University of Groningen
Modernizing the Energy Charter Treaty
Verburg, Cees
DOI:
10.33612/diss.109697150
IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from
it. Please check the document version below.
Document Version
Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record
Publication date:
2020
Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database
Citation for published version (APA):
Verburg, C. (2020). Modernizing the Energy Charter Treaty: facilitating foreign investment in the renewable
energy sector. University of Groningen. https://doi.org/10.33612/diss.109697150
Copyright
Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons).
Take-down policy
If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.
Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum.
Stellingen
Modernizing the Energy Charter Treaty –
Facilitating Foreign Investment in the Renewable Energy Sector
1) The close links between international investment and trade in the renewable energy sector warrant a holistic approach to international regulation of the sector.
2) The investment chapter of the Energy Charter Treaty has been interpreted and applied inconsistently by arbitral tribunals and domestic courts.
3) Recognizing that the investment chapter of the Energy Charter Treaty prescribes the ‘rule of law’ in investor-State relationships; the very concept of the rule of law is the strongest argument in favour of more consistency and predictability in dispute set-tlement proceedings under the treaty since there can be no rule of law without legal certainty.
4) The ease with which regulations, that are aimed at stimulating renewable energy sources, are changed in various jurisdictions demonstrates that rules on investment protection are important in the sector since renewable energy investors are exposed to a significant level of regulatory risk.
5) Reducing regulatory induced risks along all segments of the globally organized value chain of renewable energy technology will contribute to a lower levelized cost of elec-tricity.
6) Protectionist measures in the renewable energy sector adversely affect the wider dis-semination of renewable energy technologies: putting up trade barriers in a globally organized value chain is like putting up trade barriers within a single factory.
7) Once renewable energy sources reach grid parity the energy transition will no longer be merely regulatory driven, but also market driven.
8) Increasing the output of renewable energy is but one of the many aspects of the ener-gy transition.
9) There is no causal relationship between maximizing student numbers and the quantity of academically published papers on the one hand and an improved standing and reputation of a university on the other hand.
10) “When the wind stops blowing that’s the end of your electric. Let’s hurry up. Darling, is the wind blowing today? I’d like to watch television, darling.” – Donald Trump (2019)
