United Nations Independent Expert, Professor Damilola Olawuyi, SAN, has advocated for increased financial and technical support for clean energy innovators and entrepreneurs to effectively accelerate a just and inclusive energy transition that leaves no one behind.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who is also the UNESCO Chair on Environmental Law and Sustainable Development at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar made these remarks while delivering a keynote lecture at the 2nd International Conference on Just Transition and Environmental Justice organised by the Department of Law and Criminology, Aberystwyth University, Wales, United Kingdom.
Themed: “Emerging Developments and Implications for a Just Transition,” the event brought together leading practitioners, academics, students and stakeholders in international law, energy and environmental justice fields.
The conference featured opening remarks from Professor Mathew Jarvis, Associate Faculty Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research at the Faculty of Humanities, Aberystwyth University; event convenor Professor Engobo Emeseh, who is the Head of Department of Law and Criminology, Aberystwyth University, while the session was moderated by Dr Irekpitan Okukpon, assistant professor at the University of Bradford, United Kingdom.
In his keynote lecture, Olawuyi emphasised that the slow progress recorded in many parts of the world towards realising environmental sustainability, energy security and green economy is mainly due to the perennial lack of homegrown technologies, noting that relying solely on imported technology may not effectively deliver clean, affordable and sustainable solutions required to accelerate the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs.
According to him, the world is at a critical juncture where we must rapidly accelerate progress towards homegrown clean energy innovations, defined as technologies that advance clean energy transition, energy security, and environmental justice.
Yet energy laws and policies drafted decades ago are increasingly ill-equipped to keep pace with the real-world challenges of scaling and commercialising clean energy innovations.
Lamenting the high costs of imported solar panels, wind turbines, and other technologies and accessories required to drive clean and affordable energy,
Olawuyi noted that excessive dependence on technology importation results in lack of local ownership, fails to create long term domestic economic opportunities, and often excludes poor and vulnerable groups who may not be able to afford such imported solutions.
“For example, in many countries across Africa, nearly all solar panels and accessories are imported. Some of those panels at times struggle to function optimally or last for long under the different weather, geography, sunshine intensity and other local conditions.
“This raises the urgent need to do more to support small and medium scale energy entrepreneurs to unlock African energy solutions.
“This requires us to swiftly address legal, regulatory and financial barriers that energy entrepreneurs continue to face across Africa and beyond.”
The legal luminary who also serves as independent expert on the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights, noted that financial constraints, limited capacity development, and lack of supportive regulatory framework that incentivise and streamline clean energy innovation continue to limit private sector participation in clean technology investments.
Olawuyi called for increased international support and solidarity to tackle these challenges.
According to him “The energy transition cannot replicate or create new forms of exclusions and technology dependence.
A justice-lens is therefore required to achieve a just energy transition.”
He urged for targeted financial empowerment and reskilling initiatives to enable African environmental and energy entrepreneurs, particularly youth, women and indigenous communities to lead locally made solar panels, decentralised micro and mini grids and other homegrown solutions that will enhance energy access in remote areas.
He stated that “We cannot achieve a just energy transition without addressing barriers that energy entrepreneurs and private sector investors face, and there are a plenitude of them,” he noted.
While presenting findings from his latest co-edited book, titled, Sustainable Distributed Energy Resources Law and Policy, published by Oxford University Press, Olawuyi outlined risk mitigation strategies and contractual techniques necessary to address such barriers.
He noted that this new book outlines climate aligned sustainability reporting, financing, green procurement, climate-smart infrastructure development, transparent climate disclosures and reporting, gender justice, and other sustainability safeguards, that are required to ensure a just and inclusive energy transition.
According to him, “to tackle the different dimensions of a just transition, we need a comprehensive approach, one that not only reduces environmental impact but also promotes social and economic justice.”
A highpoint of the conference was the formal launch of the Society for Just Transition and Environmental Justice which aims to continue to spearhead discussions on legal pathways for advancing just transition and access to environmental justice at global and national levels.
