Dilemmas Of Energy Transitions In The Global South

This book explores how, in the wake of the Anthropocene, the growing call for urgent decarbonisation and accelerated energy transitions might have unintended consequences for energy poverty, justice and democracy, especially in the global South. Dilemmas of Energy Transitions in the Global South brings together theoretical and empirical contributions focused on rethinking energy transitions conceptually from and for the global South, and highlights issues of justice and inclusivity. It argues that while urgency is critical for energy transitions in a climate-changed world, we must be wary of conflating goals and processes, and enquire what urgency means for due process. Drawing from a range of authors with expertise spanning environmental justice, design theory, ethics of technology, conflict and gender, it examines case studies from countries including Bolivia, Sri Lanka, India, The Gambia and Lebanon in order to expand our understanding of what energy transitions are, and how just energy transitions can be done in different parts of the world. Overall, driven by a postcolonial and decolonial sensibility, this book brings to the fore new concepts and ideas to help balance the demands of justice and urgency, to flag relevant but often overlooked issues, and to provide new pathways forward. This volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of energy transitions, environmental justice, climate change and developing countries. The Open Access version of this book, available at https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003052821 has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Today’s global energy system faces two major challenges: how to secure the supply of reliable and affordable energy; and how to rapidly transform to a low-carbon, efficient and environmentally harmless energy supply. In this rigorous and illuminating book, Michael Bradshaw explores the key aspects of the current global energy dilemma and examines how it is playing out across the major regions and countries of the world. The book begins by charting the development of the current global energy system - exploring its key characteristics with a focus upon energy security and the relationship between energy, economic development and climate change. The next four chapters offer in-depth analyses of four distinct global energy dilemmas in different parts of the world: the challenge of sustaining affluence and decarbonising energy services in the high-energy economies of the developed world; the legacies of the centrally planned economy and the consequences of liberalisation in the post-socialist world; growing energy demand and emissions growth associated with the emerging regions; and finally, the quest to provide universal access to modern energy services in the developing world in a manner that is both economically and environmentally sustainable. Identifying the governance structures and policy options available to tackle the global energy dilemma, the book concludes that only an integrated approach - sensitive to regional issues - can reconcile the interests and needs of those facing differing energy challenges across the world today.

Accelerating sustainable energy transitions away from carbon-based fuel sources needs to be high on the agendas of developing countries. It is key in achieving their climate mitigation promises and sustainable energy development objectives. To bring about rapid transitions, simultaneous turns are imperative in hardware deployment, policy improvements, financing innovation, and institutional strengthening. These systematic turns, however, incur tensions when considering the multiple options available and the disruptions of entrenched power across pockets of transition innovations. These heterogeneous contradictions and their trade-offs, and uncertainties and risks have to be systematically recognized, understood, and weighed when making decisions. This book explores how the transitions occur in fourteen developing countries and broadly surveys their technological, policy, financing, and institutional capacities in response to the three key aspects of energy transitions: achieving universal energy access, harvesting energy efficiency, and deploying renewable energy. The book shows how fragmented these approaches are, how they occur across multiple levels of governance, and how policy, financing, and institutional turns could occur in these complex settings. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of energy and climate policy, development studies, international relations, politics, strategic studies, and geography. It is also useful to policymakers and development practitioners.

The world is currently undergoing an historic energy transition, driven by increasingly stringent decarbonisation policies and rapid advances in low-carbon technologies. The large-scale shift to low-carbon energy is disrupting the global energy system, impacting whole economies, and changing the political dynamics within and between countries. This open access book, written by leading energy scholars, examines the economic and geopolitical implications of the global energy transition, from both regional and thematic perspectives. The first part of the book addresses the geopolitical implications in the world’s main energy-producing and energy-consuming regions, while the second presents in-depth case studies on selected issues, ranging from the geopolitics of renewable energy, to the mineral foundations of the global energy transformation, to governance issues in connection with the changing global energy order. Given its scope, the book will appeal to researchers in energy, climate change and international relations, as well as to professionals working in the energy industry.

Energy transitions are fundamental to achieving a zero-carbon economy. This book explains the urgently needed transition in energy systems from the perspective of the global political economy. It develops an historical, global, political and ecological account of key features of energy transitions: from their production and financing, to how they are governed and mobilised. Informed by direct engagement in projects of energy transition, the book provides an accessible account of the real-world dilemmas in accelerating transitions to a low carbon economy. As well as changes to technology, markets, institutions and behaviours, Power Shift shows that shifts in power relations between and within countries, and across social groups and political actors, are required if the world is to move onto a more sustainable path. Using contemporary and historical case studies to explore energy transitions, it will be of interest to students and researchers across disciplines, policymakers and activists.

The low-carbon transition is ongoing everywhere. This Handbook, written by a group of senior and junior scholars from six continents and nineteen countries, explores the legal pathways of decarbonisation in the energy sector. What emerges is a composite picture. There are many roadblocks, but also a lot of legal innovation. The volume distils the legal knowledge which should help move forward the transition. Questions addressed include the differences between the decarbonization strategies of developed and developing countries, the pace of the transition, the management of multi-level governance systems, the pros and cons of different policy instruments, the planning of low-carbon infrastructures, the roles and meanings of energy justice. The Handbook can be drawn upon by legal scholars to compare decarbonisation pathways in several jurisdictions. Non-legal scholars can find information to be included in transition theories and decarbonization scenarios. Policymakers can discover contextual factors that should be taken into account when deciding how to support the transition.

This book will discuss the legal tools offered by international law that can support foreign direct investment (FDI) in the renewable energy sector in the Global South. Promoting and increasing investment in the renewable energy sector is crucial for limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C and addressing energy poverty in the Global South. In this volume, Avidan Kent explores the various home-country measures (HCMs) offered by international law that support FDI in the renewable energy sector. This book provides a bird’s eye evaluation of HCMs from fields such as trade law, investment law, environmental law, development law and more. It reveals that while international law indeed offers many legal tools to support investors’ needs, the current legal framework is fragmented; most legal instruments were designed in isolation and the potential for mutually supportive, synergetic policies has been explored only to a limited extent. This fragmented reality is in contradiction to the notion of Policy Coherence for Development, which is increasingly gaining support in leading institutions in Europe and elsewhere. This book will provide recommendations on the manner in which HCMs can be connected in order to maximise their potential and boost investment in renewable energies in the developing world. International Law and Renewable Energy Investment in the Global South will be of great interest to scholars, students and practitioners of international law, energy studies, development studies and IR more broadly.

The US shale boom and efforts by other countries to exploit their shale resources could reshape energy and environmental landscapes across the world. But how might those landscapes change? Will countries with significant physical reserves try to exploit them? Will they protect or harm local communities and the global climate? Will the benefits be shared or retained by powerful interests? And how will these decisions be made? The Shale Dilemma brings together experts working at the forefront of shale gas issues on four continents to explain how countries reach their decisions on shale development. Using a common analytical framework, the authors identify both local factors and transnational patterns in the decision-making process. Eight case studies reveal the trade-offs each country makes as it decides whether to pursue, delay, or block development. Those outcomes in turn reflect the nature of a country’s political process and the power of interest groups on both sides of the issue. The contributors also ask whether the economic arguments made by the shale industry and its government supporters have overshadowed the concerns of local communities for information on the effects of shale operations, and for tax policies and regulations to ensure broad-based economic development and environmental protection. As an informative and even-handed account, The Shale Dilemma recommends practical steps to help countries reach better, more transparent, and more far-sighted decisions.