Energy Cooperatives and Sustainable Development

After providing an overview of the phrase “sustainable development” and its legal connections with energy sources, cooperatives and the International Cooperative Alliance Statement on the Cooperative Identity in the documents of the United Nations and the International Labour Organization, this article focuses on the role of energy cooperatives in pursuing Goal 7 of the Sustainable Development Goals (“ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all”), approved by the United Nations in 2015. In Europe, this role may increase in the near future, thanks to technology and the new European Union Law on energy communities. These new energy enterprise forms are laid down by directive (EU) 2018/2001 of 11 December 2018 (On the Promotion of the Use of Energy from Renewable Sources that shall be brought into force by the EU Member States by 30 June 2021) and directive (EU) 2019/944 of 5 June 2019 (On Common Rules for the Internal Market for Electricity that shall be brought into force by the EU Member States by 31 December 2020). Energy communities compliant with EU law and national laws implementing the said EU law may be qualified as “true cooperatives” according to the case law of the European Court of Justice.