KUTLUHAN BOZKURT

Renewable Energy and Environmental Protection in the Context of International Law and the Aarhus Convention

Abstract

Over the past few decades, the effects of global warming and climate change have increased significantly across the globe. In the fight against climate change, shifting towards alternative energy sources and promoting clean, environmentally friendly energy production have emerged as key objectives. Clearly, both national and international legal frameworks are essential for protecting the planet and its environment, including its natural habitats and ecosystems. Universal regulations, particularly cross-border international and supranational ones, are also necessary in the fight against global warming and climate change, which affect many regions of the planet.

International legal regulations can play a significant role in harmonising states’ differing practices and fostering a common consensus on shifting towards renewable energy sources and promoting this shift. However, due to the nature of international law and the issue of enforcement (the absence of a central authority), certain challenges are highly likely to arise. One way to overcome these challenges is to consider the positive role of cross-border regulations and judicial decisions.

The Aarhus Convention sets out key principles for the protection of the environment under international law. This Convention has adopted extremely important principles. These include public access to information on environmental matters, public participation in decision-making on environmental issues, and judicial review (environmental justice). Türkiye is not yet a party to this convention. Nevertheless, in some of its rulings, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has referred to the convention, effectively treating it as a cross-border regulation and ruling on human rights violations in relation to Türkiye.

The principles of access to information, public participation, and environmental justice as defined by the Aarhus Convention should be regarded as key parameters for transitioning from a carbon-based economy to a green, renewable energy system. Therefore, ensuring the protection of the planet and ecosystems, informing the public and society, facilitating public participation in decision-making processes and adapting national laws to the Aarhus Convention to ensure environmental justice will be key objectives in the process of transitioning from a carbon-based economy and energy system to green and nature-friendly (clean) energy.

The energy crisis caused by the recent attacks and armed conflicts launched by the US and Israel against Iran—which constitute a complete violation of international law—could provide a positive impetus for states in their transition to renewable energy; and the potential for the strict application of the principles of the Aarhus Convention to create negative entropy in terms of preventing (or mitigating) the tendency towards disorder in international law should not be overlooked. The fact that the use of the Strait of Hormuz has become dangerous and risky, coupled with the excessive rise in oil prices, raises the possibility of positively influencing states’ shift towards clean and sustainable energy.

Biography

He graduated from Marmara University Faculty of Law, Istanbul, in 1990. He completed his PhD studies in the field of the EU law and international law between February 2000 and June 2004 at the Vienna University Faculty of Law, Austria. Within this period, he acquired a master’s degree in the field of European and International Business Law (LL. M. Eur.) at Munich Ludwig Maximilians University, Faculty of Law, Germany. During his PhD, he did his legal and official internship in the different district courts of Vienna Supreme Court. Later, he made postdoctoral research at UNU-CRIS, Bruges/Belgium. Later, he was a virtual Visiting Research Fellow at the UNU-CRIS, Brugge after associate professorship. His research fields are global warming and climate change, ecocide, energy law, the EU and international law, international organizations law, the EU, international human rights law, migration law. He published in international and national areas book chapters and book, and articles, which were published in different countries such as Germany, Austria, Turkey, Slovenia, Poland, Ukraine, Greece and Albania.