Article Dans Une Revue German Yearbook of International Law Année : 2025

Icarus’s Flight: The Paradoxes in the Contribution of International Law to Solar Power

Résumé

Renewable energy in general, and solar power in particular, are of clear interest for energy transition and the fight against global warming. Yet, international law only makes a poor contribution to the success of solar power, as it creates a fragmented and incomplete legal framework, with several opposing poles. On the one side, due diligence and environmental law aim at fighting pollution, but do not give birth to stringent obligations in favour of green power. On the other side, restrictions about public subventions in WTO law, as well as current interpretations of fair and equitable treatment, legitimate expectations, and resort to the discounted-cash-flow method in the framework of investment law, put excessive constraint on States and may be detrimental to solar power. This article aims at highlighting the shortcomings in positive law, and to make recommendations to improve the legal framework – in a way which better balances public and private interests. It also underlines that human rights law has an increasing role to play in the promotion of solar power.Renewable energy in general, and solar power in particular, are of clear interest for energy transition and the fight against global warming. Yet, international law only makes a poor contribution to the success of solar power, as it creates a fragmented and incomplete legal framework, with several opposing poles. On the one side, due diligence and environmental law aim at fighting pollution, but do not give birth to stringent obligations in favour of green power. On the other side, restrictions about public subventions in WTO law, as well as current interpretations of fair and equitable treatment, legitimate expectations, and resort to the discounted-cash-flow method in the framework of investment law, put excessive constraint on States and may be detrimental to solar power. This article aims at highlighting the shortcomings in positive law, and to make recommendations to improve the legal framework – in a way which better balances public and private interests. It also underlines that human rights law has an increasing role to play in the promotion of solar power.

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Dates et versions

hal-05496075 , version 1 (05-02-2026)

Identifiants

Citer

Thibault Moulin. Icarus’s Flight: The Paradoxes in the Contribution of International Law to Solar Power. German Yearbook of International Law, 2025, 2023 (1), pp.261-291. ⟨10.3790/gyil.2024.373901⟩. ⟨hal-05496075⟩

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