Energy transitions

The COP29 summit will see negotiators try to agree how to finance the climate action the world urgently needs.

COP29 must raise countries’ ambitions to deploy vastly more low-cost modular renewable technologies to help meet the tripling of renewables target set at COP28 and reduce our reliance on expensive carbon capture systems.

The outcome of the US election is consequential for the global climate agenda, through its potential impact on environmental governance and perhaps more importantly, its consequences for global trade and tensions.

The country’s nuclear energy industry has languished. The new government’s plans to revive it provide important opportunities, but cybersecurity needs bolstering.

The UK’s once serious claims to climate leadership have been severely damaged in recent years. Rebuilding its standing will be a challenge, at home and abroad.

A new UK government must confront these issues to meet voter expectations.

Some investors in hydrocarbons may be assuming that governments will bail them out if climate-related transition risks crystallize.

As the EU seeks to diversify its energy supply, Russian ‘gas-laundering’ could undermine its foreign policy objectives.

By following the United States and applying significant tariffs on EVs from China, the EU is risking its ambitious decarbonization goals.

Watch the keynote address at our Energy Transitions Conference 2024 by Claire Coutinho, Secretary of State, Department of Energy Security and Net Zero.

£1000 grants are available for innovative and engaging ideas to deliver a fair and sustainable future.

Events in France and Germany show that policies to deliver sustainable food, transport and energy systems need to take far better account of the needs of rural communities.

With a COP28 deal to transition away from fossil fuels, speeding up the energy transition and economic diversification will help Gulf countries protect the needs of future generations and avoid costly consequences of delayed action.

Greater focus must be given to the potential economic and climate risks of reliance on ’abated’ fossil fuel production.

Decades-old concerns are still not being adequately addressed.

In ‘Climate Capitalism’, Akshat Rathi’s enthusiasm for environmental private enterprise is infectious, but he’s unclear on who’s footing the bill, writes Ann Pettifor.

The climate is on its way to exceeding a 1.5°C increase in the global temperature. World leaders can stop it – but they have to act now.

The first bioenergy fuel based transatlantic flight has taken off. But significant deployment limitations to decarbonize the sector means those who fly the most must fly less.

An ambitious agreement to tackle the threat of plastics pollution requires a solid understanding of its scientific complexities.

Explaining the key issues at the COP28 summit in Dubai.

In this episode the panel discusses how the US and EU are positioning themselves in the new era of green industrial policy.

Maintaining a balance of international partnerships is critical as foreign powers support domestic infrastructure, mining investment, health, and education.

The UK and EU are beginning to secure supply of critical raw materials necessary for the twin transitions to a digital and net-zero economy.

The historic treaty demonstrates the potential for geopolitical tensions to be put to one side in the interest of global cooperation.

The international community needs to redouble its efforts to avert new security risks as a result of climate change.

African countries face collective climate and job creation-related challenges, yet policymaking often remains regionally siloed.

Chatham House experts examine the shifts in geopolitical alliances, security, energy, and supply chains and whether these changes are likely to be long-lasting.

What enabled the agreement of a fund for loss and damage at COP27?

Highlighting key interventions from African policymakers, business leaders, researchers, and civil society voices on green financing and implementation plans.

Johannes Wagner discusses green energy transitions, Germany’s support for Ukraine and how Common Futures Conversations helped prepare him for a life in politics.

There remains a huge gap between the trillions of dollars of financing needed to support climate action and the amounts of money currently being deployed. This paper proposes new approaches to mobilizing private climate investment to help close this gap.

Cutting aviation carbon emissions is vital for achieving net zero, but near-term, scalable decarbonization options are limited. This paper explores the possibility of reducing demand for flights to help keep the sector on track for net zero.

The war is making the challenges of climate change harder to overcome, both in Ukraine and worldwide.

By putting in place climate change adaptation measures, NATO has an opportunity to both strengthen operational resilience and adapt to the impacts of climate change.

The ‘net zero’ transition will require a massive reallocation of private capital from high- to low-carbon assets in coming decades. Action by central banks, financial regulators and industry coalitions will be critical to this process.

Public facilities are key to managing human displacement crises. With strained resources, sustainable upgrades to buildings can enable states to meet multiple welfare objectives.

Zambia’s recent approach to international relations has boosted the country’s prominence, but further domestic focus is needed to make this a sustainable policy shift.

The global ambition of SDG 7 to provide clean, safe and sustainable energy for all cannot be achieved if displaced people are left outside energy policy and planning in host countries.

While the war in Ukraine is having significant global impacts for energy, food and fertilizer markets, it may also aggravate wider economic and social upheaval.

Venezuela’s recovery from economic collapse and the future prosperity of its citizens depend on the reconstruction of its crisis-ridden electricity system.

The use of forest biomass for energy is growing rapidly, but existing EU and UK policies ignore its contribution to increased carbon emissions.

With climate action increasingly reliant on unproven carbon removal options, such as BECCS, there is a clear risk of policies developing without a robust scientific basis.

Ahead of COP26, the world is dangerously off track to meet the Paris Agreement goals. The risks are compounding, and without immediate action the impacts will be devastating in coming decades.

This paper examines investments in the circular economy and the need for new financial instruments to support further development.

This paper examines broad legal and institutional reform proposals for Venezuela’s oil and gas sector, and five countries it competes with in global markets.

This paper examines how regional cooperation can boost efforts to achieve sustainable development and green growth in Asia.

This paper explores the impacts of large-scale mining on forests, within this wider context of transition.

This paper focuses on the strategic direction of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and its implementing countries.

This ethnographic study is the first of its kind to analyse energy access and resilience strategies deployed in two refugee camps in Kenya and Burkina Faso. It highlights the need for new methodological approaches to expand the evidence base for humanitarian energy interventions and policies.

Cyberattacks are increasingly challenging critical national infrastructure. This paper considers the security by design approach for civil nuclear power plants and analyses areas of risk and opportunities for the nuclear industry.

This paper highlights a number of options for managing electricity infrastructure in refugee camps and outlines the challenges, opportunities and operational implications associated with them. It takes the Kalobeyei settlement in Kenya as a case study.

Drawing on experiences from Phase II of the MEI in Burkina Faso, Kenya and Jordan, these learning briefs highlight MEI’s approach to innovation, engagement with the private-sector and host communities, and gender-sensitive energy projects. The four learning papers are intended for practitioners and policymakers working in the humanitarian sector and host-country governments.

This paper evaluates the market-based approaches adopted in the MEI projects in Kenya and Burkina Faso. It articulates how such commercial strategies can be applied to the delivery of energy in displacement settings and compares this to real world examples.

This paper explores the increase in resources and funding needed to improve the access of displaced people to modern and sustainable energy services.

In displacement settings, providing cooking solutions that reduce negative impacts on the environment and health remains a challenge for local governments, humanitarian agencies, businesses and refugees.

As humanitarian crises become more protracted and aid budgets face unprecedented scrutiny, agencies could save millions by switching from diesel and oil fuels to cleaner energy sources.

Evidence is growing that flexible electricity systems could deliver lower costs, especially given the projected falls in solar and wind power costs by 2030.

Lower-income countries that are banking on their fossil fuels lack the capacity to assess carbon risks, and may be left behind by shifts in investment and credit.

In the first of a new annual series, Chatham House experts examine how aspects of the established order in global affairs are shifting.

Briefing Paper