Fsr Energy & Climate

This is the first podcast of the series "Spot on Climate" of the Climate area of the Florence School of Regulation. In this podcast, Research Associate Albert FERRARI converses with Peter VIS, Senior Advisor at Rud Pedersen Public Affairs and Senior Research Associate at the School of Transnational Governance. This first episode focuses on the rationale and the challenges behind the possible Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) through a discussion on these two questions: - What is the case for a CBAM? - How might it work? The European Commission will be presenting in June 2021 a proposal for a CBAM for certain imported products to reduce the risk of carbon leakage, which is the risk of companies transferring production to countries that are less strict about emissions. With a CBAM, the price of imports would reflect more accurately their carbon content. This would ensure that the EU’s climate objectives are not undermined by production relocating to countries with less ambitious policies. Listen to th

In this episode, Agneta Rising, Director General of the World Nuclear Association, joins Joana Freitas to discuss the role of nuclear energy in the energy transition. According to the International Energy Agency, in 2018 nuclear power provided 10% of global electricity supply and 25% of electricity supply in Europe. Although no new nuclear plants have been built in Europe in the last few years, Agneta Rising points out that the global scenario looks positive. In Asian countries, like India, China and South Korea, there is a growing number of new nuclear plants, while there are also newcomer countries, which is the case of United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Belarus and Bangladesh. Nuclear is a zero-carbon, dispatchable, baseload energy source, and in many cases at a very competitive cost. “We can see in countries that have used and started to use nuclear energy how they boosted their economy and how many jobs they also created”, Agneta Rising adds. However, in Europe, public opinion seems divided, especially after

In this podcast Professor Matthias Finger, Director of the Transport Area of the Florence School of Regulation, speaks to Matthew Daus, former Commissioner of the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (2001-2010), and current Transport Technology Chair at the Transport Center of the City College of New York, and practicing tansportation lawyer specialised in new modes of transport, including Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS). Tune in to their discussion to learn about the emergence of the transport network companies (TNCs) concept, how it transformed the taxi industry of New York over the past 20 years, and how technology pushed the regulatory framework to evolve. What are the learning lessons from the EU when it comes to regulating the next big revolutions in transport, namely MaaS and automation? How will MaaS look like 10 years from now?

In this launching episode of the ‘On The Right Track’ podcast series, dedicated to 2021 as the European Year of Rail, Juan Montero, Professor at the Transport Area of the Florence School of Regulation speaks with Elisabeth Werner, Director for Land Transport at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Mobility and Transport, about the main regulatory priorities on the EU railways agenda. What were the motivating drivers behind the European Year of Rail, and what concrete EU initiatives can we expect in 2021? What measures should be pursued on the rail passenger front to increase the modal share of rail? Can the liberalisation of the EU railway passenger market contribute to advancing the European Green Deal objectives? What tools should be considered to improve the management of cross-border traffic and night train services? Is a breakthrough in policy necessary to boost the share of rail freight transport? What are the learning lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic as regards the resilience of rail t

In this podcast with Christopher Bremme (Linklaters, Berlin) and Julia Sack (Linklaters, Berlin), we focus on the increasing role of foreign investment controls in the EU with the so-called Screening Regulation, which came into effect in October 2020, and the impact of these mechanisms on the energy sector, particularly as it relates to Germany.

This podcast focuses on the latest developments in Case C-594/18 P: Austria v European Commission, a long-running legal saga surrounding the development of a new nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point in the UK, which sheds light on EU state aid rules and the interaction between the Euratom Treaty and the TFEU. As the Euratom Treaty does not contain state aid rules, to what extent do the principles of the TFEU apply when it comes to determining the compatibility of state aid to the nuclear sector? In 2014, the EC approved the UK’s plans to give state aid to support the construction of two EPR reactor units at Hinkley Point C, deeming it compatible with EU state aid guidelines, and thus the internal market. The basis of their approval was Art 107(3)(c) TFEU. The project, a joint venture between EDF and CGN, would be the first new nuclear power station in the UK in almost 20 years, and account for roughly 7% of the UK’s electricity supply. In the rare move of one MS challenging a state aid decision for anot

This is a podcast about the replicability of the project LIFE DICET in other carbon markets. The project LIFE DICET is co-financed by the EU LIFE programme and managed by FSR Climate. It supports the EU and the Member States in international cooperation for possible integration of carbon markets with 5 other ETS regulators, namely China, California, Québec, New Zealand and Switzerland. In the podcast, Albert Ferrari from FSR Climate converses with Professor Duan Maosheng, Director of the China Carbon Market Center of Tsinghua University, about the replicability of the project in China. Duan is extensively involved in the design and operation of China’s carbon markets and is actively contributing to the project LIFE DICET. More info: https://lifedicetproject.eui.eu/

In this episode, Matthew Baldwin, Deputy Director-General, European Coordinator for Road Safety and Sustainable Mobility, DG MOVE, European Commission, joins Juan Montero, FSR Transport Part-time professor, to discuss Speed and Speed Management in Road Safety Policy. The discussion is a follow-up of the Executive Seminar with applied experts, researchers and stakeholders, which took place on the 8th of October. Mr. Baldwin and Prof. Montero discuss a number of highly relevant issues: importance of speed and speed management in the Safe System, future steps to improve speed management at the EU and national level and what could the EU do in the future.

In this talk, the FSR Director, Jean-Michel Glachant introduces a framework of five key building blocks (technology; energy policy; energy professionals; energy consumers; the grid) to explain why he thinks that local distribution system operators (DSOs) are back at the core of the power system today, and why the future remains uncertain.

In this special episode of Net Zero, Leonardo Meeus, Professor at Florence School of Regulation and Vlerick Business School, and Georg Zachmann, Senior Fellow at Bruegel, share their thoughts on how legislation and policy are enabling the energy transition in Europe. The special episode also highlights insights from an FSR online interview with Directorate-General for Energy, Ditte Juul Jørgensen, in which she discussed Europe’s green recovery strategy from the COVID-19 pandemic. Back in June 2019, the European Commission published the last energy package – the Clean Energy for all Europeans package – aimed at accelerating the energy transition and giving all Europeans access to secure, competitive and sustainable energy. After this new legislative package, in early 2020, Ursula Von der Leyen presented the European Green Deal, a policy manifesto aimed at making Europe climate neutral by 2050. In Georg Zachmann’s view there are three key building blocks to achieve this ambition – i) set a carbon pricing mech

In this episode, Violeta Mihalache, Director of Urban Survey Timisoara, joins us for a discussion on the rationale behind- and challenges towards a common European framework for sustainable urban mobility indicators (SUMI). We discuss a number of topical issues on the urban mobility agenda: from sustainable urban mobility planning, to indicators and data gathering, funding and financing issues, and not the least, the interrelation between SUMI and the European Green Deal and Climate Law objectives.

In this episode, Marylin Bastin, Head of Aviation Sustainability at EUROCONTROL joins us for a discussion on the European Green Deal and its implications for the aviation sector. We discuss critical issues on the European aviation agenda, including barriers to route optimisation and how the implementation of the Single European Sky can support the reduction in aviation emissions. Furthermore, we touch upon the measures that airports can implement to mitigate both air- and noise-pollution stemming from airplanes and airport operations. Not least, we discuss the future of aviation in the post-Covid-19 period: Can climate-resilient growth be achieved? Could Covid-19 be transformed into an opportunity for a more sustainable and resilient European aviation?

In this episode, Sonya Twohig, Director of Operations at ENTSO-e, joins Net Zero host Joana Freitas to discuss if the ownership of grid operators influences the delivery of the energy transition. Recently, some questions have been raised on which entities should own the grids. For example, in the UK, the Labour party announced a plan to take National Grid into public ownership (if it were elected Government). On the other hand, the Dutch Finance Minister has said he plans to privatize or sell off a stake in TenneT, as the company needs more equity to invest in grid upgrades. In Sony Twohig’s view, grid operators can work in a very positive way regardless their shareholder structure, as, in the end of the day, “what is really important is that the operation and the management of that grid is controlled and regulated by the regulatory authority that supports that grid”. Another issue that has been recently under discussion is the entry of relatively two new categories of shareholders: Pension Funds and State c

In this episode, Piia Karjalainen, Secretary General of the Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) Alliance joins us for a discussion on the role of MaaS in supporting the advancement of the European Green Deal agenda. We discuss issues critical to enabling the development of MaaS, including data sharing, multimodal ticketing and payment systems, as well as the role of the insurance sector in adapting to the needs of multimodality, while also serving the needs of the service providers. Not least, we discuss the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic and the social distancing regulations implemented to curb its spread. Is the pandemic a threat or can it be turned into an opportunity for MaaS?

In this podcast, Leigh Hancher discusses the recent non-binding opinion (http://curia.europa.eu/juris/documents.jsf?num=C-594/18%20) of Gerard Hogan, Advocate General of the European Court of Justice, with regard to a decision on state aid to the nuclear power plant Hinkley Point C in the UK. In Hogan’s opinion, EU judges should dismiss an appeal by Austria aimed at overturning the approval of UK state aid to support the construction of the nuclear plant. Hogan stated, “it is clear that the development of nuclear power is, as reflected in the Euratom Treaty, a clearly defined objective of EU law”. In 2014, after several agreed changes to the plans, the European Commission approved the UK’s plans to give state aid to support the construction of two EPR reactor units at Hinkley Point C, deeming it compatible with EU state aid guidelines and thus the internal market. At the time, it was considered by the Commission that the aid was justified as there was a “lack of market-based financial instruments and other co

In this episode, Auke Lont, CEO of Statnett, talks to Joana Freitas, Ambassador for the Lights on Women initiative of the Florence School of Regulation, about the key challenges around carbon pricing. The European Union currently has a mixed system to price emissions – 41% of greenhouse gas emissions fall under the Emissions Trading System (ETS), 7% are covered by carbon taxes and 4% fall under both instruments. Auke Lont considers that the EU ETS system “functions pretty well” and points out two improvements going forward – introducing a floor price and getting rid of free allowances. On top of that, Auke Lont also recognises the importance of specific measures outside the ETS scheme, particularly to accelerate innovation in getting CO2 out of the system. One of the key issues when pricing carbon is whether prices in different countries should be allowed to vary – a single price approach might have significant impacts on specific regions. The other issue is how to address emissions from different sectors of

In this episode, Net Zero host Joana Freitas invites Andris Piebalgs, Professor at Florence School of Regulation and former EU Commissioner for Energy, to discuss how renewable energy is changing global geopolitics. While over the last 200 years, control of oil, natural gas and coal, as well as of bottlenecks in global sea routes (like the Strait of Hormuz) have shaped the world geopolitics, renewables are now expected to challenge this landscape. Andris Piebalgs sees an opportunity for those nations that have been investing in new technologies related to renewables, like China, to reinforce their global influence in the energy area. On the other hand, Russia and Saudi Arabia are pointed out as the countries where the energy transformation might be more difficult as “it will be very difficult domestically to change the pricing for fossil fuels”. In the specific case of Middle East countries, there are already some investments in renewables but mostly in the Emirates. In Andris Piebalgs’s perspective a change

In this episode, Elena Bou, Board Member and Innovation Director at Innoenergy, joins host Joana Freitas to discuss how startups are challenging the traditional world of utilities. The energy sector is going through a period of unprecedented opportunities for innovation and growth in lots of different areas, opening doors for start-ups and entrepreneurs. Elena Bou points out that, over the last years, batteries have become one of the most intense areas of activity for these newcomers. At the same time, start-ups have also been working on a wide range of topics, such as alternative ways of mobility and control of heat and cold using low-carbon solutions, which will directly impact citizens. However, as it was noted by Professor Henry Chesbrough, the father of the open innovation concept, “the future of the energy will require ecosystems of collaboration between start-ups and big energy corporates”. While in some cases, start-ups are helping utilities and energy companies to accelerate innovation and to solve

In this podcast, Professor Leigh Hancher discusses the Baltic Cable case, a case centred on a power line which interconnects the electric power grids of Germany and Sweden, and weighs the implications of this case for cross-border interconnectors in the EU as well as its wider significance for EU energy law.

In this podcast, Clemens Ziegler (Ziegler State Aid AntiTrust SRL) discusses the EU Commission’s emergency state aid rules, which were announced on 19 March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 crisis. What do these temporary rules allow? And what may be the implications of relaxing some of the EU state aid controls, especially for the energy sector?