Europe needs a safe, affordable and climate-friendly energy supply. In 2015, clean energy solutions received more than 300 billion euros in global investments. Now, the EU has as plan to draw in 177 billion euros of private and public investments annually from 2021. This should also result in 900,000 new jobs. How to go about realising this vision? “Building a low carbon economy can most efficiently be achieved while working together with other countries,” said Madis Tilga, adviser to the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Office in Estonia organising the conference. “This is where international agreements come in. If someone is left out, then the market is distorted and other countries have to compensate. Uneven and unrelated developments in the region can lead to conflicts. This is something we should be able to avoid with discussions and meetings like this,” he added, to further highlight the importance of the energy conference.
At the moment, several important energy subjects are under discussion in the EU. What does the future hold for renewable energy and energy efficiency? What will electricity consumption look like in the future and what kind of business models will it involve? These are the questions that directly relate to the public sector, local authorities, experts in the field, entrepreneurs dealing with energetics and also consumers. At a time when the EU is negotiating over eight extremely important legal acts for the energy future of Europe, the Nordic Council of Ministers is holding a high-level conference to discuss the effects of EU’s Energy Union policies for the Nordic and Baltic States.
The conference will concentrate on the following topics that are currently also being discussed with member states:
• modifications to the renewable energy directive and the energy efficiency directive;
• governance strategy for 2030 (streamlining of planning and reporting);
• new proposal on electricity market design.
Nordic and Baltic ministries, representatives of the European Commission, the International Energy Agency, think tanks and entrepreneurs will share their views regarding future prospects. Among other high-level speakers, the conference will also bring to Estonia Jean Arnold Vinois (Jacques Delors Institute) and Mårten Westrup, the chief officer coordinating energy policy in DG Energy.
Conference programme.
Speakers information.
Conference stream online at Delfi Business.
The conference is organised by the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Office in Estonia, the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy of Norway, and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications of the Republic of Estonia.