Last week the European Commission presented an extensive package of legislative proposals (“Clean Energy Package”) that are intended to achieve and implement the European Union’s climate change and clean energy targets for 2030: a 40% cut of CO2 emissions, a share of 27% for renewable energies, and energy savings of 30%. The package presents both … Continue Reading
Recently, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) held that EU Member States are not obliged to require an environmental impact assessment for all exploratory drillings. However, the Court’s decision can also be interpreted as requiring Member States to demand such impact assessment if the drillings can be classified as “deep drillings” and, … Continue Reading
While the European Commission’s Recommendation on Shale Gas of January 22, 2014 is not legally binding, it may have different legal impacts on EU institutions and agencies as well as public authorities and private parties in the EU Member States. The attached article published in the Environmental Law Reporter describes four different legal scenarios that could … Continue Reading
On January 22, 2014, the European Commission published its Communication and Recommendation on Shale Gas. The documents finally published are essentially the same as the draft versions that we reported in our blog post of January 17, 2014 and only introduce minor changes. Among other things, the Recommendation now confirms that it “neither implies that … Continue Reading
