The ninth episode of the ‘FSR Policy Briefcase’ breaks down Ursula von der Leyen’s Political Guidelines for her next term as European Commission President.
In this episode, regular hosts Leonardo Meeus and James Kneebone explain how the Political Guidelines might impact European energy and climate policy going forward, offer some of their views and interpretations on the details, and reflect on what insights previous episodes of the ‘Policy Briefcase’ can provide in understanding the next 5 years of energy and climate policy in the EU. They also point towards future Policy Briefs from the FSR that relate to key themes in von der Leyen’s manifesto.
The Political Guidelines can be found here: https://commission.europa.eu/document/download/e6cd4328-673c-4e7a-8683-f63ffb2cf648_en?filename=PoliticalGuidelines2024-2029_EN.pdf

The eighth episode of the ‘FSR Policy Briefcase’ breaks down the subject of ‘contracts for difference’ or ‘CfD’s’ in the renewable electricity sector and explores some of the ways that innovative designs can help accelerate the energy transition.

For this episode, regular hosts Leonardo Meeus and James Kneebone are joined by part-time FSR Professor and full-time DTU Professor, Lena Kitzing. The conversation takes as a point of departure the recent publication of Lena’s Technical Report on this subject, co-authored with Anne Held, Malte Gephart, Fabian Wagner, Vasilios Anatolitis, and Corinna Klessmann.
This episode builds on our previous two episodes with Leigh Hancher and Jean-Michel Glachant, which focused on different kinds of public and private ‘long-term contracts’ in general, including CfD’s. In this conversation we discuss the history of CfD’s, their relationship to other forms of long-term contracts and incentives within the renewable energy space, as well as the role of ‘two-sided’ CfD’s in mitigating the damage of the recent energy crisis. Looking to the future, Lena outlines some other technologies where she feels CfD’s might prove useful, including for energy storage, as well as sharing some of her views on potential future design innovations for the renewables sector!

The full report can be found here: https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/76700;jsessionid=C6C7EADB8A166005F29DFD28A8AFBB44

The seventh episode of the ‘FSR Policy Briefcase’ unpacks the subject of ‘long-term contracts’ in the electricity sector and explores some of the ways that a fresh look at this tool could help deliver the energy transition.

For this episode, regular hosts Leonardo Meeus and James Kneebone are joined by part-time Professor of FSR Jean-Michel Glachant. The conversation builds on the recent publication of his Technical Report on this subject, co-authored with Guillaume Dezobry, Leigh Hancher, and Emma Menegatti.

This episode follows last month’s ‘part 1’ episode recorded with Leigh Hancher on the same subject. Part 2 focuses broadly on the application of long-term contracts, or ‘LTCs’ as they are more commonly referred to, as well as some of what Jean-Michel considers to be the limitations and unknowns for LTCs and their role in bringing security and competitiveness to European industry. We learn about how LTCs could have helped during the previous energy crisis, and travel back in time even further to 2006 to hear Jean-Michels views on the ‘Sector Inquiry’ he contributed to at the time, and how those experiences relate to present day.

The full report can be found here: cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1…ence=1&isAllowed=y

The sixth episode of the ‘FSR Policy Briefcase’ unpacks the subject of ‘long-term contracts’ in the electricity sector and explores some of the ways that a fresh look at this tool could help deliver the energy transition.
For this episode, regular hosts Leonardo Meeus and James Kneebone are joined by part-time Professor of FSR Leigh Hancher. The conversation builds on the recent publication of her Technical Report on this subject, co-authored with Guillaume Dezobry, Jean-Michel Glachant, and Emma Menegatti. This is part one of a two-part series on this report.
This first episode focuses on the definition and relevance of long-term contracts, or ‘LTCs’ as they are more commonly referred to, as well as some of what Leigh considers to be limitations or missed opportunities in the previous framing and application of these agreements in Europe in the past. We learn about the different kinds of LTCs, their uses, some important case studies shaping their governance, and how some other major global economies have successfully framed LTCs differently. Towards the end of the episode, we begin to talk about the implications of a fresh look at LTCs for driving the competitiveness and decarbonisation of European industry, an area of the report we will cover in more detail in part two next month.

The full report can be found here: https://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/76880/RSC_TR_2024_05.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

“The fifth instalment of the ‘FSR Policy Briefcase’ explores the why, when, and how of carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) in Europe.

For this episode, regular hosts Leonardo Meeus and James Kneebone are joined by part-time Professor of FSR Christopher Jones. The conversation builds on the recent publication of Christopher’s Policy Brief on this subject, linked below.
CCUS technology and infrastructure has the highest value-add in the period during which Europe is still transitioning from fossil value chains to fully decarbonised value chains. For this reason, it needs to be deployed quickly, often retrofitted to existing industrial facilities. Christopher’s Policy Brief presents a tentative vision for how a regulatory framework could be establsihed in time to maximise the effectiveness of CCUS technologies.

See below for a link to the original Policy Brief

https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/76181;jsessionid=9E2F6DCA9B2A1A82BF25195BD7A0034B”

The fourth instalment of the ‘FSR Policy Briefcase’ explores the subject of methane emissions, specifically the establishment of a Methane Regulation in the EU, as well as the increasing attention methane is receiving in the maritime sector, both maritime fuel emissions and leakages from LNG shipments. For this episode, regular hosts Leonardo Meeus and James Kneebone are joined by Andris Piebalgs of FSR and Maria Olczak of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES), the conversation builds on the pair’s recent publication of a Policy Brief on this subject.

In a wide-reaching episode, the group discuss the extent of the methane emissions problem and why it has gained so much attention in recent years, the landmark inclusion of methane under the EU ETS, the complexity of regulating in an international sector like maritime, as well as some of the measurement technology used to ensure accountability.

See below for a link to the original Policy Brief

https://www.oxfordenergy.org/publications/the-decarbonisation-of-maritime-transport-navigating-between-a-global-and-eu-approach/

The third instalment of the ‘FSR Policy Briefcase’ explores European industrial policy following the energy crisis of 2021/22, specifically the role of clean hydrogen in the protection and continuation of existing energy-intensive industrial sectors as well as in generating new, clean industrial growth. For this episode, regular hosts Leonardo Meeus and James Kneebone are joined by Ilaria Conti of FSR and Jan Cornillie of the EUI’s School of Transnational Governance (STG). The conversation builds on the recent publication of a Policy Brief on this subject, written by Jan, James, Ilaria, and Jos Delbeke.

In a wide-reaching episode, the group discuss the state of play with the hydrogen sector in 2024, including the economic conditions, project-level progress, regulatory status, and the importance of capturing the intersectional and nuanced ‘value’ of clean hydrogen as not only a clean energy vector but also a vector for industrial transformation.

See below for a link to the original Policy Brief
https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/76564

The second instalment of the ‘FSR Policy Briefcase’ with Ellen Beckstedde and Emma Menegatti is a detailed discussion on the energy crisis of 2021/2022. Regular hosts Leonardo Meeus and James Kneebone are joined by electricity market experts Ellen Beckstedde and Emma Menegatti, both Research Associates at the Florence School of Regulation.
The conversation covers the context and conditions that created the energy crisis in the first place, the various policy responses at EU and Member State level, as well as the proposed changes to the electricity market design aimed at safeguarding against future crises. Emma and Ellen also answer some listener questions and reflect on a few key outstanding issues for the electricity sector going forward.
For more info on FSR’s views on policy interventions during the energy crisis, see the links below
https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/75089
https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/75580

The first installment of the ‘FSR Policy Briefcase’ features the recent flagship Policy Brief ‘Energy policy ideas for the next European Commission: from targets to investments’ written by some of the most senior researchers at the Florence School of Regulation.

Lead author and FSR Director Leonardo Meeus joined Research Associate James Kneebone for a wide-ranging conversation on some of the key ideas in the paper, as well as to reflect on some of the feedback already received.

For more information, see the full paper
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https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/75989

Date of recording 24.01.2024