Seminar

The new Guidelines on State aid for Climate, Environmental Protection and Energy Seminar

Hovedinnhold

Av Elmira OshnaviePublisert: 28.01.2022

Bergen, 11 of February 13.00 to 15.00

On the 27^th of January 2022 the European Commission adopted the new Guidelines on State aid for Climate, Environmental Protection and Energy (CEEAG). It is expected that this key soft law document will be adopted in the next weeks. The new Guidelines aim at being an important contributing factor to the realization of the ambitious EU objectives and targets set out in the European Green Deal. Additionally, the Guidelines aim at aligning the State aid rules with recent regulatory changes in the field of environment and energy.

To fulfil this role, the Guidelines support the decarbonisation of the economy in a broad and flexible manner open to all technologies that can contribute, including renewables, energy efficiency measures, aid for clean mobility, infrastructure, circular economy, pollution reduction, protection and restoration of biodiversity as well as measures to ensure security of energy supply. Furthermore, the new guidelines aim at achieving these goals at the lowest possible cost for taxpayers and without undue distortions of competition in the Single Market.

Thanks to the generous support and collaboration of the Law Firm Schjødt, the Bergen Center for Competition Law & Economics and the Research Groups for Research group for Natural Resource Law, Environmental Law and Development Law and Research Group for European Law invite you to this seminar.

The seminar will be a hybrid session open for participation both through Zoom and in the Auditorium in JUS II at UiB.

Agenda & Speakers

13.00 – Leigh Hancher and Ignacio Herrera Anchustegui: Welcome and Introductory remarks
13.05 - Malgorzata Agnieszka Cyndecka, University of Bergen: The Climate, Environmental Protection and Energy Guidelines in a broad State aid context
13.30 - Vaido Poldoja, EFTA Surveillance Authority: The new Guidelines on State aid for Climate, Environmental protection and Energy – way forward for ESA
13.55 - Birgitte Jourdan-Andersen, Schjødt: The Guidelines and their consequence for the development of energy infrastructure
14.20: Q&A panel session
14.50: Final words and refreshments

About the speakers:

Malgorzata Cyndecka is an Associate Professor at the University of Bergen. She is an expert on State aid issues as well as data privacy and data protection. Her PhD thesis "The Applicability and Application of the Market Economy Investor Principle" won the European State Aid Law Quarterly PhD Award for the best PhD thesis in the field of EU/EEA State aid law written in the period 2012-2016. It was published by Kluwer Law International. She leads the course “EU and EEA State Aid Law” at the University of Bergen.

Foto/ill.:

UiB

Vaido Poldoja is a Senior Legal Officer at the Competition and State aid directorate of the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA). Among other tasks, Vaido handles adopting ESA’s new Guidelines on State aid for Climate, Environmental protection and Energy. Prior to joining ESA, Vaido worked in various state aid units at the European Commission (DG Competition), and spent several years in private practice at a pan-Baltic law firm in Estonia.

Foto/ill.:

Vaido Poldoja

Birgitte Jourdan-Andersen is a partner at the Law Firm Schjødt, working in the field of renewable energy, the green transition, taxonomy, EU Law and state aid. She has more than 20 years of experience with European energy, environment and climate law – 16 of which she worked in Brussels for the EFTA Secretariat, DG Energy and the EFTA Surveillance Authority. The last four years, until she became a partner at Schjødt this year, she headed the Brussels office of Energy Norway.