CALL FOR PROPOSALS - Contribution to the Conference "Shining a Light on Energy: 10 Years of the Lisbon Treaty" (17-18 June 2020)

The Natolin Energy & Climate Society at the College of Europe in Natolin, in collaboration with the Conference Scientific Committee, welcomes proposals for research to be presented at the conference "Shining a Light on Energy: 10 Years of the Lisbon Treaty". The abstract submission deadline is 15 January 2020.

The two-day conference will take place on 17-18 June 2020, on the beautiful Natolin campus, in Warsaw. The conference will provide an interdisciplinary platform, where researchers and representatives from different sectors can discuss topics related to Energy and Climate; offering a critical analysis of the past 10 years of the Lisbon Treaty and their perspectives on what further actions are needed going forward.

Research papers will undergo a process of peer review and following the conference, we aim to bring together a selection of conference papers in an academic publication in order for the conference to be of lasting value to the European community.

This conference will take place at a historic time for Energy and Climate in the EU – marking 10 years of the inclusion of Energy in the Lisbon Treaty. There is now a need to bring people together from different perspectives and areas of expertise, to share knowledge and construct holistic and sustainable solutions.

Background to the Conference

Ten years since the Lisbon Treaty included Energy in the European Union’s shared competences, the challenges confronting the EU in the areas of energy and climate are more urgent than ever. Some of the most pressing issues are the challenges for fossil fuel energy sources due to climate change, deficient integration of energy markets, significant import dependency, limited diversification of sources and transport routes, insufficient energy infrastructure development, the challenges posed by the increasing share of renewables, the need to accelerate clean energy innovations and the need to improve energy efficiency as a means to reduce demand.

The inclusion of Art. 194 TFEU has provided the EU with the legal basis to: ensure the functioning of the energy market; to ensure the security of supply in the Union; to promote energy efficiency and energy saving, and develop new and renewable forms of energy; and to promote the interconnection of energy networks. This should be conducted in the spirit of solidarity between the member states and in the context of establishing and functioning of the internal market. Additionally, Art. 191 TFEU gave the EU competence to adopt measures concerning the preservation and improvement of the environment with an added emphasis on combatting climate change, guided by the principles of precaution, prevention and rectifying pollution at source, and on the "polluter pays" principle.

On this basis, the European Union has, over the past decade, adopted a variety of high-level legal acts setting milestones for accelerated development of the EU energy and climate policy, such as the legal framework for security of electricity and gas supply, oil stocks, critical infrastructure and cyber-security and legislation implementing the 2030 Climate and Energy Policy Framework (setting EU-wide climate and energy goals), including eight legislative proposals covering a range of energy policies on the "Clean and Secure Energy for All Europeans".

Conference Objectives

In light of the above, the time has come to review the progress made in the ten years since the Lisbon Treaty and to discuss what has changed for energy policy, what has been achieved and what challenges the EU may face in the coming years.

To enable this, the conference will provide a step forward in thinking around the EU’s role in addressing climate and energy issues by bringing together a range of academics and sector experts. The conference will aim to offer a reflection on the past 10 years and assess how the Lisbon Treaty has shaped energy policy across the EU, while also providing recommendations for the future of energy governance and possible solutions to the upcoming challenges within the EU.

Who can participate?

The conference will aim to bring together expertise from various academic backgrounds, as well as experts from other sectors including policy-makers, think tanks, representatives of NGOs etc. In this way, we hope to facilitate an engaging and relevant discussion, considering the real-world challenges and implications of the questions to be addressed, and an interdisciplinary dialogue, aiding current research and offering mutually useful insights.

The conference will be open to attendees from all fields, with a particular focus on early-career researchers and young professionals working on climate and energy governance and with an interest in EU affairs. We anticipate participation from students from the College of Europe both in Natolin and Bruges, as well as from Poland and neighbouring countries.

Call for Proposals

In order to select conference speakers, we are inviting authors to submit their abstracts before 15 January 2020. Abstracts should be around 250-300 words, including a preliminary title and the main thesis of the proposed paper. The full paper (or an advanced draft) will then need to be submitted in early June 2020, ahead of the conference.

We are seeking papers relating to a wide range of topics of relevance to the area of EU energy and climate governance, including, but not limited to:

  • The functioning of the energy market
  • Energy/climate policy in view of global energy developments
  • Energy security
  • Bilateral energy relations within the EU legal framework
  • Energy efficiency
  • Renewable energy sources
  • Interconnection of energy sources and sector coupling
  • The impact of the energy transition on climate
  • Multi-level energy and climate governance
  • Energy technologies and innovation
  • The future of mobility
  • The compatibility of climate targets with a liberalised energy market
  • Social aspects of energy and climate policies
  • The effect of EU energy/climate policy on competition policy and market integrity

After the submission of abstracts, the conference’s scientific committee will evaluate each abstract based on its relevance, significance, clarity, and originality. Following the conference, we expect to include a number of the papers in the conference’s publication, which is scheduled for publication in 2021. More details on the publication are outlined below.

We would like to emphasize that authors from all backgrounds are invited to submit abstracts, in order to support our interdisciplinary approach which will foster a synthesis of ideas and bring together a range of perspectives to enable a valuable and unique discussion.

Submission Instructions

Please submit 250-300 word abstracts by 15 January 2020 to: natolin-energyclimate.pl@coleurope.eu.

We expect to inform successful authors by 28 February 2020, with a provisional date for the submission of a full draft paper on 1 June 2020. Full papers should be around 7000-9000 words, to be considered for inclusion in the publication.

Conference Publication

In order for the conference to have a lasting value to the European community, we are anticipating to bring together selected conference papers in an academic publication. All papers submitted will be considered for inclusion in the publication, and will undergo a process of peer review to assure their quality ahead of publication which is scheduled for 2021.

The publication will be targeted at academic institutions, and will aim to provide new material to literature in this area, and to help share future thinking around the EU’s role in energy and climate governance. Discussions on the exact format of the publication are currently underway, and full guidelines for the publication will be communicated in due course.

How to Contact Us

Natolin Energy & Climate Society
College of Europe Natolin campus
Nowoursynowska 84
02-797 Warsaw, Poland
natolin-energyclimate.pl@coleurope.eu