Sustainable Energy Law Notebook

A historic day, for sure, with long-term consequences for energy supply. The text of the Joint Statement on maritime delimitation and cooperation in the Brents Sea and the Arctic Ocean is available HERE . Hereafter, the first press releases and comments in the press: Agreement reached between Norway and the Russian Federation in the negotiations on maritime delimitation , Press release, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 27.04.2010; Russia and Norway strike Arctic sea border deal , Reuters, 27.04.2010; Norway and Russia agree on maritime delimitation , BarentsObserver.com, 27.04.2010. Picture : Nyhetsgrafikk.no

MILEN , the University of Oslo's (UiO) interfaculty research group on environmental change and sustainable energy, is organising a seminar on green and white certificates next week. Title "Can we leave it to the market? The role of green and white certificates in sustainable energy promotion" ( Flyer ) Time and place New date, time and place: 19 MAY 2010, 10.15-12.00 , Auditorium 5, Eilert Sundts Hus , UiO campus, Oslo ( Map ). Description Energy certificates are market-based instruments aimed to support the generation of renewble energy sources (green certificates) and promote energy savings initiatives (whites certificates). There is an intense debate in Europe and Norway about the efficacy, design and regulatory regimes around both of these. The workshop will briefly review the funding elements of green and white certificates schemes before turning attention to the core principles and issues in their implementation. National experiences will be taken as examples. Pers...

The President of the European Commission, José Manuel Durao Barroso, has presented yesterday, 20 April, the Commission Work Programme 2010 to the European Parliament during the parliamentary plenary session in Strasbourg. The Work Programme contains similar elements than the ones announced in 2009 and which were also analysed on this blog in the following post: " What to expect from the re-launched of the single market " (22.10.2009). The Work Programme 2010 defines 34 strategic initiatives to be adopted in 2010 (Annex I) and a list of possible strategic and priority initiatives for 2010 and beyond (Annex II). Core Policy Orientations In relation to energy and sustainable development, several policy elements were mentionned in President Barroso's speech ( some parts only available in French ): Financial crisis and financial markets regulation : " Notre toute première priorité doit rester de sortir de la crise et de jeter les bases d'une croissance durable et ...

The Second Edition of the EU Energy Law and Policy Issues has just been released. The book is structured in 4 Sections as described below, with a focus on energy markets . It is published by Euroconfidentiel and forms part of the ELRF Collection. The last chapter that relates to renewable energy certificates in the United States is from this blog's author. Table of content Section I - International Aspects of EU Energy Markets Chapter I: The Impact of the Russia-Ukraine Gas Disputes on the European Union Gas Market: The Energy Solidarity Issue (A. Biava) Chapter II: The Electricity Sector Reforms in Russia: European Legal Concepts and Russian Reality (S. Seliverstov) Chapter III: The Energy Acquis Under the Energy Community Treaty and the Integration of Sourth East European Electricity Markets: An Uneasy Relationship? (M. Hunt and R. Karova) Section II - Competition Issues in the EU Energy Sector Chapter I: Access Rights to European Energy Networks - A Construction Site Revisited (...

Hier, 14 avril 2010, a été déposé devant l'Assemblée Nationale le projet de loi sur la nouvelle organisation du marché de l'électricité en France, dite Loi NOME . Je reviendrais en détail sur cette future loi qui fait suite au rapport de la Commission Champsaur d'avril 2009. Un dossier passionnant et important pour tous les acteurs du secteur de l'électricité en France et en Europe.

The presentations from the March 2010 Global Legal Symposium on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) are now available on the University College London (UCL) website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/cclp/ccsprojectnews.php The Symposium was hosted by the New York University, College of Law, organised in collaboration with UCL, and will result in the publication of a book in the autumn 2010.

The European Commission services have announced that they will submit the Commission's priorities for the 2010-2014 Energy Plan to the European ministers in charge of Energy to their meeting in late May . The 2010-2014 Energy Plan has to be put in perspective with, on the one hand, the integrated energy and climate package, and, on the other hand, the third energy liberalisation package. Both of these initiatives have resulted in the adoption of new legislative acts in 2009. According to the Spanish EU presidency, the bench of legislative proposals and political initiatives will focus on energy security and technology development , compared to previous action concentrated on sustainability and internal market. The long-time awaited Energy Efficiency Action Plan should be one of the first actions for the implementation of the forthcoming Energy Plan, as well as a new Infrastructure Package due in November this year. This will come after the assessment of the Trans-European Energ...