FSR

This is a podcast of the series "Spot on Climate" of the Climate area of the Florence School of Regulation. In this podcast, Albert FERRARI discusses with Axel Michaelowa, Head of the Group on "International Climate Policy" at the University of Zurich and leading expert in the design of the market mechanisms of the Paris Agreement and the Kyoto Protocol.

The podcast episode explores how can we ensure that international carbon markets are in line with the long-term target of the Paris Agreement through three questions:

- what relevance will have the issue of double-counting in the upcoming talks about the Rulebook on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement?

- how could Emissions Trading Schemes (ETS) linking contribute to the achievement of the Paris objectives?

- how can carbon markets, especially the market-based mechanism under the Paris Agreement, fit in the Architecture established at the COP21, given the diversity of nature and targets in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)?

Following the plenary session on “The future energy mix” of the 1st IAEE Online Conference, Piero Carlo dos Reis interviewed Prof. Keigo Akimoto (RITE), who chaired this session, in order to ask him about his main reflections. Prof. Keigo explained that the future energy mix will be largely driven by a wide range of technological innovations in both energy supply side and demand side aiming at deep GHG emissions reduction (e.g., renewables, batteries, negative emissions technologies …). However, Prof. Keigo believes that it will be challenging to coordinate deep emissions reduction across several countries at different economic growth stages, some prioritising cheap energy costs for their energy-intensive industries, others implementing carbon border adjustment mechanisms (CBAMs). Ultimately, if we wish to achieve deep emissions reduction worldwide, we have to make an effort to have both a good coordination among countries and clean technological innovations leading to cheap energy costs.

In the slipstream of the concluding plenary session on the future of the energy system, Tim Schittekatte interviews Christophe Bonnery who chaired the session to ask him about his main reflections. Bonnery explains that in order to meet our netzero goals we can expect more government intervention in supporting the investment in new power generation. Also, Bonnery emphasizes that not only increased deployment of renewables are key in the green transition but that there is also an important role for the distribution system operator to act as an enabler of a greener, more decentralized power system.

Nuclear energy is a low-carbon energy source that could play an important role in the decarbonisation of the energy sector and provide additional benefits in terms of local employment and security of supply. However, the development of nuclear energy, at least in Western countries, has been limited in the past few years. The industry is ready to do its part but invites governments to make clear decisions and provide a level playing field where nuclear can compete with other capital-intensive and low-carbons sources. Innovations like small-scale reactors and combined heat and power provision could improve the economics and the financiability of nuclear investments. At the same time, it is essential to plan for the long-term and preserve in countries like France the existing supply chain with all its skills and competencies so that new reactors can be delivered timely and cost-competitively over the next decades

The afternoon parallel session of the 1st IAEE Online Conference addressed these topics on 9 June 2021. In this interview/podcast, Nicolò Rossetto (Florence School of Regulation) and Michel Berthélemy (OECD – NEA) discuss the main takeaways.

Prof Anna Creti and I discuss what are the key issues raised while addressing SDG7 targets. Are we ready ? Do we have the data and evidence to make informed decisions ? What would be an appropriate framework to tackle the issue at the distribution end? What lessons can be learnt from experiences on the ground?

Follow the podcast to know what the panellist had to say about these questions

On Tuesday, 8 June 2021, the 1st IAEE Online Conference, the Morning Parallel Session 2.1 on ‘Energy access around the world’ took place.

The session was presided by Prof. Anna Creti, Université Paris-Dauphine.

The panellists were

- Prof. Jörg Peters, Research with Impact - RWI, ESSEN

- Prof. Ignacio Pérez-Arriaga, MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society-

- Assistant Prof. Federico Pontoni, Bocconi University

On Tuesday, 8 June 2021, the 1st IAEE Online Conference, the Parallel Session 2.1 on ‘Energy Transition and Local Governance’ took place.

The session was presided by Michael Pollitt (University of Cambridge). The panellists were Marianne Laigneau (Enedis), Matthew E. Kahn (University of Southern California), Anna Alberini, (University of Maryland) and Michael Caramanis (Boston University).

This podcast was created as a part of the FSR’s Lights on Women initiative in joint partnership with Inter-American Development Bank under the Lights on Women LAC Edition series.

The Caribbean region has a growing renewable energy sector that is adding close to half a million jobs and skills globally each year. At the same time the prices of renewable sources such as wind and solar are dropping, as are technologies like batteries, and governments see a golden opportunity here.

In this podcast, Dr Malaika Masson is a Senior Regional Energy Specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). discuss these opportunities and challenges ahead for the Caribbean region in our latest podcast.

Dr Malaika Masso Bio

She brings 15 years of experience bridging governance and institutional policy with transformative investments in the energy sector. She currently manages the IDB energy portfolios for Jamaica and Bahamas, focusing on integrated resource planning, investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency and alternative fuels for transport. Prior to joining the IDB, Malaika worked for 9 years on public private partnerships and extractive industry governance within the UK Government, Chatham House, and Shell Group and served on public boards. Malaika received a Ph.D. in 2003 in Management Studies from Cambridge Judge Business School, Cambridge University.

Podcast Series

"Energy Transition – the Commission’s State aid decisions on the Dutch and German coal phase-out laws"

This podcast episode discusses the European Commission’s State aid decision concerning Germany’s coal phase-out law of 2020, in particular its auction mechanism to compensate operators for hard coal closures. The episode highlights some criticalities in the decision and also touches upon the outcome of the first two auction rounds.

Podcast Series

"Energy Transition – the Commission’s State aid decisions on the Dutch and German coal phase-out laws"

This podcast episode addresses the European Commission’s State aid decision regarding the Dutch coal phase-out law passed in 2019. Starting with the landmark Urgenda judgment in the background of the Dutch coal phase-out law, it discusses the details of the Commission’s decision concerning the compensation granted by The Netherlands to Vattenfall for the early closure of its Hemweg plant.

In this episode, Michele Azalbert, CEO of Engie Hydrogen Business Unit, joins Joana Freitas to discuss the role of green hydrogen in the energy transition. Green hydrogen has created quite the buzz. From the European Commission's ambitious roadmap for green hydrogen until 2050 to US President Joe Biden's promise to use renewable energy to produce green hydrogen. Other countries like Chile, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Australia are also announcing major investments in green hydrogen. Michele Azalbert sees hydrogen “as the missing link of the energy transition” as it would enable to store large quantities of renewables over a long period and to decarbonize several sectors, as industry, transport, construction and energy. Despite several false starts, hydrogen is gathering strong momentum as a key energy transition pillar. “Clearly, it is not the first time neither the second time hydrogen has been talked about, but we think this time seems to be different. Green hydrogen is not yet competitive. Today we are in the same kind of context, same momentum as we were 10 years ago with regard to Solar PV”. As Michele Azalbert starts to mention, green hydrogen emerges as an opportunity to decarbonize the hard-to-abate sectors. However, in the EU, the current estimated costs for brown hydrogen are around 1.5 €/kg, while green hydrogen costs around 2.5-5.5 €/kg. This competitiveness gap has been raising concerns on the financial sustainability of green hydrogen as a solution. In Azalbert’s perspective, “we have to go all together at scale now”, working both on the supply and demand side. Although the production of green hydrogen is not still economically viable, several energy companies are reinforcing their investments in electrolysers and green hydrogen facilities. Michele Azalbert touches on the specific case of Engie to explain: “The market is not yet there. Technical solutions are not yet available at scale and the customer is maybe not today willing to pay. However, at the level of Engie, we see ourselves as a hydrogen economy enabler. We need to activate the market.”