Sustainable Energy Law Notebook

  The Oslo District Court has today, 4 January 2018 , delivered its judgment in the case concerning the validity of decision awarding oil and gas production licenses in the Arctic waters of Norway, in the Barents Sea .   What is the case about   The case is about the validity of the decision taken by the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and validated by the King in Council on 10 June 2016, to award petroleum production licenses as part of the 23rd licensing round in an area close to the ice edge in the South East of the Barents Sea. This happened after that the ice edge line was moved further North and the opening of new areas int eh Barent Sea in 2013 in that region.   The plantiffs are two environmental organisations, GreenPeace Norway and Natur and Ungdom, who submitted that the decission was illegal on two grounds:   the new provision of §112 of the Norwegian Constitution (environment provision) was breached; the ...

On 31 October 2017 , I will have the pleasure to be part of a panel discussion on the topic of climate change litigation in Bergen . The event - free and open to all - is organised by the Centre on Law and Social Transformation of the University of Bergen. More information at : https://www.lawtransform.no/event/breakfast-seminar-suing-the-state-for-climate-change-and-holding-it-to-account/  

I had the pleasure to answer some questions to Radio France International on the German Constitutional Court case on nuclear phase-out. Please see below the full article, with comments from diverse actors: " German government ordered to pay damages for nuclear phase-out " , by M. Woods for RFI , 6 December 2016

The 28th European Energy Law Seminar (EELS)  will be held in The Hague, The Netherlands, on 23-24 January 2017 . The Seminar is a unique opportunity to review the latest EU energy law developments including recent legislative proposals adopted by the European Commission and at the same time discuss in detail legal developments, case law and case practice in the field with colleagues from all over Europe. So, hold the date and see you in The Hague. On the programme: Energy Union and legislative initiatives, energy market design package, impact of Brexit, recent competition cases and EU case law, revision of the renewable energy directive, cross-border infrastructures permitting and financing, evolving roles for TSOs and DSOs, capacity reserve mechanisms, prosumers, and gas supply package. The full programme and registration details will be announced shortly on the NeVER website: http://www.never.nl The seminar is co-organised...

Following its   decision of 9 October 2015 , the   French Council of State (Conseil d'Etat)   has lodged on 19 October a request for   preliminary ruling   to the Court of Justice of the European Union (EU) concerning the   conformity of the French capacity market mechanism to primary EU law , and in particular   Article 34 and 36 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU) on free movement rules .  The question referred to the Court will be a new opportunity for the latter to pronounce itself on restrictions to the free movement of goods based on nationality for the purpose of security of energy supply . Parallels can be drawn with the 2014 decision of the Court in the Ålands Vindkraft case in relation to another certificates market (the French scheme being by design a trading scheme) - although based on another justification ground, i.e. environmental protection - (see my comment here ) and to refresh its case law in Campus Oil decision r...

Here is a link to today's decision from The Hague District Court in case Urgenda Foundation vs. the State of The Netherlands . The Court ruled that the Dutch state "must" take more action to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions in The Netherlands . The operative part of the decision states that: THE RULING The court: 5.1. orders the State to limit the joint volume of Dutch annual greenhouse gas emissions, or have them limited, so that this volume will have reduced by at least 25% at the end of 2020 compared to the level of the year 1990, as claimed by Urgenda , in so far as acting on its own behalf ; ...