APCEL Book Seminar: Energy Dependence and Supply Security: Energy Law in the New Geopolitical Reality

On 10 September 2024, APCEL hosted a seminar by Professor Anatole Boute from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Professor Boute presented on his book “Energy Dependence and Supply Security: Energy Law in the New Geopolitical Reality” published by Oxford University Press in November 2023. The book offers an interdisciplinary analysis of energy law and energy geopolitics, including the investment and trade law aspects of energy security and the clean energy transition.

Professor Boute shared that the food security and acute hardship issues resulting from the war between Russia and Ukraine have led to questions of strategic and dangerous dependencies. Governments intervened in the energy market, marking a shift away from the liberal economic model.

Crucially, renewable energy has become the key means of ensuring supply security, with international cooperation being a critical enabler for this energy transition. Restrictions relating to imports of Chinese renewable energy products into Europe are, however, incompatible with trade law, and slow down the energy transition.

Moving forward, Professor Boute suggested that reforms are needed to recognise greater discretion for states to adopt preventive measures such as national security reviews to ensure supply security, while maintaining the role of trade law in addressing supply chain disruptions.

The question-and-answer session, moderated by APCEL’s Senior Research Fellow Dr Linda Yanti Sulistiawati, saw an interesting exchange on protectionism, regulatory burdens, and just transition. The audience and Professor Boute discussed the importance of stress testing regulations so that the regulatory burdens would not be inefficient and would generate sufficient gain for society. Professor Boute also noted that free trade agreements and jurisprudence from the World Trade Organisation can deal with supply security measures.

The session ended off with Professor Boute pointing out that while just transition has been used to justify supply security policies which restrict renewable energy imports, in that oil and gas workers can be reskilled to manufacturing renewable energy, this may be an oversimplified policy justification. As there are more job opportunities in the installation and maintenance of renewable energy products, lesser restrictions on renewable energy imports may better harness these job opportunities. An assessment of comparative advantage is therefore important in determining energy law and policies.