Location

Ceremonial Mootcourt Room

Start Date

3-7-2012 2:40 PM

End Date

3-7-2012 4:20 PM

Description

The 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development adopted the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development and Agenda 21 as the core principles and a program of action to achieve sustainable development; neither addressed energy as a central theme. In 2002, sustainable energy was a central theme at the World Summit on Sustainable Development and was addressed in detail in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. However, in 2012, neither climate change nor sustainable energy will be on Rio+20’s agenda. Ironically, 2012 is the U.N. International Year of Sustainable Energy For All. Rio+20 and the International Year are only loosely linked. Neither refers to the decades of work defining, designing, and implementing the central elements of sustainable energy law and policy.

Despite what appears to be the superficial treatment of sustainable energy by Rio +20 and the U.N. International Year, a substantial body of law and policy now exists that constitutes an emerging global law of sustainable energy. This paper traces the international and national growth of sustainable energy law, policy and governance structures from their intellectual seeds planted over 30 years ago to the present, and explores why Rio+20 ignores the ideas advanced in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. The paper identifies the central legal principles and policies that comprise sustainable energy law, and proposes a legal framework for a global law of sustainable energy.

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Jul 3rd, 2:40 PM Jul 3rd, 4:20 PM

A Global Law of Sustainable Energy

Ceremonial Mootcourt Room

The 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development adopted the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development and Agenda 21 as the core principles and a program of action to achieve sustainable development; neither addressed energy as a central theme. In 2002, sustainable energy was a central theme at the World Summit on Sustainable Development and was addressed in detail in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. However, in 2012, neither climate change nor sustainable energy will be on Rio+20’s agenda. Ironically, 2012 is the U.N. International Year of Sustainable Energy For All. Rio+20 and the International Year are only loosely linked. Neither refers to the decades of work defining, designing, and implementing the central elements of sustainable energy law and policy.

Despite what appears to be the superficial treatment of sustainable energy by Rio +20 and the U.N. International Year, a substantial body of law and policy now exists that constitutes an emerging global law of sustainable energy. This paper traces the international and national growth of sustainable energy law, policy and governance structures from their intellectual seeds planted over 30 years ago to the present, and explores why Rio+20 ignores the ideas advanced in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. The paper identifies the central legal principles and policies that comprise sustainable energy law, and proposes a legal framework for a global law of sustainable energy.