• Offered by ANU Law School
  • ANU College ANU College of Law
  • Course subject Laws
  • Areas of interest Law
  • Academic career PGRD
  • Mode of delivery Online or In Person

The law relating to management of natural resources and for environmental protection has grown to become an established and important area of professional legal practice over the last twenty years. Energy law is an important branch of such practice. It governs the ownership, use, development and control of energy resources.

The Sustainable Energy Law course surveys the rapidly evolving field of renewable and clean energy law at both domestic and international levels. 

The course provides students with the opportunity to examine, explore and critique existing legal solutions to issues arising in energy markets, with the aim of enhancing the role of the law in addressing energy and climate change objectives.

This course examines the legal framework applying to renewable energy sources, not in isolation but in dynamic interrelationship with policies toward conventional fossil sources of energy.

Energy law is evolving in order to address the challenge of climate change. The importance of effective law and policy to encourage cleaner energy development has been underlined both by the most recent scientific warnings about the need to implement timely responses to global warming.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

  1. Identify and analyse the key concepts, principles and issues relating to development of sustainable energy including solar thermal, solar PV, wind, urban wind, ocean, biomass, and biogas;
  2. Explain and evaluate the regulatory framework for various types of renewable energy sources in Australia;
  3. Analyse the law within comparative and inter-disciplinary frameworks including resource and regulatory economics;
  4. Apply specific regulatory regimes and the broader framework of environmental and planning law to energy projects; and
  5. Research, critically examine and communicate in writing about a problem or specific aspect of sustainable energy law.

Indicative Assessment

  1. Class participation (10) [LO 1,2,3,4,5]
  2. Research Essay (6,000 words) (90) [LO 1,2,3,4,5]

The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.

Workload

  • Classes offered in non-standard sessions will be taught on an intensive base with compulsory contact hours (approximately 26 hours of face to face teaching). The course will also require advanced preparation through assigned readings. In total, it is anticipated that the hours required for completion of this course (class preparation, teaching and completion of assessment) will not exceed 120 hours.
  • Classes offered during semester periods are expected to have three contact hours per week.

Click here for the LLM Masters Program course list

Inherent Requirements

Not applicable

Requisite and Incompatibility

To enrol in this course you must be studying a; Master of Laws (MLLM) and have completed or be completing LAWS8586 Law and Legal Institutions; or Graduate Certificate of Law (CLAW) and have completed or be completing LAWS8586 Law and Legal Institutions; or Juris Doctor (MJD) and have completed or be completing five 1000 or 6100 level LAWS courses. Students undertaking any ANU graduate program may apply for this course. Enrolments are accepted on a case-by-case basis. Please contact the ANU College of Law for permission code.

Prescribed Texts

Students must rely on the approved Class Summary which will be posted to the Programs and Courses site approximately two weeks prior to the commencement of the course. Alternatively, this information will be published in the Program course list when known.

Preliminary Reading

Students must rely on the approved Class Summary which will be posted to the Programs and Courses site approximately 2 weeks prior to the commencement of the course.


An e-brick will be available on the Wattle course site.

Fees

Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.  

Commonwealth Support (CSP) Students
If you have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). More information about your student contribution amount for each course at Fees

Student Contribution Band:
34
Unit value:
6 units

If you are a domestic graduate coursework student with a Domestic Tuition Fee (DTF) place or international student you will be required to pay course tuition fees (see below). Course tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.

Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.

Units EFTSL
6.00 0.12500
Domestic fee paying students
Year Fee
2022 $4740
International fee paying students
Year Fee
2022 $6000
Note: Please note that fee information is for current year only.

Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links

ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.

There are no current offerings for this course.

Responsible Officer: Registrar, Student Administration / Page Contact: Website Administrator / Frequently Asked Questions