Väga rätt? - tillämpning av lagstiftning i avvägningen mellan energiomställning och bevarande av kulturvärden

About the project

The “Getting the Balance Right?” project is conducted in collaboration between the Department of Law and the Department of Art History at Uppsala University. This interdisciplinary project aims to explore how existing legislation balances the goals of sustainable energy use on the one hand and the conservation of cultural heritage values, on the other. Specifically, this concerns energy efficiency measures in historic buildings, such as insulation, window replacement, and solar panels.

Laws are applied and interpreted at three levels: within the court system, in administrative decisions, and in small and big decisions in planning, projection, and implementation of renovations. In addition, we will examine policy instruments such as the tax deduction for green technology, which plays an important role in incentivizing the public to make sustainable choices.

Harsh Vardhan Bhati

For my PhD studies, my research examines how legal system balances the goals of sustainable energy use and historic building preservation. In order to better understand the contribution of law in achieving Swedish and international political goals for the preservation of culture and nature, I will incorporate international comparative case studies from Sweden, India and Italy. The comparative case studies involving developing and developed countries will be significant in assessing how the legal system balances the goals of sustainable energy use and historic preservation at an international level. Overall, this project will explore how the use of energy efficient methods as a key contemporary demand for preservation of historic building and as a response to climate change can be fully integrated into the laws and policies, while making sure that the values and heritage significance of the historic buildings are not destroyed.

About Harsh

Harsh is an Indian lawyer specialising in environmental, natural resources, and energy law. He holds a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws with First Class Honours from Jindal Global Law School, India. He was awarded the Environmental Ambassador LL.M. Award to pursue an LL.M. in Environmental, Natural Resources, and Energy Law at Lewis & Clark Law School, USA. As a law student in India and LL.M. student in the US, he has refined his legal research and writing skills with a strong focus on environmental law and policy. In professional settings, Harsh has been a member of Bar Council of India since 2015 and worked on several public interest environmental cases in India. He has written journal articles and reports on environmental law and policy issues. He also contributed towards legal and social advocacy work in Ecuador and Amazon Rainforest in Brazil regarding rights of indigenous people and forest rights. Prior to joining Uppsala, he taught environmental law and Interpretation of Statutes to senior law students at Jindal Global Law School.

Supervisors

• Yaffa Epstein, Department of Law
• Charlotta Zetterberg, Department of Law
• Mia Geijer, Department of Art History, Conservation

Charlotte Mårland

Charlotte Mårland is a PhD candidate in Art history & Conservation, and is associated to GRASS (Graduate School in Sustainability Studies) at Campus Gotland. The PhD project focuses on how legislation and policy instruments balances cultural heritage values and energy efficiency demand in the Nordic countries.

About Charlotte

Charlotte works as a building conservationist at Jönköping County Museum and have an interdisciplinary background in Business, Art history and Cultural heritage studies.

Supervisors

• Britt-Inger Johansson, Department of Art history
• Mia Geijer, Department of Art history, Conservation
• Anna Karlström, Department of Art history, Conservation
• Yaffa Epstein, Department of Law