The UN Sustainable Development Goals are an ambitious agenda for environmental sustainability, economic development, and social transformation. The SDGs include targets for governments, in partnership with private industry and communities, to improve access to affordable and reliable energy, reduce inequality, protect natural resources, and invest in transparent legal institutions and resilient infrastructure. Although transitioning energy systems towards a low-carbon future is a core aspect of the SDGs, the International Energy Agency anticipates that oil and gas will remain a significant component of the global energy mix for some time. Host Government Instruments are tools which governments use to grant oil and gas companies permission to develop state-owned resources. In addition to bringing substantial resources into governments, these HGIs often also include environmental commitments as well as commitments to local hiring, stakeholder engagement, and investment in economic development programmes. The different structures of HGIs and their precise terms and conditions are crucial determinants of the sustainability of oil and gas operations conducted thereunder. This book addresses how governments can use HGIs to advance the SDGs. Part I introduces the SDGs and the legal institutions and governance related to HGIs, including in relation to international energy development, international environmental treaties, the Paris Agreement, and human rights regimes. Part II examines specific provisions within HGIs and regulatory systems which relate to the oil and gas sector and SDGs. It provides case studies to illustrate approaches to HGIs and to identify opportunities for host governments and international oil and gas companies to advance the SDGs. The book concludes with a summary of recommendations regarding how host governments, in partnership with the oil and gas industry, can use HGIs to advance economic development and sustainability goals, and advances potential insights towards development of new and renewable resources.

"The UN Sustainable Development Goals are an ambitious agenda for environmental sustainability, economic development, and social transformation. The SDGs include targets for governments, in partnership with private industry and communities, to improve access to affordable and reliable energy, reduce inequality, protect natural resources, and invest in transparent legal institutions and resilient infrastructure. Although transitioning energy systems towards a low-carbon future is a core aspect of the SDGs, the International Energy Agency anticipates that oil and gas will remain a significant component of the global energy mix for some time. Host Government Instruments are tools which governments use to grant oil and gas companies permission to develop state owned resources. In addition to bringing substantial resources into governments, these HGIs often also include environmental commitments as well as commitments to local hiring, stakeholder engagement, and investment in economic development programs. The different structures of HGIs and their precise terms and conditions are crucial determinants of the sustainability of oil and gas operations conducted thereunder. This book addresses how governments can use HGIs to advance the SDGs. Part I introduces the SDGs and the legal institutions and governance related to HGIs, including in relation to international energy development, international environmental treaties, the Paris Agreement, and human rights regimes. Part II examines specific provisions within HGIs and regulatory systems which relate to the oil and gas sector and SDGs. It provides case studies to illustrate approaches to HGIs and to identify opportunities for host governments and international oil and gas companies to advance the SDGs. The book concludes with a summary of recommendations regarding how host governments, in partnership with the oil and gas industry, can use HGIs to advance economic development and sustainability goals, and advances potential insights towards development of new and renewable resources"--

Energy has recently emerged at the forefront of sustainable development. The United Nations Development Programmefs World Energy Assessment (2000) linked energy and most of the ills of modern society in both developed and developing countries. The World Summit on Sustainable Development selected energy as one of its five major agenda issues, devising a Plan of Implementation emphasising the role of energy in eradicating poverty. That same plan calls for the establishment of policy and regulatory frameworks to promote the development and dissemination of alternative energy technologies. This ground-breaking publication should serve as an invaluable tool to facilitate the understanding of the relationship between energy law and sustainable development.

Energy justice has emerged over the last decade as a matter of vital concern in energy law, which can be seen in the attention directed to energy poverty, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. There are energy justice concerns in areas of law as diverse as human rights, consumer protection, international law and trade, and in many forms of regional and national energy law and regulation. This edited collection explores in detail at four kinds of energy justice. The first, distributive justice, relates to the equitable distribution of the benefits and burdens of energy activities, which is challenged by the existence of people suffering from energy poverty. Secondly, procedural (or participation) justice consists of the right of all communities to participate in decision-making regarding energy projects and policies that affect them. This dimension of energy justice often includes procedural rights to information and access to courts. Under the concept of reparation (or restorative) justice, the book looks at even-handed enforcement of energy statutes and regulations, as well as access to remedies when legal rights are violated. Finally, the collection addresses social justice, with the recognition that energy injustice cannot be separated from other social ills, such as poverty and subordination based on race, gender, or indigeneity. These issues feed into a wider conversation about how we achieve a 'just' energy transition, as the world confronts the urgent challenges of climate change.

The rapid growth of shale gas development has led to an intense and polarizing debate about its merit. This book asks and suggests answers to the question that has not yet been systematically analysed: what laws and policies are needed to ensure that shale gas development helps to accelerate the transition to sustainability? In this groundbreaking book, more than a dozen experts in policy and academia assess the role that sustainability plays in decisions concerning shale gas development in the US and elsewhere, offering legal and policy recommendations for developing shale gas in a manner that accelerates the transition to sustainability. Contributors assess good practices from Pennsylvania to around the planet, discussing how these lessons translate to other jurisdictions. Ultimately, the book concludes that major changes in law and policy are needed to develop shale gas sustainably. Policymakers and educators alike will find this book to be a valuable resource, as it tackles the technical, social, economic and legal aspects associated with this sustainability issue. Other strengths are its clear language and middle-ground policy perspective that will make Shale Gas and the Future of Energy accessible to both students and the general public.

Sustainable Energy Democracy and the Law offers a legal account of the concept of sustainable energy democracy. The book explains what the concept means in a legal context and how it can be translated into concrete legal instruments.

The research focus for the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law in 2003 was a timely and challenging one, entitled 'The Law of Energy for Sustainable Development'. As contemporary world politics demonstrates, energy resources and generation are crucial issues facing the international community. As research on energy law, at the international, regional, and national level is in its infancy, the insights provided by the contributors to this 2005 volume are a significant addition to the field.