Human societies have witnessed great developments in the last couple of centuries for many reasons, including the use of energy in particular conventional energy resources such as oil and gas. Such developments have resulted in a situation where each state has been seeking to ensure the existence of sufficient and constant energy supplies that allow the functioning of its society, the constant economic growth and the protection of national security.  This has been the case where nations with great energy supplies have had the upper hand in geopolitics and in determining the market price. This is why numerous countries that lacked such energy supplies have adopted a strategy of ensuring good relations with the nations exporting conventional energy resources.  Particularly, in the last couple decades, these nations have simultaneously started investing in alternative energy sources such as nuclear and renewable energies to reduce dependency on conventional energy sources.  Additionally, while some nations have succeeded in using alternative energy sources to reduce such dependency, others have failed despite the huge investments made in this context. Even worse, many nations who have a huge amount of energy reserves have witnessed the so-called resource curse as the populations of these countries did not benefit at all from the exploitation of the natural resources.  Yet, regardless of all these realities, energy is still considered as the main element that allows the development and progress of any nation, which is why the focus is on ensuring energy security by any means possible.

This special issue proposes strategies to balance energy security, business, trade and sustainable development. To prove the validity of these strategies, the authors will then provide examples of case studies where these strategies have been applied successfully.

This special issue collects a set of selected and peer-reviewed papers part of the POREEN project. The research leading to these results has received funding from the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) under Research Executive Agency (REA) Grant Agreement No. 318908. Acronym of the Project: POREEN (2013–2016) entitled “Partnering Opportunities between Europe and China in the Renewable Energies and Environmental Industries” within the results of the Research Team, Work Package Legal, coordinated by gLAWcal – Global Law Initiatives for Sustainable Development (United Kingdom). The earlier drafts of a second set of selected and peer-reviewed papers included in this special issue have been first presented at the International Conference on “International Law in Times of Trade Wars and Global Environmental Problems: Protection or Protectionism”, held on May 31 – June 1, 2019 at National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE), Moscow (Russia) jointly organized with gLAWcal – Global Law Initiatives for Sustainable Development (United Kingdom), the European Society of International Law (ESIL), Interest Group on International Environmental Law and the American Society of International Law (ASIL), Interest Group on Intellectual Property Law.

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Scientific advice is fundamental for supporting the policy and regulatory choices concerning sustainable energy and environmental protection. However, the dialogue between scientists and policy-makers is partly affected by socio-political considerations about the role of science in society. Under the research framework of the four year IRSES Program, “Evaluating Policies for Sustainable Energy Investments: Towards an Integrated Approach on the National and International Stage” (EPSEI), which is funded by the European Commission, this Special Issue comprises of selected papers concerning the functions of science in China and the Russian Federation. In addition, we encourage authors to submit both review and original research articles that include analysis on the scientific support for energy sustainability in several world areas.

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Fundamental trends in the European Union, and the world at large, provide an increasingly important policy agenda for financing sustainable energy in terms of energy efficiency, innovation in energy exploitation and development of renewable resources. During the four years Marie Curie IRSES Programme “Evaluating Policies for Sustainable Energy Investments: towards an integrated approach on national and international stage” (EPSEI), funded by the European Commission, a research partnership between research organizations from Europe and other crucial world regions, mainly China and Russian Federation, was developed. This Special Issue focuses on the international trends in sustainable energy and their effects on energy security at the national level. Such technical, legal and policy-related matters affect multiple parties and interests. Resolution of disputes may require coordination of multiple governmental authorities and private entities. Arbitration and negotiation can represent a way to effectively combine several points of view about economic interests and environmental concerns. 

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This Special Issue is part of the results of the Research Team at gLAWcal - Global law Initiatives for Sustainable Development (United Kingdom) coordinated by Prof. Paolo Davide Farah, in the frame of the Project EPSEI. The research leading to these results has received funding from the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–13) under REA grant agreement no 269327 Acronym of the Project: EPSEI (2011–15) entitled ‘Evaluating Policies for Sustainable Energy Investments: Towards an Integrated Approach on National and International Stage’. 

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