Climate policy integration in electricity market policy during crisis

This paper examines whether and how the 2024 reform of the EU Electricity Market Design (EMD) reflects climate policy integration (CPI) in the context of the European Green Deal (EGD). Launched in 2019, the EGD established climate neutrality by 2050 as a central EU objective, yet initially did not foresee reforms to electricity market regulation. The 2022 energy crisis – triggered by geopolitical tensions leading to rising gas prices – prompted political pressure for reform, leading to the adoption of the EMD reform in 2024. While primarily framed as a response to the crisis, the reform was also positioned as supporting long-term climate goals. Building on literature on CPI, the paper analyses the extent to which climate objectives were integrated into sectoral electricity market regulation. It conducts a qualitative assessment of the legal texts underpinning the reform, identifying specific policy changes and the institutional logics they reflect. The paper contributes to the scholarly discussion on the impact of crisis on policy integration, and advances new empirical insights on CPI in electricity market governance and the implementation of the EGD through sectoral policy reform. Key words: climate policy integration, crisis, electricity market, EU, European Green Deal