Abstract

Climate change poses a serious challenge to countries. Energy is at the heart of addressing the rise in global GHG emissions. Energy transitions seek to transform energy systems to emit less. The international community has devised particular rules to govern energy transitions. States negotiated the climate change treaties of the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement for this particular purpose. In this respect, these instruments are lex specialis and embody a full governance system to implement energy transitions.

Due to the complexity of these transitions and climate change generally, these international rules embraced cooperation as the exclusive mode to implement these transitions. Transitions overhaul entire industries and have significant overarching socio-economic effects. As such, state responsibility or liability are not suitable mechanisms to address issues of non-observance. Courts are more detrimental to the cause when shifting greater responsibility of addressing climate change to developing countries with the threat of a stick, disregarding the fact that for these countries, it is a matter of lack of resources and capabilities, not delinquency. Instead, the letter and spirit of the climate change treaties assumed the facilitation of energy transitions. And the onus is on developed states that bear historical responsibility for the rise of GHG emissions by supporting developing countries. This paper outlines this predicament through analyzing state consensus and reflecting on how only cooperation can move complex energy transitions forward.