Sanne works on transformative law for sustainability and energy transitions and deals with regulatory and governance structures for renewable electricity production, the built environment and the energy-intensive industry. Her work focuses on the role of law and the role of governments in the energy transition and its relation to society, including the concept of the “fair energy transition”.

Governance and policy for the energy transition 

The energy transition is an important means to combat climate change. In the energy transition, a shift from fossil to renewable fuels is made to reduce greenhouse gasses. This requires not only a large-scale technological transition, of energy sources, production processes and energy efficiency but also a financial and societal transition. After all, behavioural changes are necessary in order to complete the energy transition.

The Dutch government is responsible for the energy transition and meeting its goals, as was also emphasized in the Urgenda-cases. But what policy instruments can the government employ to what end? What instruments work better, and when and why? How can the government develop policy strategies? Sanne's research focuses on these questions for renewable energy projects, the urban heat transition and the energy-intensive industry.

Publications on this topic:

• S. Akerboom, S. Waldmann, A. Mukherjee, C. Agaton, M. Sanders & G.J. Kramer, Different this time? The prospects of CCS in the Netherlands in the 2020s, Frontiers in Energy Research
• S. Akerboom & C.W. Backes, Klimaatbeleid in Europa en Nederland: een overzicht van doelen en voortgang, in C.W. Backes, E. Brans, H.K. Gilissen, 2030: het juridische instrumentarium voor mitigatie van klimaatverandering, energietransitie en adaptatie in Nederland, Boom juridisch, Den Haag: 2020, pp. 45-57
• S. Akerboom & M. Peters, De nationale en Europese klimaatplan- en monitoringsmechanismen, in C.W. Backes, E. Brans, H.K. Gilissen, 2030: het juridische instrumentarium voor mitigatie van klimaatverandering, energietransitie en adaptatie in Nederland, Boom juridisch, Den Haag: 2020, pp. 267-274
• E. Fumagalli and S. Akerboom, Dutch Energy and Climate Policy: 2020 and beyond, special issue on National Energy and Climate Plans, Economics and Policy of Energy and the Environment, Issue 1, 2019, pp. 119-147

Fit-for-purpose regulation

The law concerns an important part of the policy and governance strategies for transitions. Due to the energy transition, Dutch regulation is in need of reconsideration. A new Heat and Energy Act, the implementation of the EU legislative package ‘Clean Energy for All Europeans’, created new legal concepts such as energy poverty and energy communities, as well as new energy carriers such as hydrogen power and the storage of CO2 render a fundamental revision of energy regulation necessary.

Sanne investigates how regulation can foster the goals of the energy transition and which governance-structures aid the development of new infrastructure and projects. She investigates these questions for the urban heat transition, to stimulate bottom-up initiatives as well as hydrogen power and CCS.

Publications on this topic:

• M. Boeve, C.W. Backes, S. Akerboom and M. van Rijswick (eds), Environmental Law for Transitions to Sustainability, Intersentia, March 2021
• S. Akerboom & A.E.H. Huygen, Regulatory aspects of the urban heat transition: The Dutch Heat Act, Carbon & Climate Law Review, 4/2020, pp. 281-293
• S. Akerboom, Juridische aspecten van klimaatverandering en –oplossingen, Milieu, 1, 2020, pp. 30-31 (OA)
• S. Akerboom, W. Botzen, A. Buijze, A. Michels & M. van Rijswick, Meeting goals of sustainability policy: CO2 emission reduction, cost-effectiveness and societal acceptance. An analysis of the proposal to phase-out coal in the Netherlands, Energy Policy, Vol. 138, March 2020, 111201 (OA)

Participation, just energy transition and societal acceptance of the energy transition

It is increasingly recognised that societal acceptance of the energy transition is essential for the success of this transition. Several elements can foster this acceptance. First of all, this concerns opportunities for participation, both in governmental policy- and decision-making as well as the realisation of renewable energy projects. In her PhD thesis, Sanne investigated opportunities for participation, both theoretically and from a legal-positivist perspective, as well as empirically, as the investigated participation processes regarding onshore wind energy.

Her research also focuses on how energy consumers can realise bottom-up initiatives in the energy transition. This can concern for instance solar PV on roofs or collective ownership of wind turbines and solar fields. There is an increasing amount of heat collectives, to aid the urban heat transition. Sanne investigates the role of and chances of these initiatives, whether they experience legal limitations and what solutions can be envisaged.

Another important element that fosters societal acceptance concerns the perspective of the ‘fair energy transition’. To what extent does the energy transition give rise to negative effects, financially for instance, or with respect to spatial planning. Who experiences these effects? To whom are financial opportunities available, and are (financial) opportunities and negative impacts equally distributed? How can these be balanced?

Publications and presentations on this topic:

• S. Akerboom & M. van Rijswick, Participeren moet je leren, in C.W. Backes, E. Brans, H.K. Gilissen, 2030: het juridische instrumentarium voor mitigatie van klimaatverandering, energietransitie en adaptatie in Nederland, Boom juridisch, Den Haag: 2020, pp. 317-343
• S. Akerboom, Rechtvaardigheid in de energietransitie: achtergrond, belemmeringen en kansen, in “Een nieuw kabinet van sociale rechtvaardigheid”, Boom, 21 January 2021, pp. 53-68
• S. Akerboom and F. van Tulder, Consumer co-ownership of renewable energy sources in the Netherlands, in J. Lowitzsch, Consumer co-ownership of renewable energy sources, Palgrave Macmillan, January 2019
• S. Akerboom, Energietransitie: maatschappelijke kansen, https://www.sg.uu.nl/sprekers/sanne-akerboom, Studium Generale, Universiteit Utrecht, 3 March 2020