Clean Energy Transition in Emerging Economies of Asia and Africa - A New Concept of Transnational Collaboration in Nuclear Energy

• Author: Aishwarya Saxena
• Position: Doctoral Candidate in School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley where she also received her Master of Laws (LL.M)
• Pages: 159-186

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Clean Energy Transition in Emerging Economies of Asia and

Africa -- A New Concept of Transnational Collaboration in

Nuclear Energy

Aishwarya Saxena1

Abstract: In 2019, unprecedented extreme weather conditions occurred in several

parts of the world as the temperature of the earth’s surface hit a record high. This

deterioration of environmental conditions can largely be attributed to rise in emissions

resulting from high energy demand. Renewable energy sources and nuclear power met

the majority of this growth in demand. Still, generation from coal and gas-fired power

plants has increased considerably, continuing to ramp up emissions. While an effort

globally is needed, developing nations are a critical part of reducing emissions.

However, in many developing countries in Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, the

bigger question is to ensure electricity supply, as the nations in those regions go through

rapid industrialization and population growth. When incorporated in the grid with

renewable energy sources, nuclear energy offers a workable option. This paper seeks to

demonstrate the importance of nuclear energy investment in these regions and highlight

some of the barriers to the same. The goal of this paper is to emphasize the range of

opportunities for collaboration between nuclear technology vendors in these regions for

facilitating clean energy transition and to also highlight some of the legal barriers to

implementation of nuclear power projects there.

Keywords: Climate Change; Energy Investment; Clean Energy Transition;

Nuclear Energy; Renewable Energy; Sustainable Development

1. Introduction

Developing nations in Southeast Asia (Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia,

and Vietnam) and Sub-Saharan Africa (Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya) have

shown inclination to embark on their nuclear power programs to support growing energy

demand and reduce emissions. However, while these nations have continued to show

strong interest in nuclear energy, there are several barriers to incorporation of nuclear

energy into their grids. Amongst these barriers are legal issues that affect

implementation of nuclear power projects. This paper explains why emerging

economies in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia are looking to integrate nuclear

energy in their grid, while also delving into the legal challenges to the same.

This paper offers two major arguments, firstly that nuclear energy has a significant

role to play in the decarbonization of the energy sector, secondly that there are legal

barriers, especially civil nuclear liability stand in the way of implementation of nuclear

power projects. Lastly, this paper explores how the current legal framework on civil

nuclear liability needs to evolve to adapt to provide for nuclear power projects in

1 Ms. Aishwarya Saxena is the Lloyd M. Robbins Fellow and Doctoral Candidate in School of Law at

the University of California, Berkeley where she also received her Master of Laws (LL.M) with dual

specialization in Energy and Clean Technology, and Environmental Law.

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Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. For this purpose, the first part of this paper

seeks to review literature on the level of electricity access, the extent to which electricity

generation in these regions is responsible for rise in emissions, and the significance of

clean baseload sources like nuclear energy. The next section of this paper will study the

development of the nuclear liability regime over the past half a century and how

international legal instruments impact domestic nuclear energy policies, trade, and

investment.

2. Nuclear Energy and Decarbonization of the Energy Sector

2.1 Deteriorating Environmental Conditions

The environmental conditions on earth are deteriorating, affecting ecosystems and

even endangering the quality of life on earth. The threat of climate change is not merely

a distant worry anymore but has started affecting the functioning of ecosystems,

agricultural productivity and inhabitability of several regions.2 There have also been

several other serious consequences of climate change which have manifested

themselves in the form of extreme weather conditions, unexpected natural disasters like

devastating wildfires, 3 irreversible damage to biodiversity in the form of species

extinction, etc. 4 Projections also indicate that extreme weather and temperature

occurrences may well become the norm and render several areas irrevocably

uninhabitable. This has amplified risks5 to inhabitants of low-lying and coastal areas,

millions6 of whom have already faced displacement7 as Pacific Island ecosystems can

no longer sustain the communities dependent on them. 8 Fragile mountainous

ecosystems of developing countries are amongst the most vulnerable to these overall

2 See United Nations Environment Program, Climate Change and Human Rights, pp.2-10 (2015),

https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/9530/-

Climate_Change_and_Human_Rightshuman-rights-climate-

change.pdf.pdf?sequence=2&amp%3BisAllowed (accessed on June 15, 2021).

3 See Thomas Fuller & Kendra Pierre-Louis, A Forecast for a Warming World: Learn to Live With

Fire, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/24/climate/california-wildfires-climate-change.html (accessed

on February 15, 2021).

4 See Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, Global

Assessment Report on Biodiversity a nd Ecosystem Services, pp.66-8 (2019), https://ipbes.net/global-

assessment (accessed on June 15, 2021).

5 See the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Working Group

II: Contribution to Climate Change, Pa rt A: Global and Sectoral Aspects, pp.368-70 (2014),

https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg2/full-report-global-aspects/ (accessed on June 15, 2021).

6 See Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Human Mobility in the Context of

climate change: Recommendations from the Advisory Group on Climate Change and Human mobility,

p.9 (2015), https://www.iom.int/sites/default/files/migrated_files/pbn/docs/Human-Mobility-in-the-con

text-of-Climate-Change.pdf (accessed on June 15, 2021).

7 See supra note 2.

8 See Amy Louise, Climate Change a nd Migration Issues in the P acific, p.1038 (2017), https://ww

w.ilo.org/dyn/migpractice/docs/261/Pacific.pdf (accessed on June 15, 2021).