Research Initiative: 

The Law of Energy Transition in International Perspective

In cooperation with international academic partners we regularly conduct research projects and promote academic discourse on the law of energy transition in international perspective.

In March 2015 we hosted the international exploratory workshop “The Law of Energy Transition Across Europe and in the European Union – Pathways to a Sustainable Energy Sector” at the University of Tübingen. The workshop in cooperation with the University of Zurich and the University of Oxford brought together speakers from Switzerland, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands and Norway. The program is available here.

In June 2015 Prof. Saurer gave his inaugural lecture at the University of Tübingen under the title “Rechtsvergleichende Betrachtungen zur Energiewende” on the topic of the law of energy transition in comparative perspective. The lecture was published in the Jahrbuch des öffentlichen Rechts, Volume 64 (2016) and is available here.

In December 2016, Prof. Saurer gave a lecture on “The law of energy efficiency in Germany” as part of an international conference in Milano/Italy. The lecture was published in the volume “Efficienza energetica ed efficienza del sistema dell'energia: un nuovo modello?”, edited by Piergiuseppe Biandrino/Marinella de Focatiis, Wolters Kluwer Italia, Milano 2017.

In 2018 Prof. Saurer participated in the interdisciplinary research project “Governance of energy transition” (“Governance der Energiewende”) led by Prof. Dr. Arthur Benz (University of Darmstadt) and Prof. Roland Czada (University of Osnabrück). Results of the research project have been published in a symposium issue of the journal “dms – der moderne staat” (issue 2/2019), available here.

Since 2018 Prof. Saurer has been running a research project on the law of energy transition in federal legal orders in cooperation with Prof. Jonas J. Monast, Director of the Center on Climate, Energy, Environment & Economics of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (North Carolina/USA). The research project is part of the institutional academic cooperation of the University of Tübingen and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The project addresses primarily energy transitions within the federal systems of governance in Germany and the United States, where energy decision-making at the federal and state levels is influenced by very different legal structures and social, economic and ecological contexts. In addition, the research project explores the relevance of federal competence allocation for energy transition processes in federal legal orders around the world. The research project included a webinar and a workshop on comparative perspectives on the law of energy transition in federal legal systems that was held at the University of Tübingen in June 2019. The workshop resulted in a Symposium Issue of Transnational Environmental Law (Volume 10/Issue 2, 2021). The Symposium Foreword and some of the Symposium Articles are available open access here.

In March 2023 Prof. Saurer organized an International Academic Conference on “Comparative Perspectives on the Law of Energy Transition in Europe” in cooperation with Prof. Dr. Michael Rodi (University of Greifswald / IKEM Berlin) in Greifswald. The conference aimed to identify best practices in stabilizing and accelerating energy transition processes and to facilitate discourse and learning between legal orders. Focal points were the expansion of renewable energies, but also energy security and participation in transition processes. The conference covered Western and Central European countries and the Baltic region. The program of the conference is available here.

DFG-Forschungsprojekt: Wandel der Handlungsformen im Umweltrecht der Europäischen Union

Laufzeit: 2023-2026

Leitung: Prof. Dr. Johannes Saurer

Das Projekt erforscht einen mehrdimensionalen Prozess des Wandels der Handlungsformen im Rechtsetzungsinstrumentarium der EU zum Schutz der Umwelt einschließlich des Klimas und der Biodiversität. Es untersucht den zunehmenden Einsatz von EU-Verordnungen im Bereich der Grundlagen-Rechtsakte, veränderte Strukturen von Umweltplanungen im Zusammenwirken von supranationalen und nationalen Stellen und die Bedeutung von delegierten Verordnungen der Europäischen Kommission. Der Wandel der Handlungsformen wird anhand von normbezogenen Fallstudien analysiert und systematisiert sowie im Hinblick auf die zugrundeliegenden Motive und die aufgeworfenen funktionalen und primärrechtlichen Probleme erforscht. Ziel ist auch, die Bedeutung von Veränderungen im ökologischen Kontext und im Kontext der europäischen Integration und ihrer institutionellen Praxis aufzuzeigen.

DFG-Research Project "Transformation of Legal Instruments in EU Environmental Law"

Duration: 2023-2026

Project leader: Prof. Dr. Johannes Saurer

The research project addresses a mulit-dimensional process of transformation of legal instruments in EU environmental law including climate law and the law of biodiversity. It explores a plurality of phenomena of transformation, e.g., the increased choice of EU regulations versus EU directives as fundamental legal acts of EU environmental law, the emergence of new procedural structures in EU environmental planning law and the growing significance of delegated regulations of the European Commission. The research project examines the dimensions of transformation in case studies and identifies rationales and driving forces. It will assess the compatibility with EU primary law and analyze the transformation of legal instruments against the backdrop of changes in the ecological context and in the context of European integration.