Energy and Climate Law

The European Commission  published the long-anticipated Regulation to safeguard the security of gas supply (EU) 2017/1938 yesterday. From tomorrow (1 November 2017) onwards it replaces Regulation (EU) 994/2010. The new regulation is available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2017.280.01.0001.01.ENG&toc=OJ:L:2017:280:TOC  

The Groningen Centre of Energy Law (GCEL) was founded 10 years ago at the University of Groningen. To mark the anniversary, an international conference titled `The North Sea as a source of Sustainable Energy and Law` will be held at the Hilton Hotel in The Hague on 8 December. Registration is now open at: https://www.rug.nl/rechten/congressen/gcel/10-years-gcel/registration-form .

The new Dutch government has announced its climate plan. By 2030 the Netherlands wants to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 49 per cent compared to 1990 levels. Amongst the measures to achieve this is the shut down of all coal fired power plants in the Netherlands and the industrial-scale introduction of CCS in the country. But is this realistic and can it really work out?

After years of media muttering and delays of the plan, China finally introduced a quota for new energy vehicles (covering all zero- and low emission cars like electric vehicles and hydrogen cars, but also hybrids). From 2019 onwards the so-called cap-and-trade policy obliges  automakers to obtain a new-energy vehicle score - which is linked to the production of various types of zero- and low-emission vehicles - of at least 10 percent, rising to 12 percent in 2020, according to the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The initial plan of the Chinese government was to roll-out a quota system by 2018 already, but car manufacturers from around the globe succeeded in lobbying the government to delay the plan for one year.

The book is offering the first formal assessment of the legality of fracking bans and moratoria. Ruven Fleming examines how changes in the constitutional set-ups of EU Member States over the last 25 years have substantially altered the legal leverage of environmental protection and energy security as state objectives. He argues that the practical consequence of these changes has been the self-inflicted curtailment of legislative discretion. Fleming further proposes a new methodology   for the development of legally sound regulation of new energy technologies in the context of the energy transition. More information can be found on the website of Edward Elgar Publishing .