Transparent Markets for Sustainable Energy Investments

Energy and climate change are essential components of the sustainable development equation. In pursuit of UN sustainable development goal to ‘Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all’ (UNSDG7), achieving universal access to energy is among the major challenges and opportunities that the world and governments face today. Current energy investment flows are insufficient to achieve the ambitious objectives of universal access to energy and of clean energy transition. This scenario strengthens the political demand to mobilize sustainable energy investments both domestic and cross-border. Investors need to mitigate legal and regulatory investment risks to reduce the costs of doing business. In the 2015 UNCTAD's Investment Policy Framework for Sustainable Development, UNCTAD recommends that investment policies are made an integral part of a comprehensive ‘investment and sustainable development’ strategy. In the energy sector, IEA estimates that improvements in predictable investment conditions are required. The 2015 G20 Energy Access Action Plan supports developing countries in attracting energy accessrelated investments by reforming policy, legal and regulatory frameworks. Keywords are regulatory stability and market confidence in the energy sector. In this context, available policy options to preserve the enabling factors for sustainable energy investments and the implementation of the rule of law (including the regulation of cross-border investments, investment facilitation, and regulatory cooperation and regulation of clean energy investments) will be discussed.