16. Energy Democracy, Renewables and the Paris Agreement

This chapter examines the relationship between renewable energy, especially in the form of ‘energy democracy’ initiatives, and international law. Both instruments under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, including the Paris Agreement, and other international law instruments such as the Energy Charter Treaty and World Trade Organization regime, are considered, with particular regard paid to whether they explicitly mention renewable energy, and whether in practice they have encouraged the take-up and roll-out of renewables projects. The picture painted of this relationship between international law and renewables is a mixed one: while clean energy is mentioned in some of these instruments, there is limited research about their actual impact on the take-up of renewables, and even less research on the specific impact they may have on small scale energy democracy projects. Furthermore, inconsistent policy objectives of different areas of international law, especially between the climate change and trade liberalisation agendas, may inhibit the positive effects of including renewable energy as a topic of international law.