AIS Sustainability Seminar Series: Just Transition Finance for Managed Coal Phase Out: Legitimizing Unjust Compensation?
AIS Sustainability Seminar Series returns! You are cordially invited to our next seminar on 5 November 2024, featuring Prof. Anatole Boute from Chinese University of Hong Kong. Details as below:
Date: 5 November 2024 (Tue)
Time: 12:00 – 13:20 (HKT)
Format: In-person and Zoom
Venue: Room 1103 (Lift 19) Academic Building, HKUST
Topic: “Just Transition Finance for Managed Coal Phase Out: Legitimizing Unjust Compensation?”
Speaker: Prof. Anatole Boute, Faculty of Law, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Moderator: Prof. Laurence Delina, Division of Environment and Sustainability, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Registration: https://ust.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6DMQ0jAg9pHrOM6
Abstracts:
Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETP) aim to mobilize public and private finance to accelerate the energy transition in developing countries, including by compensating investors in coal power for the early retirement of their plants. Paradoxically, the risk of similar compensation under international investment treaties has led to severe criticism, as illustrated by states’ withdrawal from the Energy Charter Treaty. Taking into account this apparent contradiction, this article investigates the compensation of coal investors under the JETP, and related transition finance initiatives, building on the just transition and climate-investment law literature. The analysis focuses on the early termination of coal Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) in Indonesia and Vietnam – two JETP countries that provide relevant case studies to understand the obstacle that long-term PPAs present for the energy transition, and the justice implications of fully compensating investors for terminating these agreements.
Anatole Boute is a Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, specializing in energy, climate, and investment law. His research focuses on the legal aspects of the transition of energy systems towards sustainability. He was called to the Brussels bar where he practiced in the field of EU and national energy and climate law, and has extensive experience advising the major multilateral development banks on questions of energy market regulation. Anatole is a member of Climate Strategies and of the Academic Advisory Group on Energy, Environment, and Infrastructure Law to the International Bar Association. He is the author of Energy Dependence and Supply Security (Oxford University Press, 2023), Energy Security Along the New Silk Road (Cambridge University Press, 2019), and Russian Electricity and Energy Investment Law (Brill Nijhoff, 2015).