IRF Communities in Transition - Lunch Seminar
Free seminar: How global legal disputes are shaping and sometimes slowing the shift to clean energy. Join in person or via Zoom.
When: Wednesday 20 August, 12-1pm
Where: Room X803, NuSpace and Zoom (link to be provided closer to date)
Light refreshments available.
Please join us for the Institute for Regional Futures Communities in Transition Network first public lunch seminar with visiting scholar Dr Chen Yu from City University of Hong Kong.
This is a hybrid seminar, and you are welcome to join us at University of Newcastle’s NUSpace Campus on the corner of Hunter Street and Auckland Street in Newcastle or, if unable to come in person, via Zoom.
Taking Stock of Investor-State Disputes Involving Energy Transition
The influence of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) on energy transition has sparked significant debate among commentators. While ISDS can theoretically protect sustainable investments from political risks, investors have extensively used it to challenge states’ energy transition policies. Against this backdrop, this study tackles a critical yet overlooked question in the literature: how exactly has ISDS interfered with governmental regulatory activities concerning energy transition? It examines all ISDS cases involving energy transition issues up to 2023 and analyzes the regulatory measures at stake, the legal grounds for disputes, and the reasoning of investment tribunals. It identifies two notable problems: the lack of effective exceptions in treaties to justify energy regulation and the “polarized” application of the fair and equitable treatment standard. It further proposes reform for international investment law, including strengthening the role of domestic energy laws, balancing investment attraction and regulatory autonomy by selectively employing different types of exception clauses, and narrowing down the scope of the fair and equitable treatment standard.
Bio
Dr. Chen YU is an Assistant Professor at the City University of Hong Kong, School of Law. Her research interests include international investment and trade law, international arbitration, interdisciplinary and empirical research of law, and energy regulation. She has published in leading international law journals including the Journal of International Economic Law, World Trade Review, Journal of International Dispute Settlement, ICSID Review, Journal of World Investment & Trade, etc. Her monograph, Dispute Settlement and the Reform of International Investment Law: Legalization Through Adjudication, was published by Edward Elgar in 2023. She was the recipient of the 2022 David D. Caron Prize awarded by the American Society of International Law (ASIL) and currently serves on the Advisory Board of ASIL’s International Law & Social Science Interest Group.
