Is WTO Law Fit for Energy Transition?

Supply of energy in a more sustainable and yet secure, affordable, and clean way is one of the major global challenges. The decline of fossil fuels, climate change, the energy "hunger" of an increasing population and a likewise improving economy in less advantaged regions in the world makes this task more and more difficult. Policy makers and scientists alike hence call for the need to establish a global coordination of energy supply. This paper investigates whether WTO law as the most effective de-facto global regulator provides also the most effective forum for such a global energy regulation. I will disclose that WTO law in its current form is not fit to cover the regulatory challenges that arise at global level. I will call for a new chapter on energy to be applied to be included into the WTO setting.

I will proceed in four steps. In section 1 I will map the global societal challenges that WTO law has to respond to and its potential role in global energy coordination. In section 2 I will take stock of the existing WTO laws that relate to energy. In section 3 I will highlight some of the challenges where the current form is not fit to cover the regulatory challenges that arises at global level. In section 4 I will call for a new chapter on energy to be included into the WTO legal framework.