The option not to penalize emitters could be in effect for between one and three years, one of the people said. The measure has not yet been confirmed, and the Commission may still choose not to adopt it, the second person said.
The exemption would come as part of a wider set of recommendations the Commission is set to unveil in June, intended to help companies “pragmatically enforce” the rules, as POLITICO reported last week.
Those recommendations will ensure the new rules don’t jeopardize supplies, Commission spokesperson Anna-Kaisa Itkonen told reporters last Friday.
Oil and gas companies have asked the Commission to go further, pausing the implementation of the rules until their impact can be properly assessed. Itkonen appeared to put the kibosh on that “stop-the-clock” approach, saying that the EU executive is “not planning to reopen or amend the methane regulation. This would bring more uncertainty at this stage.”
Green campaigners have pushed back on the fossil fuel industry’s criticism of the law, arguing that ensuring compliance with the rules ultimately benefits energy security.