Unsustainable practices worldwide in energy production and consumption have led to a plethora of environmental problems. For a long time environmental law largely overlooked the relevance energy production and consumption, and energy was not seen to be of much significance to the advancement of sustainable development. This has changed in recent years, with increasing global concern about climate change, and in particular with the publication by the United Nations of the World Energy Assessment report followed by the detailed consideration of this issue at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002. Australia has been seen to be lagging behind the other major industrialised nations in addressing sustainable energy issues. Energy Law and the Environment shows the relevance of energy production and consumption to climate change and sustainable development. It discusses current national and international legal regimes and offers creative legal solutions for enhancing the role of the law in advancing sustainable development in the future. This is compulsory reading for legal practitioners and academics interested in energy law and climate change, as well as for professionals in environmental consultancies and relevant government agencies across Australia. Students of environment law, energy law, environmental management and environmental science will find this book an invaluable resource, as will anyone with an interest in energy and sustainable development.

Book jacket.