Climate Breakfast Seminar Series
Attaining a just energy transition in the European Union: A matter of solidarity?
The efforts to achieve the far-reaching climate change goals adopted, among others, in the European Climate Law requires coordinated and fairly distributed efforts among Member States. However, with regard to both Member States’ sovereign choices over energy production mixes and, prospectively, the use of climate change mitigation technologies (e.g., Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage), the European Union is still facing major coordination challenges due to the existing overarching governance architecture framed, foremost, under Article 194 TFEU.
Against this background, the principle of solidarity in energy matters has been recently spelt out by the Court of Justice of the European Union in the OPAL case (C-848/19). The recognition of energy solidarity in both its vertical and horizontal dimension is a watershed moment for the future implementation of the EU’s climate change objectives insofar as it entails a specific set of legal obligations upon both the European Union institution and the Member States. More specifically, the application of energy solidarity entails a more accurate and pervasive appreciation, on a case-by-case basis, of the interests pursued by the European Union and its Member States when adopting specific measures or decisions.
The talk deals with the tenets of energy solidarity to analyse also through the framework of energy justice to better appraise its full economic, social and legal dimension also as a driver of the energy transition in the European Union.
About the speaker
Matteo Fermeglia is Assistant Professor of Climate Law and Governance at Amsterdam University, Faculty of Humanities and at the Amsterdam School for Transnational, European and Regional Studies. He holds a Ph.D. in Legal Sciences at the University of Udine, Italy. His Ph.D. Thesis focused on the legal aspects of the European Union Emission Trading System.
In 2017, he was visiting scholar at Columbia Law School, where he collaborated with the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and the Columbia Centre for Sustainable Investments. He was also visiting scholar at Copenhagen University, Graz University and Wyoming University. He regularly (co-) authors internationally peer-reviewed journal articles in the field of environmental and climate law. Matteo was awarded the Raúl Estrada-Oyuela Award for Emerging Scholars in Climate Law in 2017 by Lexxion publishers.
Matteo’s research interest relates more generally to the European Union’s climate change law and governance. More specifically, Matteo’s interest lies in the interplay between international economic law – in particular, international investment law – and the international and domestic climate change legal regimes. Matteo’s research interests relate also to climate change litigation, soils protection and decarbonization of the energy sector.
Register for the seminar. Zoom link is provided upon registration.