The Law And Economics Of A Sustainable Energy Trade Agreement

This book addresses the case for a Sustainable Energy Trade Agreement (SETA) and the move from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

This incisive book examines the interaction between international climate law and international trade law for the promotion of renewable energy. Alessandro Monti utilises the emerging principle of mutual supportiveness to inform and guide his analysis of the specific interactions between climate and trade law in the renewable energy sector.

This book seeks to answer the questions: how do the rules of international treaties on trade and investment apply to the new laws and policies relating to energy-related trade, and do the rules of the multilateral system contribute to or detract from sustainable development? An emerging set of new problems in the law of international trade is how to reconcile the rules of the multilateral trading system with shortages of certain natural resources and the necessity to develop renewable energy resources. The chapters in this book provide a comprehensive analysis of the international trade issues presented by national trade laws and policies with regard to natural resources and energy. This book is about the extent to which we are interpreting existing rules to cover emerging problems and how the rules of the multilateral trading system can be adapted to achieve sustainable development in natural resources and energy. The book begins with a survey of selected national laws relating to recent restrictions on the export of natural resources, both resources used to produce energy as well as natural resources essential for industrial production. After examining the range of such laws in selected important countries, we turn to the application of the rules of the multilateral trading system to such export restrictions. We discuss the major rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) as well as the natural resources rules in selected regional preferential free trade agreements. While there is not a comprehensive global legal regime on competition law, we believe it is also important to examine how selected national competition laws impact export restrictions on natural resources. This book will be a major contribution to the international dialogue on international economic law issues with respect to trade in natural resources and energy.

This book explores the regulatory challenges posed by the changing landscape of electricity trade to the multilateral trading system.

Energy and Environmental Law and Policy Series #41 We know the science of climate change; we know the economics of climate change; we also know the law of climate change. However, we do not know how countries may come together to cooperate on climate change mitigation. In this connection, the role of international trade in climate change, although universally acknowledged, is not well understood. This groundbreaking book by one of the world’s foremost authorities on international economic law not only investigates this role in great depth, but also explains how free trade agreements can be used as a powerful tool to help mitigate climate change. Focusing on the idea of climate clubs—namely the coalition of the willing—among governments, companies, and/or international institutions, the book offers insightful analysis on aspects of the trade–climate linkage such as: formation of climate clubs; legitimacy and accountability; technological cooperation; green patents; how competition law hinders effective cooperation between companies seeking to produce sustainable goods; domestic policy preferences; recognizing States that should legitimately be allowed to be free riders; and sanctions for noncompliance. Three detailed case studies are included: a comparison of the U.S. and European Union (EU) Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) programs, energy security in the Arab world, and EU–Russia energy trade relations. With the author’s conviction that global access to energy, mitigating climate change, and benefit from international trade and investment all can be achieved, this book offers a fresh understanding of the international trading system as a way to reach a prosperous, modern, and sustainable society that will help decarbonize the economy effectively. It will be welcomed by all professionals and policymakers concerned with climate change mitigation, and particularly by those active at its nexus with international trade.

Sustainable Energy Democracy and the Law offers a legal account of the concept of sustainable energy democracy. The book explains what the concept means in a legal context and how it can be translated into concrete legal instruments.

This extensive volume of the Elgar Encyclopedia of Environmental Law probes the essential concepts, contemporary research, and key elements of law at the intersection of international trade and international environmental law. Its succinct, structured entries provide a definitive and comprehensive assessment of the interactions between these fields, written by internationally renowned and recognized experts.

Global energy is on the cusp of change, and it has become almost a truism that energy is in transition. But what does this notion mean exactly? This book explores the working hypothesis that, characteristically, the energy system requires a strategy of the international community of states to deliver sustainable energy to which all have access. This strategy is for establishing rules-based governance of the global energy value-cycle. The book has four substantive parts that bring together contributions of leading experts from academia and practice on the law, policy, and economics of energy. Part I, 'The prospects of energy transition', critically discusses the leading forecasts for energy and the strategies that resource-rich countries may adopt. Part II, 'Rules-based multilateral governance of the energy sector', details the development and sources of rules on energy. Part III, 'Competition and regulation in transboundary energy markets', discusses principal instruments of rules-based governance of energy. Part IV, 'Attracting investments and the challenges of multi-level governance', focuses on the critical governance of the right investments. This book is a flagship publication of the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy at the University of Dundee. It launches the Hart series 'Global Energy Law and Policy' and is edited by the series general editors Professors Peter D Cameron and Volker Roeben, and also Dr Xiaoyi Mu.