Research Projects

Project: The Future of Energy Law & Policy

This is a project under the guidance of Professor Raphael Heffron. The project was also recently funded by the European Commission under a Jean Monnet Professorship award (2016-19).

The project has had three main outputs so far and has involved work with researchers and practitioners in Europe, Africa, Asia and the US. The publications are below with one of them available open – access:

  1. Heffron, R. J., Ronne, A., Bradbrook, A., Tomain, J. P. and Talus, K. 2018. A Treatise for Energy Law. Journal of World Energy Law & Business, 11 (1), 34-48. (OPEN-ACCESS)
  2. Heffron R. J. et al. 2017. The Global Future of Energy Law. International Energy Law Review, 8, 291-302. (Translated and published in Chinese). (Available via Westlaw)
  3. Heffron, R. J. 2016. The Global Future of Energy Law. International Energy Law Review, 7, 290- 295. (Available via Westlaw)
  4. Heffron, R. J., Roberts, P., Cameron, P. and Johnston, A. 2016. A Review of Energy Law Education in the UK. Journal of World Energy Law and Business, 9 (5), 346-356. (OPEN-ACCESS)
  5. Heffron, R. J. and Talus. K. 2016. The Evolution of Energy Law and Energy Jurisprudence: Insights for Energy Analysts and Researchers. Energy Research and Social Science, 19, 1-10. (Translated and published in Chinese).
  6. Heffron, R. J. and Talus. K. 2016. The development of energy law in the 21st century: a paradigm shift? Journal of World Energy Law and Business, 9 (3), 189-202.

Project: The Just Transition to a Low-Carbon Economy

This is a flagship project led by Professor Raphael Heffron and is the first research project on the Just Transition to be funded in the UK. It has received funding by the UK Energy Research Centre (via EPSRC) and has resulted in Raphael being made a Research Associate at the UK Energy Research Centre.

The focus of the project is uniting disciplines and conducting international interdisciplinary research on how society can achieve a just transition to a low-carbon economy. Early success can be seen with three articles and the below cooperative initiative on the Just Transition.

  1. A link to our initiative: https://www.thejusttransition.com/
  2. Article 1 – An overview of our annual event in March, held in Edinburgh

Heffron, R. J. 2018. The Just Transition to a Low-Carbon Economy. Renewable Energy Law and Policy Review, 8 (4), 39-41.

  1. Article 2 – A short article viewpoint on our perspective of the Just Transition

Heffron R. J. and McCauley, D. 2018. What is the ‘Just Transition’? Geoforum, 88, 74-77.

  1. Article 3 – An extended article on our perspective of the Just Transition

McCauley, D. and Heffron, R. J. 2018. Just transition: Integrating climate, energy and environmental justice. Energy Policy, 119, 1-7.

Project: Liability in the Energy Sector

Liability is a key area of importance for the energy sector and here work is produced across several areas over the energy sector and in particular in relation to nuclear energy and carbon-capture-storage (CCS).

The following articles have been produced as part of interdisciplinary teams via research led by Professor Raphael Heffron as part of an UK EPSRC grant and also as part of a Horizon 2020 European Commission project:

  1. Heffron, R. J., Downes, L., Bysveen, M., Brakstad, E. V., Tom Mikunda, T., Neele, F., Eickhoff, C., Hanstock, D. and Schumann, D.  2018. Ownership, risk and the law for a CO2  transport network for carbon capture and storage in the European Union. Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law, DOI: 10.1080/02646811.2018.1442215
  2. Heffron, R. J., Downes, L., Bysveen, M., Brakstad, E. V., Tom Mikunda, T., Neele, F., Eickhoff, C., Hanstock, D. and Diana Schumann, D. 2018. Three Layers of energy law for examining CO2 transport for carbon-capture storage. Journal of World Energy Law & Business (in-press).
  3. Nuttall, W. J., Ashley, S. and Heffron, R. J. 2017. Compensating for severe nuclear accidents: expert elucidation. Process Safety and Environmental Protection, 112, 131-142.(free access)
  4. Heffron, R., Ashley, S. and Nuttall, W. J. 2016. The Global Nuclear Liability Regime Post Fukushima Daiichi. Progress in Nuclear Energy 90 (July 2016), 1-10. (free access)

Project: Energy Justice in the Energy Sector

Professor Raphael Heffron is one of the leaders in the energy justice area and has worked with some of the leading scholars in the area.  These papers are some of the most cited in the energy justice area:

  1. McCauley, D, Brown, A, Rehner, R, Heffron, R & van de Graaff, S. 2018. Energy justice and policy change: an historical political analysis of the German nuclear phase-out. Applied Energy, 228, pp. 317-323.
  2. Heffron, R. J. & McCauley, D. 2017. The concept of energy justice across the disciplines. Energy Policy, 105, 658-667.
  3. Sovacool, B, Heffron, R. J., McCauley, D & Goldthau, A. 2016. Energy decisions reframed as justice and ethical concerns. Nature Energy, doi: 10.1038/nenergy.2016.24
  4. Jenkins, K, McCauley, D , Heffron, R, Stephan, H & Rehner, R. 2016. Energy justice: a conceptual review. Energy Research and Social Science, 11, 174-182.
  5. McCauley, D, Heffron, R, Pavlenko, M, Rehner, RWM & Holmes, RT 2016, ‘Energy justice in the Arctic: implications for energy infrastructural development‘ Energy Research and Social Science, vol 17, pp. 56-65.
  6. Heffron RJ, McCauley D and Sovacool BK. 2015. Resolving Society’s Energy Trilemma through the Energy Justice Metric’, Energy Policy, 87, 168-176.
  7. Heffron, R. J. and McCauley, D. 2014. Achieving Sustainable Supply Chains through Energy Justice, Applied Energy, 123, 435-437.
  8. McCauley, D., Heffron, R. J. Stephan, H. and Jenkins, K. 2013. Advancing Energy Justice: The triumvirate of tenets. International Energy Law Review, 32 (3), 107-110. (Available via Westlaw)

Project: Law for Developing Energy Infrastructure

This is a long-running area of energy research by Professor Raphael Heffron and involves projects and issues across the world. Below is a sample of some of the research Raphael has completed and some with practitioners:

  1. Heffron, R. J. 2018. Energy law for decommissioning in the energy sector in the 21st century. Journal of World Energy Law & Business, (full citation forthcoming).
  2. Connor, R., Heffron, R. J., Khan, A.A. and Perkins, E. 2018. Legal Strategies for the Mitigation of Risk for Energy Infrastructure Projects. Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law, (full citation forthcoming).
  3. Heffron R.J., and Little G. (Eds). 2016. Delivering Energy Law and Policy in the EU and US: A Reader. Edinburgh University Press: UK.(Book)
  4. Heffron, R. J. and McManus, F. 2016. Environmental Impact Assessment. Environmental Law in Scotland, 20, 1-28. (Available via Westlaw)
  5. McCauley, D, Heffron, R, Pavlenko, M, Rehner, RWM & Holmes, RT 2016, ‘Energy justice in the Arctic: implications for energy infrastructural development‘ Energy Research and Social Science, vol 17, pp. 56-65.
  6. Heffron, R. J. 2013. Nuclear Energy Policy in the United States 1990-2010: A Federal or State Responsibility. Energy Policy, 64, 254-266.
  7. Heffron, R. J. 2013. The Application of Contrast Explanation to Energy Policy Research: UK Nuclear Energy Policy 2002-2012. Energy Policy, 55, 602-616.
  8. Heffron, R. J. 2012. Romanian Nuclear New Build: Progress Amidst Turbulence. Progress in Nuclear Energy, 56, 43-60
  9. Heffron, R. J. 2012. Lessons from the United States: For Legal Change and Delay in Energy Law in the United Kingdom. International Energy Law Review, 2012, 31 (2) 71-77. (Available via Westlaw)