Climate and Energy Policy Revisions in Europe

Abstract

Extensive revisions of EU climate and energy policy is going on. In this panel we invite papers that address whether and to what extent the Paris agreement has influenced such EU revisions. We also invite papers that aim to understand how policy development at the global and European level affect national climate and energy policies in different or similar ways. The panel has a key focus on renewables policies, as decarbonising the power sector via increasing shares of renewables plays a key role for countries in delivering on commitments to the Paris agreement. Renewable energy deployment is also at the core of ongoing revisions of EU climate and energy policies. Since sustainability was introduced as one key element in the energy trilemma (including also efficiency and security) support for renewables has been considered important for achieving sustainability targets. Yet in many countries and at the EU level there are continuous disputes about how to support renewable energy and to what extent. There are for example a long history of disputes between the European Commission and certain Member States about whether certain types of mechanisms that offer long-term contracts to renewable energy producers without competition constitute illegal state aid. This makes it relevant to study how renewable energy support schemes have developed in different European countries and to understand the role of the European Union in influencing national renewable electricity policies.