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

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.

Period	3 May 2017
Held at	KBH Center for Energy, Law and Business at UT Texas, United States