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Energy Democracy, Renewables and the Paris Agreement

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Abstract

This chapter examines the relationship between renewable energy, especially in the form of ‘energy democracy’ initiatives, and international law. Both instruments under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, including the Paris Agreement, and other international law instruments such as the Energy Charter Treaty and World Trade Organization regime, are considered, with particular regard paid to whether they explicitly mention renewable energy, and whether in practice they have encouraged the take-up and roll-out of renewables projects. The picture painted of this relationship between international law and renewables is a mixed one: while clean energy is mentioned in some of these instruments, there is limited research about their actual impact on the take-up of renewables, and even less research on the specific impact they may have on small scale energy democracy projects. Furthermore, inconsistent policy objectives of different areas of international law, especially between the climate change and trade liberalisation agendas, may inhibit the positive effects of including renewable energy as a topic of international law.

This chapter is based in part on ‘Energy Prosumers and Infrastructure Regulation: some initial observations from Australia’, a paper presented at the 5th Conference on the Regulation of Infrastructures: The challenges of digitalization and the use of data, Florence School of Regulation, European University Institute (2016). The support of the QUT Faculty of Law for this research through its Vacation Research Experience Scheme is acknowledged.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See: Fairchild and Weinrub (2017).

  2. 2.

    See: Morris and Jungjohann (2016); Wagner and Berlo (2017).

  3. 3.

    Burger and Weinmann (2013).

  4. 4.

    See: Kuch and Morgan (2015).

  5. 5.

    International Renewable Energy Agency (2017a).

  6. 6.

    International Renewable Energy Agency (2016).

  7. 7.

    Ibid p. 7.

  8. 8.

    Ibid p. 12.

  9. 9.

    See eg Rimmer (2011), Sovacool (2008).

  10. 10.

    See eg Butenko and Cseres (2015), Butenko (2016), Lavrijssen and Carrilo (2017).

  11. 11.

    International Energy Agency (2016).

  12. 12.

    International Energy Agency (2017).

  13. 13.

    International Energy Agency (2016).

  14. 14.

    Wilder and Drake (2016, p. 359).

  15. 15.

    Leal-Arcas and Minas (2016, p. 622).

  16. 16.

    Ibid p. 623.

  17. 17.

    Ibid p. 624.

  18. 18.

    United Nations Conference on New and Renewable Sources of Energy, GA RES 36/193, UN GAOR, General Assembly, 36th sess, 103rd plen mtg, UN Doc A/RES/36/193, (17 December 1981).

  19. 19.

    Bruce (2013, p. 13).

  20. 20.

    Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Note by the Secretary-General, UN GAOR, 42nd sess, Agenda Item 83(e), UN Doc A/42/427 (4 August 1987) annex (‘Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future’), [74].

  21. 21.

    Bruce (2013, p. 13).

  22. 22.

    United Nations Conference on Environment and Development; Rio Declaration on Environment and Development; Agenda 21.

  23. 23.

    United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, opened for signature 9 May 1992, 1771 UNTS 107 (entered into force 21 March 1994) preamble.

  24. 24.

    Ibid art 2 of the UNFCCC.

  25. 25.

    Bruce (2013, p. 19).

  26. 26.

    Bruce (2013, p 18).

  27. 27.

    Ibid art 4(1)(c) of the UNFCCC, Bruce (2013, p. 19).

  28. 28.

    Ibid art 4(1)(g) of the UNFCCC.

  29. 29.

    Ibid art 4(1)(h) of the UNFCCC.

  30. 30.

    Ibid art 4(5) of the UNFCCC.

  31. 31.

    As the US did not ratify the Kyoto Protocol, the emissions trading scheme has had limited success. See Pflieger (2014) p. 520. In addition, Bachram (2006: 8–9) has argued the emissions trading scheme was under regulated and opened the door for ‘climate fraud’ where large companies were giving incentives for effectively doing nothing.

  32. 32.

    Leal-Arcas and Minas (2016, p. 632).

  33. 33.

    Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, opened for signature 16 March 1998, 37 ILM 22 (entered into force on 16 February 2005); Bruce (2013, p. 19).

  34. 34.

    Grunewald and Martinez-Zarzoso (2016, p. 5).

  35. 35.

    Ibid p. 10.

  36. 36.

    Almer and Winkler (2017, p. 134).

  37. 37.

    Luo (2016).

  38. 38.

    UN Centre on Energy, Climate and Sustainable Development (2017).

  39. 39.

    Luo (2016, p. 18).

  40. 40.

    Ibid., p. 16.

  41. 41.

    Luo (2016, p. 5), citing Schroeder (2009), Lewis (2010), Wang and Chen (2010), Spalding-Fecher (2012).

  42. 42.

    Luo (2016, p. 9).

  43. 43.

    ibid p. 3.

  44. 44.

    Ibid pp. 19–20.

  45. 45.

    Metz et al. (2000, p. 3).

  46. 46.

    Seres and Haites (2008), Xiang (2015).

  47. 47.

    Parthan et al. (2010, p. 89).

  48. 48.

    Xiang (2015, p. 219).

  49. 49.

    Ibid pp. 200–201.

  50. 50.

    Lane (2010).

  51. 51.

    Clémençon (2016, p. 8).

  52. 52.

    Paris Agreement to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, opened for signature 12 December 2015 (entered into force 4 November 2016) art 2(1)(a);); Clémençon (2016, p. 9).

  53. 53.

    Clémençon (2016, p. 9).

  54. 54.

    Paris Agreement to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, opened for signature 12 December 2015 (entered into force 4 November 2016) arts 4(9) and 4(3).

  55. 55.

    Ibid Preamble, arts 4(3), 4(19), 2(2) of the Paris Agreement 2015.

  56. 56.

    Droege et al. (2016, p. 8).

  57. 57.

    International Institute for Sustainable Development (2015, p. 44).

  58. 58.

    Ibid.

  59. 59.

    Jacquet and Jamieson (2016, p. 645).

  60. 60.

    Cooper (2016).

  61. 61.

    Leal-Arcas and Minas (2016, p. 14).

  62. 62.

    Ibid 15.

  63. 63.

    Paris Agreement to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, opened for signature 12 December 2015 (entered into force 4 November 2016) arts 10(2)-(4).

  64. 64.

    Gielen et al. (2016).

  65. 65.

    ibid.

  66. 66.

    Mission Innovation (2016).

  67. 67.

    Gielen et al. (2016).

  68. 68.

    International Energy Charter (2015).

  69. 69.

    Zhang (2015).

  70. 70.

    Energy Charter Treaty (opened for signature 17 December 1994) 2080 UNTS 95 (entered into force 16 April 1998) preamble.

  71. 71.

    Zhang (2015).

  72. 72.

    Leal-Arcas and Minas (2016, p. 624).

  73. 73.

    Bruce (2013, p. 24).

  74. 74.

    Ibid.

  75. 75.

    Ibid p. 25.

  76. 76.

    Ibid.

  77. 77.

    Farah and Cima (2013, p. 708).

  78. 78.

    Ibid p. 709.

  79. 79.

    Ibid p. 711.

  80. 80.

    Including the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (ASCM), the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) and the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT).

  81. 81.

    Farah and Cima (2015, p. 525).

  82. 82.

    Lewis (2014, p. 11).

  83. 83.

    Ibid p. 21.

  84. 84.

    Farah and Cima (2015, p. 516).

  85. 85.

    Ibid p. 517.

  86. 86.

    Farah and Cima (2013, p. 715).

  87. 87.

    Shadikhodjaev (2015, p. 484).

  88. 88.

    Farah and Cima (2013, pp. 723–4).

  89. 89.

    Ibid p. 724. In CanadaRenewable Energy/CanadaFIT Program, the main issue concerned Canada’s feed-in-tariff program where a public organisation paid fixed prices to generators of renewable electricity (produced from wind and solar) that were intended to cover their costs and reasonable amounts of return. Shadikhodjaev (2015, p. 485).

  90. 90.

    Weber and Koch (2015, p. 767).

  91. 91.

    Shadikhodjaev (2015, p. 487).

  92. 92.

    Ibid.

  93. 93.

    Farah and Cima (2013, p. 726).

  94. 94.

    Ibid p. 727.

  95. 95.

    Ibid.

  96. 96.

    Ibid.

  97. 97.

    Shadikhodjaev (2015, p. 505).

  98. 98.

    Ibid.

  99. 99.

    Weber and Koch (2015, p. 778).

  100. 100.

    Barthelemy and Peat (2015).

  101. 101.

    Marrakesh Agreement on Establishing the World Trade Organization, opened for signature 15 April 1994, 1867 UNTS 3 (entered into force 1 January 1995) annex 1A (‘General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994’) art VI.

  102. 102.

    Marrakesh Agreement on Establishing the World Trade Organization, opened for signature 15 April 1994, 1867 UNTS 3(entered into force 1 January 1995) annex 1A (‘Anti-Dumping Agreement’).

  103. 103.

    Barthlemy and Peat (2015, p. 6).

  104. 104.

    Ibid.

  105. 105.

    Barthelemy and Peat (2015, p. 13). Appellate Body Report, United StatesDefinitive Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duties on Certain Products from China, WTO Doc WT/DS379/AB/R (11 March 2011).

  106. 106.

    Barthelemy and Peat (2015, p. 14).

  107. 107.

    Ibid.

  108. 108.

    Bruce (2013, p. 11).

  109. 109.

    UNFCCC Newsroom (2015a).

  110. 110.

    UNFCCC Newsroom (2015b).

  111. 111.

    UNFCCC Newsroom (2016).

  112. 112.

    International Renewable Energy Agency (2017b).

  113. 113.

    International Renewable Energy Agency (2017c).

  114. 114.

    Bruce (2013, p. 29).

  115. 115.

    Leal-Arcas and Minas (2016, p. 640).

  116. 116.

    Bruce (2013, p. 29).

  117. 117.

    Leal-Arcas and Minas (2016, pp. 641–2).

  118. 118.

    Parthan et al. (2010, p. 84).

  119. 119.

    Ibid p. 92.

  120. 120.

    Bachram (2004), Clémençon (2016).

  121. 121.

    Clémençon (2016, p. 11).

  122. 122.

    See: Klein (2014).

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Daly, A., Archbold, C. (2018). Energy Democracy, Renewables and the Paris Agreement. In: Rimmer, M. (eds) Intellectual Property and Clean Energy. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2155-9_16

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