Eurelectric and The Florence School of Regulation are inviting academics, think-tanks, associations, start-ups and established businesses to submit their vision or analysis of innovative business models of the future electricity sector!

The recent release by the European Commission of the Clean Planet for all Roadmap, which aims at reaching a net-zero emission society by 2050, calls for increased levels of electrification to reach the commitments made in Paris. Covering more than 53% of our final energy demand with clean electricity calls for new technologies to enable innovative business opportunities, and raises vital questions for energy companies, consumers, policy-makers, energy regulators and academics.

• Which technology will play a leading role to deepen electrification?
• Which type of entrepreneur and enterprise will thrive in the electricity business of the future?
• Which business models will be required to connect end-use sectors with electricity suppliers?

Eurelectric and the Florence School of Regulation are looking for breakthrough contributions that embrace the complexity and uncertainties surrounding the electricity business in the context of decarbonisation, decentralisation and digitalisation. Join us to deepen the debate and develop innovative visions and empirically grounded analyses on the new technologies, business models and enterprises that will lead the electric landscape of the future.

Submit by 15 February 2019

READ MORE ABOUT THE CALL

Read more about the Eurelectric Power Summit 2019

The Executive Training Seminar will look closely at the role of Central Banks and of State Investment Banks in the transition to low carbon economy; possible ways of scaling up climate finance in developing and emerging countries; and the different national paths to contribute to the Paris Agreement. Finally, participants will learn about the European experience of the EU Emission Trading System.

Learning outcomes

Participants will:

• develop an enhanced understanding of the dynamics of investment finance for the low-carbon economy;
• expand participants’ abilities to explore key climate finance issues through case-based analysis and group work;
• interact with fellow participants and colleagues, through peer teaching and peer learning dynamics.

Methodology

This policy-oriented Executive Training Seminar will adopt an innovative perspective combining high-level academic insight with the analysis of experienced policy practitioners. This will provide participants with a practical overview of the current financial instruments to support projects aimed to achieve sustainability, while also developing an enhanced understanding of the link between the different financial instruments and how they can be better targeted at financing needs for a transition to a low-carbon economy in both developed and developing countries.

Course Directors

Simone Borghesi, Director, FSR Climate
Jos Delbeke, Part-time Professor, School of Transnational Governance, EUI and KU Leuven

Scientific Coordinator

Isabella Alloisio, Research Associate, FSR Climate

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Watch the interview with Nick Robins (Professor Grantham Research Institute at London School of Economics and Political Science)

Watch a brief introduction to the seminar by Simone Borghesi (FSR Climate Director):

Climate change is likely to modify significantly patterns of capital investments and constitutes both a risk and an opportunity for investors and financial institutions.  The Paris Climate Agreement approved at the COP21 in December 2015 is a cornerstone in climate policy and finance worldwide. To achieve its objective of limiting the rise of global mean temperature to +2°C compared to the preindustrial period, a shift in the allocation of finance flows from carbon-intensive activities to investments compatible with a 2°C pathway will be necessary. A framework aligning the decisions of financial institutions with the long-term climate goals is taking shape, and carbon intensive projects and investments will likely face an increasing risk of being stranded. Thanks to the involvement of experts that will discuss the most relevant topics in the climate finance field, the Executive Training Seminar aims to demonstrate how changing finance is pivotal to finance change that is required by the Paris Agreement.

The seminar will target a specialised audience composed of mid-career senior officers and policy makers from climate and finance ministries, central banks, insurance companies, pension funds, international financial institutions, state investment banks and finance agents at different levels.

This Executive Training Seminar is jointly organised by the School of Transnational Governance and the FSR Climate of the European University Institute

The two-day workshop will investigate how the various players are adapting their business models to the new risks and opportunities posed by decarbonisation and digitalisation. It will also look at the new actors that are emerging within the electricity sector or are entering it from other industries.

Decarbonisation and digitalisation are deeply transforming the electricity sector, enabling its further decentralisation. All the segments of the supply chain, from generation to energy retail through transmission and distribution, are affected. The new technologies available and the policy choice to fight against climate change are also stimulating innovation at the traditional edges of the sector. Space behind and beyond the meter is becoming increasingly important and disruption to the classical industry organisation may soon come from there.

The workshop will enable participants from the industry, energy regulators and academics to brainstorm freely and share ideas on where and how value can be created in the electricity sector of the 21^st century.

Participation by invitation only.

This seminar will address some of the highlights of COP24, including what is left for the next COPs, in consideration of the urgent need to increase ambition and strengthen countries’ commitments.

The Paris Agreement undoubtedly forms a milestone in the fight against climate change. It sets the framework for the long-term global common action against climate change by all nations. The coming period will tell whether its goals, structure and rules are sufficient to keep the global temperature rise well below 1,5C as required by the IPCC. COP24 in Katowice defined several details of the Paris Agreement operational rules, including on NDCs, transparency, global stocktake and compliance.

Download the presentation by Prof. Benito Müller and Leonardo Massai

Moderator: Simone Borghesi, Director, FSR Climate, European University Institute

Watch the video recording of the seminar:

Interviews with the speakers

Interview with Prof. Müller

Interview with Leonardo Massai

Speakers’ bios

 Benito Müller

Professor Müller is Managing Director of Oxford Climate Policy (a not-for-profit company aimed at capacity building for developing country climate change negotiators), and Director of the European Capacity Building Initiative (ecbi), an international initiative for sustained capacity building in support of international climate change negotiations. At the University of Oxford, he serves as Convener International Climate Policy Research at the Environmental Change Institute, Visiting Professor at the Social Sciences Division, member of the Philosophy Faculty, and Supernumerary Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford. He was Director Energy & Climate Change at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (1996 – 2014). He has been serving as Adviser to the LDC Group Chair (2011-18) and the Africa Group Chair (2012-13). He participated in the deliberations of the Transitional Committee (TC) for the Green Climate Fund (GCF) as Adviser to the LDC TC members, who he has also been also advising on the GCF Board and the UNFCCC Standing Committee on Finance. Professor Müller received his doctorate (D.Phil.) in Philosophy from the University of Oxford and was formerly a Research Fellow at Wolfson College and a Lecturer in Logic at the Queen’s College, Oxford. He has a Diploma in Mathematics from the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) in Zürich, Switzerland.

COP24 – Key Outcomes (written by Anju Sharma, Christoph Schwarte, Pascale Bird, Axel Michaelowa, Benito Müller)

Leonardo Massai

Leonardo Massai has 16 years of experience on international environmental law, climate change mitigation and adaptation, forestry, human rights, renewable energy and energy efficiency regulation. Leonardo is co-founder of Climalia, a consultancy providing specialized services on climate change policy and practice, including technical assistance to Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States on the UNFCCC, Paris Agreement, NDCs, transparency and adaptation. Leonardo is Legal and Policy Advisor for the Coalition for Rainforest Nations – CfRN where he provides direct counsel, assistance, advice and training to all rainforest nations on international environmental law, climate change governance, mitigation and adaptation, REDD+, climate compatible development plans and multilateral negotiations. Massai is also Assistant Professor in EU Law, International and EU Environmental Law, Climate Change Law, Human Rights and Environments, UN Multilateral Negotiations at the Catholic University of Lille in France. Since 2014, Massai is Alternate Member of the Enforcement Branch to the Compliance Committee of the Kyoto Protocol (elected as representative of the Asia-Pacific group), where he will serve until 31 December 2021.

As part of the LIFE SIDE project, the FSR Climate of the European University Institute has conducted a literature-based assessment of the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) which focuses on the following topic areas:

1) free allocation, competitiveness effects and carbon leakage;
2) interactions with other policies;
3) low-carbon innovation and investment; and
4) the international dimension.

In this webinar, the literature itself and the conclusions of the EU Emissions Trading System assessment will be illustrated chapter by chapter. The audience will have the opportunity to interact with the speaker.

Speakers:

Simone Borghesi, Director, FSR Climate
Stefano Verde, Research Fellow, FSR Climate

In this online debate, the FSR climate team will dive deep into their key takeaways from their research on the EU ETS, looking at the empirical evidence and lessons learnt after thirteen years.

As part of the LIFE SIDE project, the FSR Climate team of the European University Institute has conducted a literature-based assessment of the EU ETS which focuses on the following topic areas:

1. free allocation, competitiveness effects and carbon leakage;
2. interactions with other policies;
3. low-carbon innovation and investment;
4. the international dimension. In this online debate, some of the conclusions of the assessment are discussed with two EU ETS experts.

The audience will have the opportunity to pose questions to the speakers.

Moderator:

Simone Borghesi, Director, FSR Climate

Speakers:

• Jos Delbeke, Senior Adviser for Relations with the European University Institute, European Political Strategy Centre, European Commission
• Frank Venmans | University of Mons and Grantham Research Institute

Jos Delbeke (1954, Belgium) has been the Director-General of the European Commission’s DG Climate Action since its creation in 2010. As of 16 March 2018, he was appointed Senior Adviser for Relations with the European University Institute, European Political Strategy Centre. He joined the European Commission in 1986. He was very involved in setting the EU’s climate and energy targets for 2020 and 2030, and the adoption of the related legislation by the EU Council and Parliament.  Mr  Delbeke has been a key player in developing EU legislation on cars and fuels, the Emissions Trading System (ETS), air quality, emissions from big industrial installations and chemicals (REACH). As an economist, he always underlined the role of market-based instruments and of cost-benefit analysis in the field of the environment. For several years Mr Delbeke has been responsible for developing Europe’s International Climate Change strategy and he was for many years the European Commission’s chief negotiator at the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties. He holds a PhD in Economics (Louvain, 1986) and worked in 1985 at the International Monetary Fund (Washington DC, USA). As of 2013 he is lecturing at the University of Louvain (Belgium) on European and international environmental policy.

Frank Venmans is Assistant Professor at the Microeconomics Department of the University of Mons and President of the Expert Committee on Climate Change for the Government of Wallonia (Belgium).He has a Master in Bio-engineering from the University of Ghent and an MSc in Economics and Management from the University of Mons (Belgium). He was a Visiting Research Student at the LSE in 2013-2014. Conducting a multi-criteria analysis of the EU Emission Trading Scheme, he finished his PhD in 2013.

This online debate looks beyond the only renewable gas and explores the role of LNG in the energy transition. What will be the role of LNG globally and what impact will it have on the EU gas market in the next 20 years?

The current debate in the EU is more and more focusing on biogas, biomethane and other “green gases” as enablers of the energy transition for the EU gas sector towards full decarbonisation.

On the other hand, the intermittent nature of renewable electricity production and the current immaturity of the technology which is expected to support this energy transition, oblige to a reflection on the role of “conventional” gas at this stage and for the next 20-25 years.

Furthermore, gas, shale gas and even coal still constitute a great share of the global energy mix and very much steer global energy policy dynamics. In several non-EU countries indeed, consumption of conventional gas is expected to increase in the next years (See recent IEA World Energy Outlook)

• To what extent can we neglect the role of conventional gas in this context?
• What are the possible options at stake as to ensure a real smooth energy transition?
• Is the cost of keeping conventional gas in the energy mix a sustainable cost?

Speakers:

• Christopher Jones, FSR Part-time Professor
• Peter Fraser (IEA)
• Jacques Rottenberg, Elengy/GLE
• Bernard Vanheule, IOGP

Moderator:

• Ilaria Conti, Head of FSR Gas

The Florence School of Regulation is pleased to host the 6th EU-India Smart Grids Workshop from 19 to 22 November 2018.

The workshop will welcome high-level dignitaries from Indian central and state regulators and DSOs for open discussions on smart grids, which were singled out as a priority area of cooperation in the frame of the EU – India Clean Energy and Climate Partnership, adopted at the 2016 EU-India Summit in Brussels.

To cement the continued exchanges between the EU and India on smart grids further, the first work programme of the Clean Energy and Climate Partnership was later launched at the EU-India Energy Panel meeting on 26 October 2016. At the 2017 EU-India Summit in Delhi, a statement on Clean Energy and Climate confirmed the importance of continued cooperation on smart grids development and deployment.

The first two days of the workshop will focus on existing India-EU energy programs and topical issues related to electric vehicles and energy storage including charging infrastructure, vehicle to grid, business models, interoperability, standardisation and grid integration.

The third day of the workshop, led by the FSR, will be dedicated to a roundtable discussion to allow EU and Indian delegates to engage on the topic of ‘Regulation for cost-effective integration of large shares of renewable energy’.

The programme will follow.

Read the event highlights. 

This online debate by FSR Climate will explore low-carbon innovation and investment in the EU ETS and beyond.

Moderator:
Simone Borghesi, Director, FSR Climate (European University Institute)

Speakers:

• Gregory Nemet, Professor, La Follette School of Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin–Madison
• Karsten Neuhoff, Head of Department for Climate Policy, German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin)

The objective of the European Emission Trading System (EU ETS) is “to promote reductions of greenhouse gas emissions in a cost-effective and economically efficient manner” (European Parliament and Council, 2009).

If static (or short-term) efficiency is almost a natural feature of cap-and-trade schemes like the EU ETS, dynamic (or long-term) efficiency depends on the ability of the system to promote and sustain innovation and diffusion of low-carbon technologies.

For this to happen, significant carbon price levels are a necessary condition, but equally important are the stability of the EU ETS and low price volatility of allowances. Moreover, climate finance can play a significant role in supporting innovation and green investments.

The reform of the EU ETS for Phase IV introduces the Innovation Fund (IF), which will be an enhanced version of the NER 300. The scope of the IF programme will be wider compared to that of NER 300, both in terms of the resources made available and in terms of the range of eligible beneficiaries.

Outside the EU ETS, climate finance plays a very important role and a framework aligning financial institutions with the long-term climate goals is taking shape. The European Investment Bank Group guided by EU policy, including the commitments to the Paris Agreement and to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, fosters sustainable growth within the EU and abroad. The EIB inaugurated the green bond market in 2007 and is the largest issuer to date with more than EUR 21 bn with allocations to 160 renewable energy and energy efficiency projects all over the world.

Participation is free of charge but registration is required.

REGISTER HERE

This debate is carried out under the LIFE SIDE project aiming at supporting European policy-makers with the design and implementation of the new EU ETS legislation.

More information about the event and the speakers can be found here.

Watch the recordings

Watch the interviews

The Conference on the Regulation of Infrastructures is the annual event that brings together all the Areas of the Florence School of Regulation. This 8th  edition aims to identify the key challenges of digitalisation for traditional network industries; discover various regulatory approaches to platforms and determine benefit scenarios for consumers and to the platforms itself.

Continue reading “8th Conference on the Regulation of Infrastructures: Digitalisation in network industries”

Ahead of the yearly UN Climate Change Conference in Katowice, the Florence School of Regulation is organising a workshop to brainstorm on how new forms of clean transport can contribute to the global transition to a low-carbon economy and, at the same time, address local issues of mobility and pollution.

Transport represents a major challenge for the European Union. As the population increasingly concentrates in urban areas, the need for more efficient and less polluting ways to move people and goods becomes urgent. Moreover, transportation has to evolve to contribute to the decarbonisation of our economies by the middle of this century. The electrification of cars and other vehicles is a promising option. However, market players, grid companies and public authorities must be aware of the far-reaching consequences that electromobility implies for the organisation and dynamics of electricity markets and systems.

The morning session of the workshop will address clean transport from the point of view of cities and companies offering mobility solutions. In the afternoon, the focus will move to the interactions between electromobility and the electricity system. Indeed, the deployment of millions of EVs poses both risks and opportunities that power generators, final consumers and grid operators will have to deal with.

The workshop is open to FSR donors, national regulatory authorities, EU institutions and national governments. Requests from others will be assessed on a case by case basis due to the limited seats available.