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Energy & Climate Change Law Firm in Austria

A key driver of the global economy, the energy sector is affected by and affects global geopolitics, economics and regulation. You require advisors who not only understand your industry but also work on cutting edge issues with leaders of energy companies, regulators, governments, industry bodies and investors.

Our teams span 42 countries and work within every part of the energy sector, including upstream and downstream oil & gas, electricity in all its forms including generation, networks, wholesale and retail markets, nuclear and renewables including solar and other green energy and clean tech. Over the last 25 years, our experts have helped shape the sector by creating the legal frameworks upon which many of your markets are based.

Whether you are a NOC, IOC, independent, electricity company, investor, government or financial institution, we have the energy specialists to meet all your strategic challenges globally.

Our multi-disciplinary teams were among the first to advise on ground-breaking global oil and gas M&A and on power projects in Europe, to establish a single electricity market in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, lead historic electricity industry reform in Mexico and work on renewable energy projects globally. This collective experience means we can pre-empt and provide answers to the commercial, risk and regulatory issues you face in the energy sector.

Get to know our team of energy law experts here!

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Renewables
Our comprehensive expertise in the area of renewable energies is founded on decades of experience, which we have gained through our active involvement
26/09/2023
CMS Energy Events | Videos and presentations of past events
Videos and presentations of past events
10/07/2023
Electricity Storage Facilities in Austria
Legal and Regulatory Framework
25/11/2022
Energy Savings Guide
This CMS Guide is designed to shine a light on the wide variety of energy saving laws in selected CEE countries by explaining the most important legal measures and helping you to discover where your opportunities might lie. Political and legal framework Energy transformation requires building up new energy sources and that takes time. Saving energy, however, is the quickest and cheapest way to address the current energy crisis, which is mainly caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Reducing energy consumption cuts households’ and companies’ high energy bills. Building on the “Fit for 55” package of proposals and completing the actions on energy security of supply and storage, the European Commission’s REPowerEU plan put forward a set of five actions, the first of which is energy saving. Union law sets forth mandatory saving goals for Member States but leaves them plenty of leeway to choose between a variety of measures. Applicant countries and many others have passed energy savings laws and targets too – offering additional flexibility. As a framework, the Fit for 55 package and the European Climate Law (REG 2021/1119) sets out a binding, irreversible reduction of anthropogenic emissions. By 2030, 55% of the net GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions compared to 1990 must be saved. By 2050, the mandatory net zero emission goal must be achieved. Regulation 2022/1032 requires that member states fill their gas storage facilities to at least 80-90% or that they store at least 35% of their average annual consumption in European storage facilities. Reducing consumption over the years reduces the filling obligation. Since August 2022, obligatory reductions in gas consumption apply to EU member states (Regulation 2022/1032). The core innovation of this regime is the Union alarm that can be triggered by the European Council if there is a material risk of grave gas supply shortages, extraordinary gas demand or a national alarm pursuant to Directive 2017/1938 in at least five Member States. Once a Union alarm has been triggered and for as long as it remains in force, member states must reduce their gas consumption by 15%. There is a partial exception if this would otherwise cause an electricity crisis in the respective member state. However, the steering measures to be taken and whether certain groups of gas consumers are granted more favourable conditions remain at the member state’s dis­cre­tion. Re­gard­ing electricity, Regulation 2022/1854 on an emergency intervention to address high energy prices aims to reduce electricity consumption by 10% and ease the pressure on electricity prices through revenue caps. Again, Member States are free to choose the appropriate measures to reduce gross electricity consumption and meet the 10% target. Additional rules apply to the fuel consumption of trucks or the energy consumption of district heating/cooling. The CMS Guide The result of these regulations concerning energy saving has been the in­tro­duc­tion of a wide variety of energy saving laws in individual states; and many more measures are still to come. This CMS Guide is designed to shine a light on these regulations by explaining the most important legal measures and helping you to discover where your opportunities might lie. For each jurisdiction, the guide is structured into: (1) a country overview,  (2) national relief measures for high energy prices,  (3) na­tion­al/re­gion­al/com­mun­al energy savings measures, and  (4) energy storage status and incentives. The following measures have been chosen by the states represented in this  guide:  sub­sidies to end-consumers (Austria in general for energy prices; Croatia for gas con­sump­tion), price caps: electricity (Croatia for households, undertakings and certainpublic consumers; Ukraine for house­holds),re­duced VAT rate (Croatia, North Macedonia), tax incentives to privately store gas (Ukraine); exemption from steering measures for privately storing gas (Aus­tria),sub­sidies to compensate for high energy prices (Bulgaria and Slovakia, in Slovenia for enterprises, in Türkiye for agriculture) and energy saving measures: (Croatia for SMEs); the reallocation of EU funds to support energy consumers (Slov­akia); sub­sidies for energy storage solutions (Austria, Bulgaria and Ukraine) or for heat producers (Ukraine),energy efficiency measures incl. digitalisation (Bul­garia),re­duced hours of electricity or heating supply (North Macedonia) or of gas supply (Slov­akia),re­duc­tion of energy consumption by the public administration (Austria, North Macedonia, Slovenia), andobligations on gas storage operators to feed gas into the grid (Austria, Slovakia) or to supply heat producers at preferential prices (Ukraine). rewards for voluntary reduction of gas and/or electric en­ergy con­sump­tion (Slovenia)educed permitting requirements for PV and wind plants (Türkiye).

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13/05/2024
Grüne Transformation konkret: Rechtliche Wege für Energieprojekte und nachhaltige...
Teil 2 der Seminarreihe "Nachhaltige Infrastruktur, grüne Transformation und Stadtentwicklung für Städte und Gemeinden"
18/03/2024
Emerging Europe’s Energy Transition
CEE Legal Matters | 12 March 2024
12/03/2024
After EU Commission's first decision on Carbon Contracts for Difference,...
The European Commission approved the first Carbon Contracts for Difference (CCfD) scheme under the new Guidelines on State aid for climate, environmental protection and energy 2022 (CEEAG).Fol­low­ing the...
05/03/2024
European Commission authorises EUR 550 million Italian hydrogen aid scheme
On 30 January 2024, the European Commission authorised an Italian hydrogen aid scheme with a budget of EUR 550 million under the Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework.The Green Deal industrial planThe...
01/03/2024
Environmental and social factors in mining: a spotlight on Colombia
Environmental and social considerations have been critical to the business of mining since long before the term ESG gained its current popularity. Mining activities are politically sensitive because they...
23/02/2024
The CBAM – what is it and how will it affect the market?
Regulation (EU) 2023/956 establishing a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) entered into force on 17 May 2023. The implementation of the CBAM has been divided into a transitional period (from 1...
25/01/2024
Emerging Europe M&A Report 2023/2024
Despite geopolitical tensions, fears of recession and strong inflationary pressures across the EU, as well as the fiscal tightening needed to contain them, M&A in the CEE region has remained reasonably buoyant. Findings from the CMS Emer­ging Europe M&A 2023/24 report, published in cooperation with EMIS, demonstrate the resilience of the Emerging Europe deals market as activity holds firm against a backdrop of geopolitical tensions and strong inflationary pressures. Welcome to the 2023/24 edition of the Emerging Europe report.
24/01/2024
Energy transition meets corporate law reform: Is the FlexCo ideal for energy...
Among the statutory models available for energy communities (ECs) in Austria – which are particularly active in the collective generation, sale, and consumption of renewable energy – both so-called...
19/01/2024
Greenwashing: Stricter EU rules on environmental marketing ban misleading...
On 17 January 2024, the European Parliament voted to adopt the Directive on Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition (the ECGT Directive), which seeks to protect consumers from various misleading...
19/01/2024
CBAM: Just over a week to comply
As the deadline for the first Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) report approaches on January 31st, it is crucial for undertakings engaged in importing relevant goods into the European Union to...
08/01/2024
Multiple participation in Energy Communities from 2024
A provision of the Electricity Industry and Organisation Act (Elektriz­ität­swirtschafts- und or­gan­isa­tionsge­setz, ElWOG 2010) on multiple participation in energy communities has taken effect as of 1 January...
20/12/2023
COP28 Update – 20 December 2023
COP28 has seen a host of pledges and agreements, and the CMS team has been reflecting on the announcements and sharing their experiences of COP28 on the CMS COP28 Hub. Here, we roundup the latest commentary...