The Energy Transition

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor

This course examines the key issues and challenges around the most profound transition in global energy use since the Industrial Revolution. The course will be of interest to those who wish to play a part in governments, multilateral institutions, or the various businesses that will ultimately shape the transition - or the civil society groups who try to influence them. The energy industry is arguably the most genuinely global in operation today. Energy products are among the most traded commodities. Players in the industry span the full range, from ‘national champion’ state owned companies and the largest multinationals to tiny independents and start-up companies. The businesses range from fossil fuels to nuclear power to solar, wind and hydroelectricity. Many of the industry’s proponents argue, rightly, that its products are essential to modern life; yet its companies and products are also taken for granted, often controversial and, at times, despised. Governments regulate the industry with varying – and sometimes contradictory - objectives and varying degrees of success; they actively participate in the raw material and product markets; and many own electricity, nuclear, renewable or fossil fuel companies. The course will deal with the overall challenge of combining development with energy security and environmental progress. It will approach this question through the lens of the global participants’ concerns and priorities including non-OECD participants. Students will gain an in depth understanding of the economic fundamentals of energy and evolving approaches to investment, portfolio design and risk management, as well as the external environment in which the energy industry writ large operates. The first part of the course will explore the origins of the structure of energy markets and how their future transition is forecast. It will consider the fundamental forces driving the transition – policies to address climate change and concerns about energy security and pricing – as well as the practical factors limiting the speed at which the transition will occur. Finally, the course will consider the geopolitical implications of recent and prospective changes in energy markets and financing. Team-based exercises, structured investigations and classroom sessions will explore the uncertainty the transition creates for all players, and how that uncertainty translates into investment decisions, portfolio design, regulatory and tax approaches. The final part of the course will require participants to develop and effectively communicate plausible policy advice for government leaders.