TILT events

TILT seminar: Eva-Maria Thierjung, University of Greifswald

Date: Time: 13:00 Location: Room M1003 and MS Teams

Energy and Climate Governance in the context of the latest reform (proposals) of the “Fit for 55”-package and “REPowerEU”-Plan: Does the current Governance-System need a system update?

Abstract

In December 2018, as a key result of the “Clean Energy-package”, the Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 on the governance system of the Energy Union and Climate Action entered into force. This legal Act marks a paradigm shift within European climate and energy policies, for the very first time linking both policy areas together in one legal Act aiming for an overarching, cross-sectoral control. The main target of Regulation 2018/1999 is to meet the objectives of the Energy Union and Paris Agreement in the decisive time period from 2021 to 2030 (cf. Art. 1 Nr. 1 lit. a Regulation 2018/1999). In respect thereof, it established a new regulatory regime for renewable energies and energy efficiency (Schlacke/Knodt, JEPL 2019, 323) with a novel governance-mechanism at its centerpiece.

In July 2021, the so-called "Fit for 55”-Package was launched with the aim of implementing the goals defined within the European Green Deal, so first and foremost the overreaching target of climate neutrality by 2050 and raised climate and energy targets in all relevant sectors. But the wave of reforms presented in this package did not contain any structural reforms concerning the modus operandi of the Regulation 2018/1999 or its framework. Thus, the question arises: Does the Commission have one vast blind spot and is the Governance-Regulation not in its sights? Or does the current Governance system, as established in 2018, simply not need any far-reaching reforms?

The answer to this key question is going to be given by presenting the research findings published in the most recent co-publication on this topic (Schlacke et al., 2022). They will be enriched with further analyses, starting with a clarification of the legal and political concept of governance followed by a brief historical overview about its development and finally trying to zoom out. No singular targets or measures shall be discussed, but the cross-sectoral question about the proper design of the procedural framework, which will be able to effectively operationalize the process of reaching the ambitions set and instruments introduced.

Speaker: Eva-Maria Thierjung

Eva-Maria Thierjung is a doctoral candidate at the University of Münster and research associate at the University of Greifswald`s Institute for Energy, Environmental and Maritime Law (IfEUS). She studied law in Cologne and Warsaw. Now, she is working within the Copernicus Project Ariadne, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, which focuses on identifying policy instruments suitable for achieving the Paris Climate Change Agreement`s goal and aims to develop strategies for the ongoing energy system transformation while taking due account of citizens’ acceptance. Eva-Maria is conducting a short-term research visit at TILT, in the context of the Dutch-German Forum on Comparative and European Energy Law (FCEEL) that was created by Max Baumgart, Saskia Lavrijssen and Torsten Körber (University of Cologne) in 2022.

Moderator: Max Baumgart

Attendance is free.

To register for this event please contact tilt-events@tilburguniversity.edu.