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Call for Papers: OGEL Special Issue on "International Energy and Investment Law Implications of the US Inflation Reduction Act"

9 August 2023

Oil, Gas &Energy Law Intelligence (OGEL, ISSN 1875-418X, www.ogel.org) invites submissions for a Special issue focusing on "International Energy and Investment Law Implications of the US Inflation Reduction Act". The co-editors for this issue are Tade Oyewunmi (Assistant Professor of Law at the University of North Dakota School of Law), Frédéric Sourgens (James McCulloch Chair in Energy Law, Tulane University), Scot Anderson (Hogan Lovells US LLP, Partner), and Almira Moronne (Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP, Partner).

Over the past two decades, energy, oil, and gas markets have become increasingly international, while the supply chain for minerals, resources, and human and financial capital that underpins the development of energy systems and technologies has also become more interconnected. It is in this context and evolving domestic policies aiming to develop a cleaner energy mix and net-zero emissions technologies such as hydrogen, carbon capture, and EV batteries, that the US Congress passed the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021 and more recently the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in 2022. These legal provisions seek to create a suite of fiscal incentives, subsidies, and grant programs to foster the deployment of Advanced Energy Manufacturing projects, CCUS, hydrogen, and transportation electrification initiatives, etc. apart from incentives for 'clean electricity' generation, grants are to be made available to approved projects that will significantly improve the efficiency, effectiveness, costs, emissions reductions, and environmental performance of coal and natural gas use, including in manufacturing and industrial facilities. The IRA provides for the evolution of the current Production Tax Credits (PTC) and Investment Tax Credit (ITC) programs into technology-neutral credits that focus on 'clean' energy production. These incentives and accompanying bonuses are mostly tied to certain requirements such as prevailing wages and 'domestic' manufacturing content specifications. There are also potential energy justice questions that may need to be considered as the energy mix and investment climate change.

Following these initiatives in the US, it appears an international investment and subsidy race has begun, with Canada seeking to introduce tax credits for green investment to avoid companies being lured to the US, while Japan and South Korea have also complained publicly about the IRA's potential implications from an international trade and investment law perspective. In response to the IRA, the European Commission enacted the Net Zero Industry Act 2023 (NZIA) which provides policy support for net-zero technologies that are commercially available or soon to enter the market in the EU, and have the significant potential to contribute to the EU's decarbonization targets.

Considering these developments, the OGEL is opening this call for papers and accepting submissions, studies, and commentaries on the various international investment, energy law, and policy aspects of the issues highlighted above, including:

1. The IRA's impact on energy law and Policy in the US
2. US and transnational implications for energy projects and technology development
3. The NZIA's impact on EU's energy law and policy
4. International Investment Law and Trade related implications
5. IRA implications and responses from Canada and Latin America
6. Highlights of NZIA and IRA regulatory approaches
7. IRA and Net-Zero targets
8. Implications on mining and international supply chains
9. Incentives and subsidies as instruments of regulation and innovation - pros and cons

Submit a 500-word abstract, including a brief outline of the paper by November 30, 2023, to the editors. Authors of accepted abstracts will be confirmed by December 20, 2023, and final papers are to be submitted by June 15, 2024.

Co-editors:

Please CC info@ogel.org when you submit material or have any questions.

Articles accepted for publication before this deadline will also go through OGEL's advance publication process, allowing your work to reach its target audience as soon as the paper completes the peer review and editing process.

The minimum word count of articles should be 5000 words (excluding footnotes, endnotes, appendices, tables, summary, etc.). Articles should include summaries (150-200 words). The preferred referencing style is the Oxford Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA). See OSCOLA Quick Reference Guide. The layout of the articles should conform to OGEL's submission guidelines available at: www.ogel.org/contribute.asp (more information available upon request).

Feel free to forward this call for papers to colleagues who may be interested in contributing to the special issue.

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