The EU’s Renewable Energy ‘Permitting Turn’ – Prompted by Climate Action, Driven by Geopolitics

Lecture Description: The European Union has led an endeavour to reduce the administrative barriers impeding the uptake of renewable energy sources (RES) since the late-1990s. Intervention was largely driven by climate considerations, but recent geopolitical turmoil—including Russia’s war on Ukraine and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz—have shifted emphasis to supply security and competitiveness-driven intervention and accelerated the process as well. The bloc has undertaken a ‘permitting turn’, as a part of which leaders look to roll back the ‘red tape’ impeding RES markets. Change has become more pertinent to a broadening set of interests, as fossil fuel import dependence exposed risks stemming from deeply entrenched practices. The Commission introduced measures as a part of REPowerEU (2022), RED III (2023), and AccelerateEU (2026), among others, that have prompted action to remove impediments to market expansion ranging from the identification of renewable acceleration areas to establishing renewables energy sources as objects of overriding public interest. On the face of it, these reflect neoliberalism’s market expansionary dynamics, but this is intertwined with environmental politics driven action to meet energy demand in a low carbon manner and the attempt to ensure energy autonomy. However, these measures carry risks as environmental and social guardrails to capital’s expansion are uprooted. The presentation will thus explore how the EU has approached deregulation in relation to its energy transition and how recent geopolitical events have impacted policy.

Register here

John Szabo is an SDG Visiting Fellow at University of Toronto. He is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of World Economics in Budapest and an Assistant Professor at Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest.