European energy policy

Policy Report,  Publication Insight_E

Lead Author: Bo Normark (KIC InnoEnergy), co-author: Aurélie Faure-Schuyer (Ifri),
Reviewers: Paul Deane (UCL) and Steve Pye (UCL)

Hot Energy Topic n° 5, Insight_E publication

Lead Author: Paul Deane (UCC)
Authoring Team: Ulrich Fahl (University of Stuttgart), Carole Mathieu (Ifri)
Reviewers: Kimon Keramidas (Enerdata)

The energy transition from a socio-economic system based on fossil fuels to a sustainable low-carbon system is a multi-facetted process. This “transformation” of the energy system, more specifically of the power system, creates several challenges.

Lead Authors: Marie-Claire Aoun and Quentin Boulanger (IFRI); Authoring Team: Damir Pešut, Marko Matosović and Robert Bošnjak (EIHP); Paul Deane, James Glynn and Brian Ó Gallachóir (UCC); Reviewer: Nathalie Desbrosses (Enerdata)

“After 17 years of supranationality, we are still seeking how to define a common energy policy and what it might be. [...] Could we have done more in one generation? Or were goals only established to achieve a political balance which it was explicitly agreed to ignore, once the machinery began...

-by building dissonance within. Some like to remember fondly the call by Ronald Reagan for Gorbachev “to tear down this wall”. The United States “Won the Cold War” said George Bush Senior in his State of the Union Address. We need to step back and recognize with some humility that the Soviet...

The turmoil in Ukraine is now putting one question on everyone mouth: what if Russian gas transiting through Ukraine was cut once again? Today, Ukrainian gas pipelines still carry around 60% of the Russian gas intended for the European Union; i.e. around 16% of the EU final gas consumption.

The shale gas revolution has led to strong falls in energy prices, reducing significantly the raw material costs of the US petrochemical industry. Between 2008 and 2012, US gas prices fell by two thirds.

The European Commission introduced in its Work Programme 2013 an action regarding “Environmental climate and energy assessment framework to enable safe and secure unconventional hydrocarbon extraction”.

With the approach of the 2014 deadline for the completion of a truly European liberalized energy market, there is growing concern on the adequacy of the market structure with the changed economic and geopolitical environment. Market-based and short-term approaches have been fostered for both...