Disconnected Paradigms in Decarbonizing the Grid: EU and WTO Law between Legitimizing Support Schemes and Entrenching the Status Quo

  • A. Marhold (Speaker)

    Activity: Talk or presentation typesOral presentationScientific

    Description

    Although liberalization of the European Internal Energy Market (IEM) in
    se contributes to decarbonization of the electricity grid, it does not compensate sufficiently
    for market failures and has left clean energy at a competitive disadvantage
    vis-à-vis fossil fuels. Interventions in the market for the sake of public interest are
    necessary by means of introducing support schemes and binding targets for clean
    energy on the EU level. However, while arguably consistent with EU disciplines
    pertaining to State Aid, EU support schemes may easily fall foul of WTO subsidies
    regulation. This article argues that EU and WTO law are disconnected paradigms
    in this respect: EU legislation by its design attempts to legitimize support schemes
    for renewable energy, not necessarily considering their consistency with the ASCM.
    WTO law, on the other hand, makes such schemes sensitive to dispute settlement,
    thereby entrenching the status quo of leaving renewables trailing fossil fuels.
    Period3 May 2017
    Held atKBH Center for Energy, Law and Business at UT Texas, United States