The Impact of Liberalisation of the European Power Industry on Climate Change

Brown Bag Seminar, Speaker: Dr. Joëlle de Sépibus - Postdoctoral researcher, affiliate to IP 6 on "Energy", stipendiary of Swiss National Science Foundation 23 June 2008, 12.15 - 13.45 WTI Berne Switzerland Biography of Dr. de Sépibus  Joëlle de Sépibus is a postdoctoral researcher of the Swiss National Science Foundation working on legal aspects of the climate and energy policy of the European Union. She is affiliated with the NCCR Trade Regulation Individual Project No. 6 "Energy", in the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research on Trade Regulation in Bern.   She holds a Master of Law from the Faculty of Law in Bern, a Master of European Law from the College of Bruges and a Ph.D. in European Law from the University of Berne. She is admitted to the bars of Geneva and Zurich. She was an Associate Professor of European and International Law  at the Faculty of Law, University of Fribourg, Switzerland and a Visiting Research Fellow at the Department of Law of the European University Institute and the Robert Schuman Centre of Florence, Italy.   She has been practising Swiss and international Business Law in several law firms in Bern, Sarnen, Geneva and Zurich and worked as a 'stagiaire' for the Legal Service of the European Commission, Brussels. Her current research interests focus on international and European climate and energy policy, in particular the measures to combat climate change in the ambit of the liberalised electricity markets.    In the Brown Bag she will present her new paper "The Liberalisation of the Power Industry in the European Union and its Impact on Climate Change - A Legal Analysis of the Internal Market in Electricity".   Abstract: The liberalisation of the European power industry has fundamentally modified the regulatory framework of electricity utilities. This paper discusses why the European Union (EU) has introduced competition into the power sector and examines how the principal reforms adopted at the EU level shape its current and long-term emissions of carbon dioxide. To appreciate the impact of liberalisation on climate change, the paper follows a two-step process.     The first step is to provide an overview of the European fuel mix, the main power generation technologies and their carbon intensity. The second step is to analyse the new legal framework and the changes resulting from liberalisation in terms of demand patterns, research, development and operation of networks and power generation. Particular attention is paid to the risks faced by investors in new power generation.  The study concludes that if a lock-in of the European power industry in highly CO2-intensive fossil fuels is to be avoided a significant overhaul of the current legal framework is necessary. Such a reform would have to place a special focus on the incentives provided by network regulation and re-appraise the institutional design as only a profound modernisation of the grids, supported by strong institutions will allow the large-scale uptake of renewable energy sources.  The Liberalisation of the European Power Industry and its Impact on Climate Change, NCCR Working Paper No. 2008/10, May 2008.