Energy Law and Energy Transformation

This chapter argues that the energy transition needs to be reimagined as an energy transformation in order to emphasise the scale and pace of change required to meet climate, security, and equity objectives in a timely manner. Drawing on Karl Polanyi’s Great Transformation, it highlights the extent to which the current situa-tion may be read as the inevitable working out of the process by which the market becomes dis-embedded from society. Understanding the required energy transfor-mation in that way, it concludes by suggesting questions that could guide energy law in the years ahead: (1) to what extent has energy law in the past promoted and facilitated the dis-embedding of economy from society, and the commoditisation of the environment? (2) how can we reimagine energy law to assist in re-embedding economy in society, and in recognising the dangers of allowing the environment to become a fictitious commodity?