The National Bank of Belgium and the CEPR are organising a joint research workshop on “Reaching Net Zero: Electricity Markets, Carbon Pricing and Firms’ Responses” to be held in Brussels on 19-20 March 2024. This event will commemorate the CEPR’s new programme area on climate change.

The keynote speaker will be Professor John Van Reenen, the Ronald Coase Chair in Economics and School Professor and Director of POID, LSE.

The workshop’s objective is to provide a platform for the discussion of topics concerning electricity markets in the context of achieving net-zero emissions and how companies are responding to decarbonisation policies. We especially encourage empirical contributions that explore how energy markets and businesses are adapting to escalating climate goals and the policy implications arising from these adaptations.

Topics of interest include:

• Electricity regulation and incentives
• Pricing of electricity with high electrification
• The intersection of carbon pricing mechanisms and other climate policy tools
• Cap-and-trade market stability mechanisms and the challenges of high carbon prices
• Green industrial policy: the EU Green Deal and the US Inflation Reduction Act
• The strategic responses of businesses to climate-related risks and policies
• The evolution of global supply chains and trade patterns in the transition away from fossil fuels