The ‘just energy transition’ (JET) is a concept that is starting to pervade climate and energy scholarship to a greater and greater degree at present. It is often difficult, however, to interpret clearly and precisely what this increasingly common term is intended to mean. This study explores the JET as a scholarly concept and as a compound discursive term, identifying problems that arise in research and scholarship where semantic and associated analytical precision is lacking or unclear. Such problems include the disruption of the ability to construct scholarly hypotheses and theories that allow testable propositions to be utilized with reference to the term. The study argues that these outcomes should be guarded against in legal studies, and in any branch of the social sciences that seeks to integrate JET considerations meaningfully into serious research. It is also argued that elements of the sorts of difficulties under review in relation to the JET exist in a more developed condition within the field of Energy Justice (EJ). The study draws upon the juxtaposition of JET–EJ scholarship in order to throw into relief a range of issues that JET studies should guard against.
{"title":"Challenges in research approaches to the ‘just energy transition’ in legal studies and other branches of the social sciences","authors":"Thomas L Muinzer","doi":"10.1093/jwelb/jwac035","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jwelb/jwac035","url":null,"abstract":"The ‘just energy transition’ (JET) is a concept that is starting to pervade climate and energy scholarship to a greater and greater degree at present. It is often difficult, however, to interpret clearly and precisely what this increasingly common term is intended to mean. This study explores the JET as a scholarly concept and as a compound discursive term, identifying problems that arise in research and scholarship where semantic and associated analytical precision is lacking or unclear. Such problems include the disruption of the ability to construct scholarly hypotheses and theories that allow testable propositions to be utilized with reference to the term. The study argues that these outcomes should be guarded against in legal studies, and in any branch of the social sciences that seeks to integrate JET considerations meaningfully into serious research. It is also argued that elements of the sorts of difficulties under review in relation to the JET exist in a more developed condition within the field of Energy Justice (EJ). The study draws upon the juxtaposition of JET–EJ scholarship in order to throw into relief a range of issues that JET studies should guard against.","PeriodicalId":501094,"journal":{"name":"The Journal of World Energy Law & Business","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138495766","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The past few decades have witnessed widespread attempts by the international community to combat rising global temperatures. Without a doubt, instruments such as the Paris Agreement have proven essential in fighting climate change by promoting the use of renewable energy and energy transitions. Problematically, regions that rely heavily on fossil fuel consumption, such as the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, have struggled in undertaking their energy transitions and decarbonizing their economies. As such, this article aims to discuss the evidence for a widespread energy transition in the MENA region via economic, legal and social reforms. This article argues that to achieve a successful energy transition in the region, the removal of fuel subsidies must occur, the decentralization of energy markets promoted and renewable trade incentivized. It suggests that fossil fuel exporting MENA countries should continue to diversify their economies in order to reduce reliance on their energy sectors. In turn, this will enable them to undertake fossil fuel subsidy reforms and invest money into renewable energy projects uninterruptedly. To add to this, MENA countries should look to decentralize their energy markets to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels for energy production. Decentralized solar energy, in specific, has extensive potential in the region and would enable a transition toward energy self-sufficiency. This article then concludes that trade practices and climate mitigation are mutually exclusive, and proposes recommendations on how the World Trade Organization can be used to better promote energy transitions.
{"title":"Fuel subsidy reform, decentralized electricity markets and renewable energy trade: evidence for a successful energy transition in the Middle East and North Africa Region","authors":"Tanya Leila Shaar, Rafael Leal-Arcas","doi":"10.1093/jwelb/jwac038","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jwelb/jwac038","url":null,"abstract":"The past few decades have witnessed widespread attempts by the international community to combat rising global temperatures. Without a doubt, instruments such as the Paris Agreement have proven essential in fighting climate change by promoting the use of renewable energy and energy transitions. Problematically, regions that rely heavily on fossil fuel consumption, such as the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, have struggled in undertaking their energy transitions and decarbonizing their economies. As such, this article aims to discuss the evidence for a widespread energy transition in the MENA region via economic, legal and social reforms. This article argues that to achieve a successful energy transition in the region, the removal of fuel subsidies must occur, the decentralization of energy markets promoted and renewable trade incentivized. It suggests that fossil fuel exporting MENA countries should continue to diversify their economies in order to reduce reliance on their energy sectors. In turn, this will enable them to undertake fossil fuel subsidy reforms and invest money into renewable energy projects uninterruptedly. To add to this, MENA countries should look to decentralize their energy markets to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels for energy production. Decentralized solar energy, in specific, has extensive potential in the region and would enable a transition toward energy self-sufficiency. This article then concludes that trade practices and climate mitigation are mutually exclusive, and proposes recommendations on how the World Trade Organization can be used to better promote energy transitions.","PeriodicalId":501094,"journal":{"name":"The Journal of World Energy Law & Business","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138495765","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ghana is often cited as one of Africa’s most stable democracies. Since 2004, the country has awarded 18 petroleum agreements to various international oil companies (IOCs) and their local partners to explore for hydrocarbons in its offshore basins. In 2010, Ghana became an oil-producing country following earlier commercial discoveries in 2007. Nevertheless, the likelihood of the Ghanaian State getting its fair share of petrodollar revenues primarily depends on its ability to negotiate good petroleum contracts and effectively regulate the industry. This article examines the legal and political economy factors that influence contract outcomes in Ghana’s oil and gas industry. It sheds light on how the inner workings of the political economy, especially in a competitive clientelist setup involving intense electoral competition between two dominant parties in an emerging oil-producing country, influence contractual outcomes—an area less explored in the literature. We find that the country's emerging oil and gas industry has become deeply intertwined with the pervasive, entrenched and clientelist multi-party politics of the day. As such, entrenched rentier social groups—business and political elites—have sometimes sabotaged institutional reform to create conditions that favour rent capture. This is evident, for example, in the award of oil and gas licensing and other supply chain contracts. Ghana’s post-1992 ‘winner takes all’ political mindset and the perceived big financial bonanzas the oil industry offers, resulted in suspicions of impropriety regarding the award of some oil acreages. We argue that if the laws were allowed to work, as they should in practice, Ghana’s oil and gas industry would be better regulated, and better outcomes would arise from the contracting process. Discretionary power should be limited as much as possible and, where granted, subject to a high level of scrutiny.
{"title":"Does the politics matter? Legal and political economy analysis of contracting decisions in Ghana’s upstream oil and gas industry","authors":"Stephens T, Acheampong T.","doi":"10.1093/jwelb/jwab035","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jwelb/jwab035","url":null,"abstract":"<span><div>Abstract</div>Ghana is often cited as one of Africa’s most stable democracies. Since 2004, the country has awarded 18 petroleum agreements to various international oil companies (IOCs) and their local partners to explore for hydrocarbons in its offshore basins. In 2010, Ghana became an oil-producing country following earlier commercial discoveries in 2007. Nevertheless, the likelihood of the Ghanaian State getting its fair share of petrodollar revenues primarily depends on its ability to negotiate good petroleum contracts and effectively regulate the industry. This article examines the legal and political economy factors that influence contract outcomes in Ghana’s oil and gas industry. It sheds light on how the inner workings of the political economy, especially in a competitive clientelist setup involving intense electoral competition between two dominant parties in an emerging oil-producing country, influence contractual outcomes—an area less explored in the literature. We find that the country's emerging oil and gas industry has become deeply intertwined with the pervasive, entrenched and clientelist multi-party politics of the day. As such, entrenched rentier social groups—business and political elites—have sometimes sabotaged institutional reform to create conditions that favour rent capture. This is evident, for example, in the award of oil and gas licensing and other supply chain contracts. Ghana’s post-1992 ‘winner takes all’ political mindset and the perceived big financial bonanzas the oil industry offers, resulted in suspicions of impropriety regarding the award of some oil acreages. We argue that if the laws were allowed to work, as they should in practice, Ghana’s oil and gas industry would be better regulated, and better outcomes would arise from the contracting process. Discretionary power should be limited as much as possible and, where granted, subject to a high level of scrutiny.</span>","PeriodicalId":501094,"journal":{"name":"The Journal of World Energy Law & Business","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138495764","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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