Governance & Policy

This paper assesses the current situation of the renewable energy market in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) along with the inherent technical and economic challenges posed by the rapid deployment of renewable capacities.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is the process of removing carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial processes before it enters the atmosphere, delivering it to a specific storage site and sequestering it there for a long time (Franci and Franci, 2016).

The debate around carbon capture and storage (CCS) is often focused on costs. But social acceptance may be the Achille’s heel of CCS, particularly where narratives stress the risks of storage. Having signed the Paris Agreement, many of the world’s leading economies havemanifestedtheir plans to become carbon neutral in the coming decades.

With a strong external dimension, the European Green Deal was designed to be transformational not only for the European Union (EU), but for its partners as well. The EU has for a long time relied on climate diplomacy as an important tool of its foreign policy, with some notable examples of successful cooperation (e.g., cooperation with China, Japan and South Korea on the design and implementation of their ETS systems), and it is only set to increase in importance with the European Green Deal.

EU-Russia relations have sunk to a new low after the poisoning and subsequent arrest of Alexey Nalvany, the prominent Russian opposition figure. The elephant in the room is once again Nord Stream 2, almost finished but as contentious as ever.

After long months during which COVID-19 has dominated every policy agenda in Europe and elsewhere, the roll out of vaccines finally gives policy makers the opportunity to focus on other priorities as well. Beyond the challenge of repairing the economic damage left by lockdowns and mobility restrictions, Europe is expected to deliver on its flagship initiative, the European Green Deal.

Joe Biden made it clear during the U.S. presidential campaign that climate change would be one of the priorities of his administration, after four years in which president Trump loosened environmental legislation and openly stated his skepticism of climate science.

The oil and gas sector has taken a hard hit during the COVID-19 crisis. The unprecedented halt in global mobility resulting from months of lockdown in most countries, followed by persisting travel restrictions, has crushed demand for energy, leading to record-low oil prices.