The interface between EU climate and energy law
| Published date | 01 February 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1023263X231159976 |
| Author | Seita Romppanen,Kaisa Huhta |
| Date | 01 February 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
The interface between EU
climate and energy law
Seita Romppanen* and Kaisa Huhta**
Abstract
This article critically discusses the interface between EU climate and energy law. It argues that legal
scholarship should explore and expose the interrelationships between these legal disciplines
through shared understanding and evaluation of both the disparities and synergies found. It
maps the origins of EU climate and energy law to demonstrate how they have evolved side by
side, guided by separate legal rationales and distinct legislative developments yet sharing partially
overlapping objectives and instruments. By comparing EU climate and energy law as legal disci-
plines, the article identifies dynamic and static attributes that characterize the interface between
EU climate and energy law. These attributes, combined with the evolution of EU climate and
energy law, are key elements in facilitating disciplinary convergence. As an outcome of the analysis,
the article calls for critical legal scholarship that acknowledges the climate and energy law inter-
face, allowing disciplinary convergence to develop between them.
Keywords
EU climate law, EU energy law, disciplinary convergence, critical legal scholarship
1. Introduction
The EU climate and energy acquis is evolving at an unprecedented pace. In late June 2021, the
European Union (EU) adopted the European Climate Law, which sets out a binding objective of
climate neutrality in the EU by 2050 and a net greenhouse gas emission (GHG) reduction target
of at least 55% by 2030.
1
In addition to the GHG emission reduction target, the climate neutrality
*
Finnish Environment Institute, Helsinki, Finland
**
University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland
Corresponding author:
Kaisa Huhta, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland.
Email: kaisa.huhta@uef.fi
1. Articles1 and 4 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 June 2021 establish-
ing the framework for achieving climate neutrality and amending Regulations (EC) No 401/2009 and (EU) 2018/1999
Article
Maastricht Journal of European and
Comparative Law
2023, Vol. 30(1) 45–62
© The Author(s) 2023
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DOI: 10.1177/1023263X231159976
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objective in the energy sector is pursued through gradually tightening targets on the use of renew-
able energy and on the improvement in energy efficiency.
2
In July 2021, the European Commission
published the ‘Fit for 55’package,
3
which is an extensive cluster of interconnected legislative pro-
posals to achieve the promises of the European Climate Law and the European Green Deal,
4
which
is a green growth strategy published by the Commission in 2019. The ‘Fit for 55’package will
revise and update several key pieces of EU climate and energy legislation.
5
As demonstrated by the recent developments in the EU, climate and energy law are inherently
interconnected. Yet climate and energy law scholars often argue past one other when trying to
capture the essence of each other’s discipline. We tend to follow different journals, emphasize dif-
ferent elements of the same legal instruments in our teaching, and our scholarly perceptions of EU
climate and energy law are distinctly divergent. In recent years, for example, the progressive devel-
opment of EU climate and energy law has been discussed in EU climate and energy law scholarship,
with energy law scholars describing the framework as ambitious
6
and climate law scholars describ-
ing it as not ambitious enough
7
to achieve decarbonization. Why would two legal disciplines so
close to one another have such different perceptions of the same body of legal norms? This seem-
ingly simple perception highlights a divergence in legal thinking that inspired the writing of this
article and motivated a broader study of EU climate and energy law and scholarship to understand
and explore the misalignment in relation to the study of each other’sfields.
(‘European Climate Law’). See also European Commission, Stepping up Europe’s 2030 climate ambition. Investing in a
climate-neutral future for the benefit of our people, COM(2020) 562 final, p. 2.
2. The targets in the legislative framework currently in force require cuts of at least 40% in GHG emissions (from 1990
levels), a 32% share of renewable energy and a 32.5% improvement in energy efficiency. See European Council con-
clusions, (23–24 October 2014), para. 2 and 4. The targets for renewable energy and energy efficiency were revised
upwards in 2018. See Article 3(1) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11
December 2018 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources, [2018] OJ L 328/82. These targets
reflect the targets enshrined in legislation currently in force. Achieving climate neutrality set in the European Climate
Law requires enhanced contributions from all economic sectors for which emissions or removals of GHGs are regulated
under EU law. The relevant climate and energy legislation, also covering, e.g., effort sharing and the land use sector, is to
be revised. See Recitals 10 and 26 of the European Climate Law.
3. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social
Committee and the Committee of the Regions, ‘Fit for 55’: delivering the EU’s 2030 Climate Target on the way to
climate neutrality, COM (2021) 550 final, p. 10 (hereinafter ‘the “Fit for 55”package’); K. Huhta, ‘The ‘Fit for
55’-package in the Context of EU Energy Law and Policy’,1Oil, Gas & Energy Law (2022).
4. European Commission, The European Green Deal, COM(2019) 640 final.
5. The ‘Fit for 55’package.
6. For example, L. Hancher, K. Talus and M. Wüstenberg, ‘Retrospective Application of Legal Rules in the European
Union: Recent Practice in the Energy Sector’,39Journal of Energy and Natural Resources Law (2021), p. 65, 72;
J. M. Jankowski, ‘A European Legal Perspective on Wind Energy’, 28(2) Journal of Energy & Natural Resources
Law (2010), p. 265; R. Rybski, ‘Energy in the European Green Deal: Impacts and Recommendations for MENA
Countries’,Journal of World Energy Law & Business (2022), https://doi.org/10.1093/jwelb/jwac033.
7. See, e.g., K. Kulovesi and S. Oberthür, ‘Assessing the EU’s 2030 Climate and Energy Policy Framework: Incremental
Change Toward Radical Transformation?’,29Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law
(2020), p. 151, 165; H. Jonker, ‘How the EU Can Achieve its Bold New Climate Target’, World Resources Institute, 16
December 2020, C. Schwarte, ‘EU Climate Policy under the Paris Agreement’,11Climate Law (2021), p. 157, 160;
W. Obergassel et al., ‘Turning Point Glasgow? An Assessment of the Climate Conference COP26’,4Carbon &
Climate Law Review (2021), p. 271, 272–273. On climate law’s incremental development, see C. Dupont,
S. Oberthür and I. von Homeyer, ‘The Covid-19 Crisis: A Critical Juncture for EU Climate Policy Development?’,
42(8) Journal of European Integration (2020).
46 Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law 30(1)
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