The whole world is struggling with the multifaceted challenges of climate change, environmental degradation, and for the search of sustainable development, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have emerged as a guiding beacon. Among these, SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) and SDG 13 (Climate Action) hold particular significance, encapsulating critical facets of humanity's collective pursuit of a more sustainable future. Nation states as signatories to an array of international treaties and agreements have committed to a comprehensive set of responsibilities aimed at advancing the goals of SDG 7 and SDG 13. The international legal landscape also champions cooperation as a fundamental tenet. This chapter introduces a comprehensive legal-financial advisory framework to address the evolving landscape of AI-driven renewable energy projects.
Top1. Introduction
Energy supply and use concerns are closely related to climate change and environmental problems such as- acid rain, deforestation, air pollution, ozone layer loss, greenhouse gas emissions, water and land use, wildlife extinction and radioactive leakage (Kasinathan et al., 2022). The existing energy supply has an impact on the social and economic spheres, resulting in a number of pressing socio-economic issues (Hirsh, 2022). It must work together to address these issues in order to clear the path for a more hopeful and ecologically sustainable energy future with less of an impact on the economy, society and environment (Piotr & Ilona, 2023). The world’s attention has switched toward using conventional energy sources like coal, oil and natural gas within certain bounds due to their well-documented negative consequences on sustainable development (Elrahmani et al., 2021).
In today’s energy systems, artificial intelligence (AI) is essential since it actively detects problems to avert breakdowns and efficiently manage risks (Li et al., 2019). AI offers vital answers in the form of precise forecasting, effective supply management, and coordination in response to the growing demand for power (ElFar et al., 2021). Renewable energy comes from endless and naturally regenerating sources like wind, tides, and sunshine. It may be used for many different things including as- producing energy, heating and cooling buildings and water and assisting with transportation (Singh, 2023). Non-renewable energy, on the other hand, comes from limited resources like coal, natural gas, and oil. Renewable energy sources include biomass, geothermal heat, sunshine, water, wind and other natural resources that may be converted into a variety of useful and ecologically beneficial kinds of energy (Eljack & Kazi, 2021). The world’s transition to low-carbon energy is accelerating, with renewable energy already outpacing both nuclear and fossil fuels (Bogdanov et al., 2021). This shift will change how customers interact with energy through the development of energy storage, complex renewable networks, and AI-powered smart consumption technologies (Dent, 2012). Renewable energy is generated from natural sources that renew at a faster pace than their consumption. Examples like sunlight and wind are constantly replenished, making renewable energy sources abundant and widespread (Devabhaktuni et al., 2013). In contrast, fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas are non-renewable, taking hundreds of millions of years to develop. Burning fossil fuels for energy results in detrimental greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide (Singh, 2024). Decentralized power grids balance energy inputs and outputs by using previous data (Arent et al., 2022).
A reassessment of renewable energy (RE) sources including- wind turbine, solar photovoltaic (PV), hydropower, geothermal, tidal, biomass, etc., has been triggered by this change (Doost Mohammadian & Rezaie, 2020). With promoting environmentally sustainable technology, cutting electricity costs, creating jobs, enhancing health outcomes, encouraging community development particularly in rural and developing areas and minimizing or completely eliminating the production of harmful exhaust gases like carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide, the adoption of Renewable Energy sources has the potential to alleviate environmental, economic and social problems (Singh, 2023).