Sustainable Energy: Still United in Diversity? Integrating energy, climate and environmental law in times of geopolitical instability

is Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Law and Faculty of Economics and Business at the University of Groningen. He completed his PhD in Law and Economics at the University of Groningen in 2017, defending his dissertation "Linking Emissions Trading Systems: A Law and Economics Analysis." He also holds an LL.M. in International Economic and Business Law (cum laude) from the University of Groningen (2011) and an LL.B. (distinction) from Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia (2007). Fitsum's research specializes in climate law and economics, with particular expertise in emissions trading systems, carbon market regulation, and the linking of emissions trading schemes across different jurisdictions.

Dr. Irakli Samkharadze is an Associate Professor of EU Law at the University of Georgia’s School of Law. He holds a Ph.D. in Energy Law and an LL.M. in International and European Public Law from Erasmus University Rotterdam. He currently serves as an energy adviser at OMNIA GmbH, where he supports partners in the development of sustainable and competitive energy markets. He has conducted research at Freie Universität Berlin, KU Leuven’s Institute for Environmental and Energy Law, and Friedrich Schiller University Jena. He is the author of Georgia’s first handbook on energy law and the principal drafter of the country’s framework climate law. His work has been recognized through multiple academic and scientific awards. He publishes extensively on energy and climate law, frequently presents at international conferences, and regularly appears in national media outlets to provide expert commentary.

Raj K. Lahoti is an attorney specialising in environmental law and natural resources, with complementary professional experience in engineering spanning a decade. Based in Texas, USA, his practice encompasses field emissions assessments and methane mitigation research within the energy sector. He holds a Juris Doctor, a master’s degree, and a bachelor’s degree in engineering. His expertise lies at the intersection of legal and technical disciplines essential for advancing environmental compliance and sustainable practices in energy production.

Zia-Melchior Hoseini is a social scientist with background in engineering and management. His current research at the Environmental Policy Group at Wageningen University & Research (WUR) examines the intersection of policies, regulations, and public administration of energy transition, with particular focus on hydrogen energy at the crossroads of trade and environment.

Dr Monirul Azam is Associate Professor of Law at the Department of Law, Institute of Social Science, Södertörn University, Sweden. He obtained his PhD in intellectual property law from the University of Bern, Switzerland, and his Master of European Legal Studies from Södertörn University, completing a thesis on EU environmental law. He also holds an LL.D. (Juris Doktor) from Stockholm University, specialising in climate change law and intellectual property law. Dr Azam conducted postdoctoral research on sustainable energy transitions and governance of sustainable development at the Tokyo Institute of Technology and the United Nations University. His research examines the intersection of intellectual property law, environmental law, technology law, and energy law, employing interdisciplinary and qualitative legal methodologies.

Dr Mariusz Baran is Assistant Professor at the Environmental Law Centre, Faculty of Law and Administration of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. He is a member of the Research Network on EU Administrative Law and the European Environmental Law Forum. Dr Baran has received numerous academic distinctions, including the scholarship for outstanding young scientists awarded by the Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Poland in 2015. He has authored numerous publications in environmental law and EU law.

Dr Mohammad Hazrati is Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for International Law, National University of Singapore, specialising in energy, environmental, and climate change law and policy, with particular focus on the energy transition. Previously, he held a postdoctoral research position at the Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, France, within the Energy Justice and Social Contract Chair and the Laboratory Energy and Environmental Transition (TREE), French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). He obtained his PhD in Energy Law from Queen Mary University of London in 2020 and his MSc in Oil and Gas Law from the University of Reading in 2016. His publications include peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and the monograph The Rise of Restorative Justice in the Energy Transition and for Climate Mitigation (Springer Nature). His article “Conceptualising Restorative Justice in the Energy Transition: Changing the Perspectives on Fossil Fuels” was cited by the US Department of Energy as a key reference for integrating energy justice into infrastructure projects, influencing $62 billion in federal funding allocation. Dr Hazrati serves on the editorial review boards of leading journals, including Nature Energy, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, and Energy Policy. He has taught courses in commercial law, energy law, and climate law at master’s and doctoral levels. In 2023, he received the World Energy Justice Research Paper of the Year Award from the World Energy Justice Congress.

Chioma Vivian Basil is a legal scholar and energy specialist conducting research on regulatory frameworks in the energy sector. She is currently a PhD Researcher with the Energy Justice and Social Contract Chair at the Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour and CNRS, France, and serves as Development Director and Mentorship Project Manager of the African Energy and Mineral Management Initiative (AEMI). She obtained her undergraduate degree in Law from the University of Abuja, Nigeria, and her master’s degree in Energy and Climate Law from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. Her LLM thesis, “Examining the Role of Island Energy Communities in Electricity Distribution System Operations Within the European Union,” received an Honourable Mention in the NeVER Thesis Award 2023, presented by the Dutch Energy Law Association (Nederlandse Vereniging voor Energierecht). She has published in the Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Springer Nature, and Palgrave Macmillan. Her research interests encompass energy justice, energy communities, nuclear power, critical raw materials, international human rights, and artisanal mining.

Alba Forns Gómez is a PhD candidate at the Groningen Centre for Energy Law and Sustainability (GCELS). She previously worked on circular economy and environmental law in think tanks and European Union institutions. She is currently a Marie Curie fellow at the THERESA Doctoral Network, a collaboration between Universitat Rovira i Virgili (coordinator), Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, and the University of Eastern Finland. Her research at GCELS examines energy justice through enhanced public participation and energy communities’ decision-making processes in the development of a European green hydrogen economy.

Otelemate Ibim Dokubo is a PhD candidate at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, specialising in energy and environmental law. Her research focuses on energy transition, environmental sustainability, and public and stakeholder involvement in energy development across Europe and Africa. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in law, with a focus on environmental and oil and gas law, from Afe Babalola University, and pursued advanced studies in Energy and Environmental Law at the University of Aberdeen. Prior to commencing her doctoral studies, she practised law in Nigeria.

Ludwig Krämer studied law and history at the universities of Kiel, München, and Paris (ENA). He served as a judge at the Landgericht Kiel from 1969 to 2004 and as an official of the Commission of the European Community, Environmental Department, from 1972 to 2004. He holds an LL.D. from the University of Hamburg and has held a visiting professorship at University College London. He currently operates an environmental law consultancy, Derecho y Medio Ambiente, in Madrid, and works with ClientEarth, an environmental non-governmental organisation. He has authored some 20 books and more than 240 articles on EU environmental law.

José Grabiel Luis Cordova is Assistant Professor at the Groningen Centre for Energy Law and Sustainability (GCELS) and the STeP Research Group at Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. He is also an Associate researcher at the Vakgroep Privaat en Economisch Recht, Faculty of Law and Criminology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel. He completed a joint PhD between the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium, and the Universidad Central “Marta Abreu” de Las Villas, Cuba, with research focused on the right to energy. His research concentrates on energy law and policy with particular emphasis on Cuba, Latin America, and the Caribbean. His scholarly work examines EU energy law and policy concerning energy democracy, as well as the food-energy nexus, energy consumer protection, energy transition, the right to energy, energy access, energy poverty, and power purchase agreements within the Cuban legal framework.

is Professor of Markets and Regulation at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands since 2018. He is also Managing Board Member of the Groningen Centre of Energy Law and Sustainability (GCELS) since 2007. Woerdman defended his PhD on climate law and economics in Groningen in 2002. He graduated cum laude in political science at Radboud University Nijmegen in 1996. Woerdman has specialized in energy and carbon market regulation, concentrating on emissions trading and other tradable rights. He published more than one hundred articles, chapters and monographs, including Essential EU Climate Law published by Edward Elgar and Politiek en Politicologie published by Noordhoff. Two of his papers on emissions trading appeared in the Top 20 ‘Most Downloaded Articles’ of the Review of Law and Economics. Woerdman’s Master courses on ‘Climate Law’ and ‘Economics of Regulation’ are part of the LLM in Energy and Climate Law in Groningen, rated among the Top 10 Energy Masters in the World (by llm-guide.com). He is Academic Director of this LLM since 2021.

  https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2883-160X

is Professor of Economic Law in the Department of European and Economic Law at the University of Groningen. He graduated from the University of Groningen in 1997 and completed his PhD at the Centre for Environmental Law, University of Amsterdam, successfully defending his thesis "Competition Law and Environmental Protection in Europe: Towards Sustainability?" in 2003. Professor Vedder teaches courses on European Union law, competition law, and EU environmental law. His research focuses on EU law with particular expertise in competition law, EU environmental law, and energy law. He serves as co-director of the Groningen Centre for Energy Law. In addition to his academic work, Professor Vedder regularly conducts postdoctoral courses and third-party funded research for government agencies, private parties, and law firms on EU law matters. He has served as Honorary Judge at the Leeuwarden Court of Appeals and has been a member of advisory committees on appeals to the Netherlands Competition Act and the Samenwerkingsverband Noord Nederland (SNN).

is professor of Public Law and Sustainability at the Department of Constitutional Law, Administrative Law & Public Administration. Since October 2020 he has been the chair of this department. Kars started at that same department in 1999 as a PhD candidate, defended his PhD on 2 December 2004 on a comparative law study into the possibilities and consequences of settlements in administrative law proceedings. On 2 December 2022 he held his inaugural lecture as a professor of Public Law and Sustainability. At the Ministry of Housing and Spatial Planning & Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations he has been appointed as the first Government Commissioner for the Environment and Planning Act. Kars de Graaf is the chair of the VMR, the Dutch Association of Environmental Law, member of the editorial board for a (Dutch) Journal for Environmental Law (TO) and a (Dutch) journal of administrative law (JBplus). He is also an honorary judge in the District Court for the North of the Netherlands (not for environmental cases). Kars provides courses for professionals at the Grotius Academy (General administrative law) and for the independent joint training institute of the Dutch judicial system (General administrative law and the liability of public authorities) and regularly provides training, talks and courses for professionals.

  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7523-5742

holds the position of Professor of Energy Law and serves as the Director of the Wubbo Ockels School for Energy and Climate at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.  Additionally, he is the founder and a member of the managing board of the Like!Me Living Lab, dedicated to enhancing the effectiveness of public participation practices in energy and environmental matters. Prof. Squintani is also the founder and board member of the European Environmental Law Forum and the U4 Environmental Law Network. Serving as His extensive research and teaching interests encompass EU substantive law and EU environmental, energy, and climate law.

  https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4480-4150

Giorgia Carratta is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Münster, Germany, where she investigates the social and legal implications of bio-based batteries within the BIOSTORE project, funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia. She obtained her PhD in Economics and Business Administration from HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management, Germany, with research focusing on the legal aspects of microplastic pollution. She holds a Bachelor of Law and a Master of Law from Università del Salento, Italy. Her research expertise encompasses international public law and international and EU environmental law.