Legal Principles for a European Green Energy Transition

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

For a Workshop exploring

"Legal Principles for a European Green Energy Transition"

to take place on 23-24 May 2024
at Hasselt University, Hasselt, Belgium

The green energy transition has undoubtedly become a top policy priority for the EU and the Member States, at least since the 2010s. While significant progress has been made since then, a series of major global events that have occurred in the last few years, namely the exacerbation of the climate crisis, the outbreak of the energy inflation crisis, and the energy security crisis after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, have highlighted the need to take further action so that the green energy transition be attained effectively and fast. And indeed, on the basis of the Green Deal Package, the Fit for 55 Plan, and the REPowerEU Plan, the area of energy law is experiencing in-depth changes, with new laws being enacted and many legal acts currently in force being under revision.
In this regard, this two-day workshop, which will take place on Thursday 23 and Friday 24 May 2024 at Hasselt University, focuses on the legal framework that governs and will govern the green energy transition in Europe, and aspires to investigate the legal principles that do and shall found this legal framework.
The conference aims to examine what these principles are, what their content is and how they apply, as well as to identify interpretive challenges, doctrinal questions or practical problems. Within this context, we invite abstracts for presentations that, for example, deal with the following topics:

• Energy law as an autonomous field of law?
  The character, role and creation of legal principles (from a more theoretical point of view) and/ or the role of legal principles in the problem-based and technical area of energy.
• Energy law principles and EU primary law (sustainable development, energy solidarity, national energy sovereign rights, energy security etc.).
• The role of classic legal principles for the green energy transition (e.g. equality, legal certainty, proportionality, etc.).
• Energy law fundamental and abstract concepts: energy democracy, energy and human rights (access to energy, a right to energy?), energy justice and just transition, etc.
• Legal principles linked with sub-fields of energy law (renewable energy law, energy efficiency, energy markets, etc.) and the principle-based approach in the relevant EU secondary law and soft law (e.g. market-responsiveness, technology-neutrality, energy efficiency first).
• The relevance of legal principles from other fields of law (such as environmental law, climate law, economic law, tax law) and their application in the field of energy.
• Application of the principle of proportionality in conflicts between energy law and other fields of law (e.g. investment law, environmental law and biodiversity protection and administrative law).
• The influence of corporate sustainability reporting and the ‘do no significant harm’ (DNSH) principle in the resource allocation for the Green Energy Transition.
• The role of the judiciary in shaping legal principles in the area of energy, as well as trends or new interpretation of courts.
• Strategic autonomy as a principle guiding critical mineral and strategic raw material resilience.

It should be noted that the list is indicative; proposals for topics not mentioned above are also encouraged. Furthermore, while the focus of the workshop is legal, we also welcome submissions that have an inter-disciplinary character and adopt a point of view that is pertinent to fields such as law and economics, economics and political sciences. Comparative legal analysis is also very welcome.

Submission of abstracts

We hereby invite researchers (professors, postdoctoral researchers as well as PhD researchers in their final stage of their doctoral project) and practitioners to submit an abstract of max. 500 words. Abstracts should be written in English and indicate the precise topic and a clear description of the content of the contribution. Please also include a short CV of max. 150 words Submissions should be sent via email to environmental.law@uhasselt.be by 1 March 2024 at the latest. Please use the phrase "Submission of Abstract - Energy Law Workshop” as the subject of the email. Since the places are limited, and the submissions will be reviewed on a rolling basis, we encourage you to contact us and submit your abstracts as soon as possible. Applicants will be notified of the outcome of the selection procedure on a rolling basis too, and at the latest by 15 March 2024.

Publication of conference papers

Speakers are not required to submit an article elaborating on the selected abstracts.
However, for those interested, we plan to provide a publishing opportunity. In this regard, we intend to publish the papers that we will receive after the workshop in a special issue of a scientific journal, which will cover the conference proceedings. More information about the journal and the deadlines will follow in due time.
For further information or questions, please contact the conference organisers at environmental.law@uhasselt.be.

Organizing Committee

Prof. dr. Theodoros Iliopoulos, theodoros.iliopoulos@uhasselt.be
Dr. Sirja-Leena Penttinen, sirja-leena.penttinen@uef.fi
Dr. Paula Galbiatti Silveira, paula.galbiattisilveira@uhasselt.be