This book offers a bold and timely rethinking of how sustainable energy transitions can be achieved in an era of climate urgency and geopolitical uncertainty. Challenging the traditional top-down model of governance, the volume advances a compelling argument for a bottom-up transformation driven by citizens, prosumers, cities, and new market actors.
The book locates this shift within a broader structural transformation of the energy sector, namely from supply-driven systems to demand-side governance centered on electrification, renewable energy, efficiency, smart grids, and digital innovation. By integrating legal, economic, technological, and policy perspectives, it demonstrates how decentralization, democratization, digitalization, deregulation, and decarbonization are reshaping global energy governance. Combining theoretical analysis with practical EU-based case studies, the book explores smart grids, collaborative economics, decentralized energy markets, and the evolving role of prosumers in ensuring energy security and sustainability. It also addresses critical challenges, including cybersecurity, infrastructure finance, and regulatory design.
Bridging trade, energy, climate change, and sustainability, this work highlights a crucial knowledge gap and offers an innovative governance framework fit for the 21st century. Essential reading for scholars, policymakers, and practitioners in climate law, energy law, and global governance, the book provides a forward-looking blueprint for building a more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable global energy order.
