‘International energy law, diplomacy key to unlocking sustainable development’

To advance all aspects of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the global vice chair of the International Law Association, Professor Damilola Olawuyi (SAN) has called for more strategic focus on international energy law and diplomacy.

Olawuyi, also a UNESCO Chair on Environmental Law and Sustainable Development, made this known while delivering a public seminar organised by the Centre for International Law (CIL) at the National University of Singapore.

Olawuyi was in Singapore as a distinguished Visiting Global Scholar at CIL, a foremost hub for international law research and discourse.

The seminar themed, “International Energy Law: Recent Developments and Future Research Agenda.” The event was attended by almost a thousand participants, both in person and online, including practitioners, academics, students, business executives, and other stakeholders in international law who converged under the aegis of CIL’s Energy Law and Policy program.

The event featured opening remarks from Dr. Nilufer Oral, Director of CIL, while the session was moderated by the Head of Energy Law and Policy at CIL, Denise Cheong.

He described the journey in the development of international energy law as a distinct discipline that governs the development, use, transfer and management of all forms of energy, whether renewable or non-renewable.

Prof. Olawuyi noted that international energy law has come of age and will be crucial for balancing the three important goals of energy security, energy transition, and energy sovereignty.

“Several of the energy-related challenges facing our world today, ranging from achieving energy security, promoting sustainable energy, and accelerating a just and inclusive energy transition that leaves no one behind, cannot be addressed in isolation.

“There is therefore an urgent need for a more focused research agenda on international energy law aimed at unlocking legal innovation that will accelerate energy trade and cooperation, access to energy transition minerals, grid-to-grid interconnectivity, and joint energy infrastructure financing and development across countries and regions,” he said.

He decried the increasing tendency for isolation and lack of multilateral energy cooperation.

Olawuyi therefore called on international energy lawyers and stakeholders to unlock innovative win-win approaches for accelerating energy trade, reducing conflictive geopolitics, resource nationalism, and other pressing challenges that may stifle international solidarity and cooperation that is urgently needed to accelerate all aspects of the SDGs globally, especially SDG 7 on energy for all.

He also stressed the need for innovative financing approaches including public-private partnerships needed to mobilise financing for infrastructure repurposing, grid connectivity and the deployment of new technologies, such as green hydrogen technologies, interconnectors, sensor arrays, artificial intelligence in the energy industry.

Olawuyi therefore said that promoting international energy cooperation and diplomacy for the clean energy transition is the task of the century for international energy lawyers.

The ensuing interactive discussions featured questions and exchange on the opportunities for cross-discipline collaboration, especially in areas of energy arbitration and dispute resolution that will be essential to promote the fair, speedy and efficient resolution of disputes relating to cross-border energy investments, including time-sensitive disputes relating to energy transition projects.