The Legislative Landscape for Renewable Energy in Libya: A Quantitative and Comparative Assessment with Neighboring Arab States

Despite its immense solar and wind potential, Libya's renewable energy sector remains underdeveloped.A key barrier is the perceived inadequacy and instability of the legal and regulatory framework for foreign investment.This study conducts a quantitative and comparative analysis of Libya's legislative and executive texts pertaining to renewable energy, benchmarking them against a selection of Arab states, with a focus on neighbors Tunisia and Algeria.The methodology involves a systematic inventory and classification of laws, decrees, decisions, and regulations in force until a recent period, drawn from national official sources and regional energy reports.Findings reveal that Libya's legislative corpus is disproportionately skewed towards executive texts (71%), with a significant deficit in complementary and framework legislation compared to regional leaders.For instance, Libya contributed only 3% of complementary texts among the studied states, while Tunisia led with 48%.The analysis indicates that Libya's legal system lacks the depth and specificity needed to mitigate investor risk effectively.The paper concludes with recommendations for strategic legal reform, advocating for the adoption of a more integrated legislative package that provides clear investment incentives, stability mechanisms, and streamlined administrative procedures, drawing lessons from more advanced regional models.This legal evolution is posited as a prerequisite for unlocking Libya's renewable energy potential and attracting the necessary foreign capital and expertise.