Introduction to the Routledge Handbook of Energy Law

The importance of energy is beyond question. Indeed, few things are as indispensable as energy. As an energy source, no single fuel is more indispensable than petroleum. As noted by prominent political economist Edward Morse, petroleum has proven to be the most versatile fuel source ever discovered, situated at the core of the modern industrial economy. With such versatility has come inevitable growth – increasing growth in the consumption of oil, economic growth fuelled by the consumption of oil (and now gas) and population growth on the back of the ‘Green Revolution’. Our reliance on petroleum has come at great costs – political, economic and, most of all, environmental. There is little doubt that the unbridled consumption of hydrocarbons over the last century, from coal to oil to gas, has brought about changes in the climate of the Earth. These climatic shifts, combined with concerns over nuclear energy after the 2009 Fukushima nuclear accident, and technological developments in the field of competitive renewable generation of energy have prompted a shift from the consumption of hydrocarbons to low-carbon energy as society becomes more electrified.