We are proud to announce that the second session of the 2020 EULawSD webinar series will take place on Tuesday, 28th April. For the occasion, we will welcome Elena Cima, who is a Lecturer at the Pôle de Gouvernance de l’Environnement et Développement Territorial of the University of Geneva, as well as at its Faculty of Law. Elena will join us for a dialogue on ‘The EU and the Modernisation of the Energy Charter Treaty: What Could it Mean for Climate Action?’.
In particular, the webinar will focus on the process of modernisation that the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) is currently undergoing, with the active participation of all its Parties. Given the important role that the energy sector plays in relation to both contributing to climate change and providing mitigation solutions, the reform of the ECT presents a unique opportunity to ensure that the new text of the Treaty facilitates and increases investments in the energy sector in a sustainable way. As such, Elena will explore the position of the European Union, as well as some of its Member States, which emphasises the need to design a “modernized ECT which should reflect climate change and clean energy transition goals and contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the Paris Agreement.” Although none of the items open for discussion and reform explicitly refers to or mentions climate change, Elena will argue that many of the core provisions of the Treaty could, if drafted differently, provide for more climate-friendly developments in the EU and beyond.
The webinar will be visible on the YouTube channel of the EULawSD Module or in the box below. As usual, it will be possible to join the event live and ask questions to our speaker.
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About the speaker
Elena Cima is a Lecturer in International Energy and Environmental Law at the University of Geneva. She holds a PhD Degree in International Law from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, a Bachelor of Laws LL. B from the University of Milan and an LL.M degree from Yale Law School, where she was editor of the Yale Journal of International Law.
Previously, she studied at Harvard Law School (Department of East Asian Legal Studies) and then moved to Beijing, where she was Marie Curie Fellow at Tsinghua University and Beijing Normal University and worked as a researcher for over two years on projects funded by the European Commission on energy trade and investment. Her research interests include international trade and environmental law, U.S. and Chinese energy law and policy, and the interfaces between energy and international law.
