FSR Annual Sustainability Conference | Greening Infrastructures

Background

Against the backdrop of the European Green Deal and the recently published ‘Fit for 55’ Package, the basic infrastructures will have to become more sustainable over the course of their entire lifecycles, i.e., from design to building, maintenance, operations and eventual decommissioning. Digitalisation, of course, will have a key role to play in advancing this objective, for instance, by optimising capacity utilisation, thus reducing needs for physical infrastructure expansion.

While rendering infrastructures climate-proof will take different forms across the various network industries, all of them will have to confront a set of critical questions pertaining to regulatory policy, financing and taxation, among others. In view of this, the first edition of the FSR Sustainability Conference will tackle these questions in respect to transport and energy infrastructures.

Format

The first day of the conference (22 June), to be held fully online, will be devoted to the presentation and discussion of 13 academic papers addressing the above-mentioned questions pertaining to the regulatory, financing and taxation measures that aim at decarbonising the basic infrastructures either alone or preferably in a systemic way, linking theory and practice. Attendance to this first day will be open to the public. The best papers, selected by the Scientific Committee, will qualify for publication in the Journal Competition and Regulation in Network Industries (SAGE) as 3-4- special issues.

The second day (23 June), which is planned as a physical event at the premises of the European University Institute, will take the form of a Florence Policy Forum, bringing together high-level officials from the European Commission, regulators, industry experts and renowned academics. The authors of the 3 “best papers”, as evaluated by the Scientific Committee, will be invited to deliver a short 10-minutes input presentation reflecting on the main findings of their paper during the Policy Forum. This second day will be under Chatham house rules whereas participation will be by invitation only.

Target audience

This new FSR Conference will bring together academics (in particular Junior Professors and Postdocs), high-level practitioners (mostly from the FSR donor community), and European Commission officials (in particular representing DG MOVE, CLIMA, and ENER).

List of selected authors and titles of their papers

• Astier, N., Rajagopal, R., and Wolak, F. A.: “Can distributed intermittent renewables generation reduce future grid investments? Evidence from France”
• Campos de Andrade, A. L.: “Decarbonisation: climate governance challenges for policies, plans, and projects in the Brazilian transportation sector“
• Cardinale, R.: “From natural gas to hydrogen: Upgrading existing transnational energy infrastructure connecting North Africa to Europe“
• Daly, A., Erdogan, S. E., Gill, G., Tetley-Brown, L., and Wallis, T.: “Decarbonisation through Digitalisation? The Benefits and Challenges of Digitalising (Renewable) Energy Infrastructures in Scotland“
• Iweh, C. D., Semassou, G. C., and Ahouansou, R.: “Sustainability of Renewable Energy Electrification Projects in Cameroon: Technical, Institutional and Policy Perspective“
• Klaaßen, L., and Steffen, B.: “Fit for 55? Contrasting green infrastructure investment needs in Europe with the EU’s sustainable finance strategy“
• Lauri, C.: “Recovery and Resilience of the Energy sector through Energy Communities. Promises and Perils“
• Major, M., and Massuma, M.: „Infrastructure investment for sustainable, low carbon transport services in the EU”
• Nascimento Souza, M., Karlein, J., Caterino Yáñez, C., Luxa, A., Jöres, N., and Lichtenberg, G.: “Influence of full load hour regulation on the LCOH and hybrid energy system sizing in Germany“
• Lanz, L., Noll, B., Schmidt, T. S., and Steffen, B.: “Reducing the levelized cost of electric vehicle charging infrastructure – Comparative policy options to accelerate the low-carbon mobility transition in Europe”
• Ovaere, M., and Proost, S.: “Cost-effective reduction of fossil energy use in the European transport sector”
• Ruhnau, O., and Schiele, J.: „System-friendly green hydrogen“

Conference timeline

• Submission of the abstract by 1st November 2021 
• Notification of acceptance by November 15^th, 2021
• Submission of the full paper by March 31^st, 2022; participants who fail to submit a full paper by this deadline will be automatically removed from the programme;
• Conference on 22-23 June 2022 in hybrid form (Florence, Italy, and Zoom).

The best papers will qualify for fast-track publication in the Journal Competition and Regulation in Network Industries, and their authors will be invited to a discussion Forum with representatives of the European Commission.

Submission of the abstract

• Step 1: Download the Obligatory Abstracts Submission Template
• Step 2: Fill in all required fields: Introduction and Purpose of the Study; Research Design and Expected Results; Keywords. Please pay attention to the word limit!
• Step 3: Fill in the registration form online and enclose the submission template (see Step 2).

For any issues regarding the submission, please contact Ms Teodora Serafimova at FSR.Transport@eui.eu

Organising Committee

• Prof Simone Borghesi (EUI, Part-time professor and Director of the Climate Area of the FSR; Siena University, Professor)
• Prof Matthias Finger (EUI, Part-time professor and Deputy Director of the Transport Area of the FSR)
• Prof Jean-Michel Glachant (EUI, Robert Schuman Chair, Director of the FSR, Director of the Energy Area of the FSR, Holder of the Loyola de Palacio Chair)
• Prof Alberto Pototschnig (EUI, Executive Deputy Director, World of Practice)