Energy - Climate
In the face of the climate emergency and geopolitical confrontations, how can we reconcile security of supply, competitiveness, accessibility, decarbonization and acceptability? What policies are needed?
Related Subjects
Geopolitics of the World’s Forests: Strategies for Tackling Deforestation
Deforestation continues at a worrying pace worldwide, except in temperate and boreal countries. It is caused by the race for land, underpinned by population growth and rising global demand for “deforestation-prone” products. Moreover, with climate change, mega-fires are now posing unprecedented threats to forests.
Climate and International Trade: The Clash of Powers
The fight against climate change has a major economic dimension. With climate neutrality as their new objective, the major powers are counting on green industrial policy, and trying to contain the emissions related to their imports.
CCUS in Europe: A New Role and Implications for France and Germany
A second wave of carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) projects is under development, and it is much different from the 2000 wave. While Norway, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands are at its forefront, France and Germany have major competencies, and many projects could be carried out in these countries.
Mexico’s Energy Policies During the Presidency of Andrés Manuel López Obrador: Sovereignty and Security
In power for three years, President López Obrador leads a National Revolution. The energy sector sees the strengthening of the State and state-owned companies, the Federal Electricity Company and Petróleos Mexicanos, against the liberalization principles implemented in the Energy Reform (2013-2014).
India’s Energy and Climate Policies Post COVID-19: Short Term Slowdown, Longer Term Boom in Renewables
India has long been a positive and committed partner in global and domestic climate change mitigation efforts.
The Herculean Task of Decarbonizing the American Power System by 2035
The Biden Administration has so far taken the focus of the Biden candidate on climate issues seriously, especially the commitment made during the campaign of a net zero power system by 2035.
Green Recovery for Sub-Saharan Africa: Boosting Sustainable Electrification
If sub-Saharan Africa followed the same model of economic development as the rest of the world, focused on the growth of carbon intensive industries, cities and infrastructures, it would seal the planet's climate future. Africa’s emissions today are among the lowest per capita in the world: 0.8 tons/capita.
Can the Biggest Emitters Set Up a Climate Club? A Review of International Carbon Pricing Debates
The world’s largest emitting countries are reconsidering the role of carbon pricing instruments and increasingly looking at carbon border adjustment mechanisms (CBAMs) to address leakage concerns. This renewed momentum should trigger a broader discussion on how to make trade policies compatible with the climate agenda.
The Economic and Political Consequences of Falling Oil Production in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2030
The sharp rebound in oil prices since the second half of 2020, to nearly $70 per barrel in May 2021, represents only a temporary respite for oil-dependent African economies that must change their economic model very quickly.
Is the TEN-E Regulation Fit for a Decarbonized Future? A Battle to Shape the European Energy Transition
The European Union’s energy infrastructure policy has become obsolete with the adoption of both the Green Deal and the 2050 climate neutrality target. The ongoing review of the regulation on Trans-European Energy Networks (TEN-E) should lead to an-depth discussion on Europe’s energy transition strategy.
The EU internal market - a stake or a tool in European-Russian gas relations. The case of new member states gas policy
Since 2010 we have observed a new quality in EU energy policy. It is related to the European Commission’s more or less direct engagement in the bilateral gas relations of a part of the new member states - Poland, Bulgaria and Lithuania - with Russia.
OPEC: It Is about More Oil - Not Quotas
OPEC has certainly gone out of its way to show how little relevance it has in today’s oil market. It has successfully imported all the political rhetoric and malaise of some of its most unstable members.
Protecting Nuclear Installations: The difference between industrial safety and national security
There is a gritty public debate going on in Europe about what threats should be considered in conducting stress tests on existing nuclear power plants or in establishing safety criteria for new build nuclear power.
German Nuclear: Green Is Good Politics
In polarized politics, the voter must take on faith the wisdom inherent in the principled political position. Who cannot be impressed by the nuclear catastrophe at Fukushima, especially after living through the fallout from Chernobyl? But is it reasonable to send the voter to the booth with only half the information? Does the German voter have any idea what it means to shut down its nuclear power in just ten years? Have German politicians made any effort to tell them?
Political Oil Prices: A Measured Response if Any
Oil prices are becoming an increasingly worrisome factor in today’s economies. They have risen dramatically over the past 6 or 7 months and are now driving inflation in many economies and acting as a drag on nearly all. They are not at these levels because markets are fundamentally out of balance.
Gas Pains: What to Do About France's Shales
Like other countries in Europe, France has the potential to produce both oil and gas from shale. In the Paris Basin, where oil has been exploited for decades, oil shale quite similar to the Bakken play in North America has considerable promise due to new drilling and exploitation techniques. The potential for shale gas in the South east is less well known and needs to be assessed.
Obama Remarks on Energy: Ball in Congressional Court
President Obama has made clear that in the 2012 election, he intends to defend his record on energy from the middle.
The Governance of Energy Poverty in Southeastern Europe
This report presents the outcomes of a recently-completed research project1 aimed at uncovering the different ways in which energy poverty – understood as a condition wherein the domestic energy services available to a household are below socially and materially necessitated levels – is produced by, and mitigated through, the interaction of relevant decision-making institutions in the energy, social welfare, health and housing domains. The project focused on conditions in Southeastern Europe, where energy prices have been recently on the rise despite falling incomes and poor access to efficient and adequate energy services.
The Water in a Cup of Tea - a Water and Energy Primer
Ever give a thought to how much water there is in your cup of tea? I know the volume in the cup is about 8 ounces - but it is hot - hopefully around 100 degrees Celsius or 212 Farenheit. So you had to heat it up one way or another to make tea.
European Energy Policy: Energy Savings Glass 2/3 Empty
Summing up Europe’s climate policies suggests we still haven’t grasped the full potential for energy savings. We act as if we were living in a system with infinite resources easily exploited by human innovation and ingenuity. We focus on the efficiencies we can gain from components of our system, but not on the system as a whole and we do not consider how the other billions of people on earth can achieve our level of comfort with a resource or carbon-constrained future and with aspirations that necessarily imply sharply growing energy consumption.
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Related centers and programs
Center for Energy & Climate
Ifri's Energy and Climate Center carries out activities and research on the geopolitical and geoeconomic issues of energy transitions such as energy security, competitiveness, control of value chains, and acceptability. Specialized in the study of European energy/climate policies as well as energy markets in Europe and around the world, its work also focuses on the energy and climate strategies of major powers such as the United States, China or India. It offers recognized expertise, enriched by international collaborations and events, particularly in Paris and Brussels.