister Christian Lindner agreed on the key elements of a new power plant strategy (Kraftwerksstrategie). While the political agreement must still be followed by a specific legislative proposal, details of the power plant strategy became available through a press release from Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK).