Energy Politics in Europe and Beyond

The ongoing merger of climate and energy policies has broadened the energy agenda, strengthened the power of the Commission over national energy policies, and pushed the decision-makers towards greater interaction with the public: be it in the form of addressing climate skepticism or through steering the processes of decentralization and democratization of energy supply. Taking this development as a point of departure, the Section addresses general issues such as: the interplay between integration and fragmentation in the European energy politics, trade-offs and synergies between energy policy goals, or legitimacy and acceptance of disruptive policy and technological innovations. The Section has seven confirmed Panel proposals listed below. All the Panels will accept Paper proposals and depending on Panel slot allocations there will also be room for additional Panels in the Section. Potential contributors are encouraged to emphasize diversity in theoretical and analytical approaches and levels of analysis. Confirmed Panels: (1) From the Energy Union to the Green Deal for Europe: The European Commission as an entrepreneur of EU energy policy Philipp Thaler (University of St. Gallen), Aron Buzogany (FU Berlin) Following the Energy Union initiative of the Juncker Commission, Ursula von der Leyen’s announcement of a Green Deal for Europe once again brings energy policy in the center of European integration. This supranational policy entrepreneurship is somewhat surprising. Just a few years ago, various crises in the EU had vividly demonstrated the limits of supranational integration and heralded a resurgence of intergovernmentalism. Against this background and given the timeliness of the topic, energy policy offers interesting insights into dynamics of European integration in the 21st century. (2) Just transitions: Trade-offs and synergies between social and environmental sustainability Tim Rayner (University of East Anglia) The concept of ‘just transition’ is now a well-established one. It speaks to the need to attend to equity and justice as essential considerations in the process of decarbonisation. But defining its more precise meaning, and the extent to which it can be operationalised, remains an on-going contest in a range of policy domains that is shaped by institutional constraints and powerful vested interests, as well as the enthusiasm of advocates. At an over-arching level, while advocates of the so-called Green New Deal for Europe are attempting to frame the future of climate policy in terms of enhanced public spending and state intervention to tackle both entrenched inequalities and carbon emissions, whether the EU (and member state) institutions as currently constituted provide a context that can enable such a bold re-orientation is open to question. Papers are invited that examine the nature of and outcomes from these on-going discursive struggles at a range of governance levels in the European Union. (3) Dilemmas of energy and climate coupling Guri Bang (CICERO) With a closer coupling of the energy and climate policy fields, policymakers face the challenge of addressing conflicting policy goals. The legitimacy and acceptance of disruptive policy are increasingly challenged, and opposition and protests are growing across Europe for a variety of reasons - ideological, economic, political and environmental. The Panel will address dilemmas arising from this coupling and will present Papers addressing challenges related to (1) coal phase-out in Germany and the UK, (2) the introduction of biofuel and electrification in the transport sector and (3) the implementation of the new Governance Regulation of the Energy Union. Complementary Papers are invited. (4) Public Contestations of Energy Transitions Christian Flachsland (Hertie School), Sebastian Levi (FU Berlin) Yellow vests protesting against higher carbon taxes in France and not-in-my-backyard campaigns opposing energy grid extensions in Germany are two among many examples that demonstrate how public attitudes crucially influence the political feasibility of energy transition policies in Europe. Articles discussing how public energy policy attitudes evolve and how public concerns can effectively be addressed are invited. (5) Political feasibility of energy transitions Jessica Jewell (Chalmers University of Technology), Aleh Cherp (Central European University) Low-carbon energy transitions to meet climate targets and other global goals are technically possible, but are they politically feasible? There are emerging attempts to systematically answer this question for different low-carbon energy options, in different contexts and on different time scales. This Panel invites contributions which either propose systematic methods to assess political feasibility of ongoing and future low-carbon energy transitions or report empirical research which throws light on where the political feasibility frontier for low-carbon energy transitions lies. (6) Populism, political polarization and energy transitions Stefan Cetkovic (TU Munich), Aron Buzogany (FU Berlin), Jörg Radtke (Universität Siegen), Julia Zilles (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen) The growing political polarization and the rise of populist attitudes have become the dominant features of the contemporary politics and policy-making. The implications of this trend for energy transitions, however, have remained insufficiently explored. This Panel invites Papers which rigorously investigate the multiple ways of how political polarization and the rise of populism affect energy transitions at multiple levels, including individual attitudes, local community participation as well as party politics and policy-making. (7) Protests against energy infrastructures. Legitimate practices of resistance or threat to democracy? Eva Eichenauer (Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space), Julia Zilles (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen), Patrick Scherhaufer (University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna), Jörg Radtke (Universität Siegen) The Panel elaborates on tensions between the right to resist the demands of liberal democracy and other notions of democratic legitimization. It theoretically discusses the justification and democratic potential of protest movements and examines it along with empirical case studies of energy infrastructure projects. The focus is on both the view of the actors and their perceptions on environmental justice in the light of social movement theory as well as the legitimacy of these actions from the point of democratic theory. (8) A just coal transition? The dynamics of energy justice in coal-dependent regions Michael LaBelle (Central European University), Lukáš Lehotský (Masaryk University) This Panel reacts to the complexities of the question of transition away from coal and invites contributions that investigate phase-out policies through the lens of energy justice and, in particular, exploration of gendered and minority perspectives in coal regions.