The Politics And Institutions Of Global Energy Governance

From climate change over shale gas to the race for the Arctic, energy makes headlines in international politics almost daily. Thijs Van de Graaf argues that energy is in dire need of global governance. He traces the history of international energy cooperation from the notorious 'Seven Sisters' oil-companies cartel to the recent creation of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). He analyses how international institutions have been created for securing oil rents, coordinating consumer-countries' energy security policies, promoting producer-consumer dialogue, managing regional gas markets, and dealing with energy-related environmental externalities. Drawing on the emerging regime complexity literature, he constructs a novel analytical framework to explain the fragmented architecture of global energy governance, and studies prospects for institutional reform at the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the G8/G20.

A Brookings Institution Press and Global Public Policy Institute publication The global market for oil and gas resources is rapidly changing. Three major trends—the rise of new consumers, the increasing influence of state players, and concerns about climate change—are combining to challenge existing regulatory structures, many of which have been in place for a half-century. Global Energy Governance analyzes the energy market from an institutionalist perspective and offers practical policy recommendations to deal with these new challenges. Much of the existing discourse on energy governance deals with hard security issues but neglects the challenges to global governance. Global Energy Governance fills this gap with perspectives on how regulatory institutions can ensure reliable sources of energy, evaluate financial risk, and provide emergency response mechanisms to deal with interruptions in supply. The authors bring together decisionmakers from industry, government, and civil society in order to address two central questions: •What are the current practices of existing institutions governing global oil and gas on financial markets? •How do these institutions need to adapt in order to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century? The resulting governance-oriented analysis of the three interlocking trends also provides the basis for policy recommendations to improve global regulation. Contributors include Thorsten Benner, Global Public Policy Institute, Berlin; William Blyth, Chatham House, Royal Institute for International Affairs, London; Albert Bressand, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University; Dick de Jong, Clingendael International Energy Programme; Ralf Dickel, Energy Charter Secretariat; Andreas Goldthau, Central European University, Budapest, and Global Public Policy Institute, Berlin; Enno Harks, Global Public Policy Institute, Berlin; Wade Hoxtell, Global Public Policy Institute, Berlin; Hillard Huntington, Energy Modeling Forum, Stanford University; Christine Jojarth, Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, Stanford University; Frederic Kalinke, Department of Politics and International Relations, Oxford University; Wilfrid L. Kohl, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University; Jamie Manzer, Global Public Policy Institute, Berlin; Amy Myers Jaffe, James A. Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University; Yulia Selivanova, Energy Charter Secretariat; Tom Smeenk, Clingendael International Energy Programme; Ricardo Soares de Oliveira, Department of Politics and International Relations, Oxford University; Ronald Soligo, Rice University; Joseph A. Stanislaw, Deloitte LLP and The JAStanislaw Group, LLC; Coby van der Linde, Clingendael International Energy Programme; Jan Martin Witte, Global Public Policy Institute, Berlin; Simonetta Zarrilli, Division on International Trade and Commodities, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Multipolar governance permits a number of important states to have significantly more economic and political clout than others, but among them there is hardly any hierarchy. The new energy challenge, with its intricate socio-economic, ecological and international-political considerations, is a multi-dimensional, multi-level and multi-actor issue that requires a minimum of 'central' political steering, because neither the invisible hand of the market, nor unilateral or bilateral power politics are capable to bring about sustainable solutions. Global Energy Governance in a Multipolar World investigates the relationship between the emergence of a multipolar world order and the enormous challenges of global energy governance that the world is facing in the 21st century. It reflects on fundamental questions such as how the main consuming countries can avoid conflict over scarce resources, how they will cooperate to bring about open energy markets, energy conservation and efficiency, and how they can promote renewable energy sources.

Ever since the Industrial Revolution energy has been a key driver of world politics. From the oil crises of the 1970s to today’s rapid expansion of renewable energy sources, every shift in global energy patterns has important repercussions for international relations. In this new book, Thijs Van de Graaf and Benjamin Sovacool uncover the intricate ways in which our energy systems have shaped global outcomes in four key areas of world politics: security, the economy, the environment and global justice. Moving beyond the narrow geopolitical focus that has dominated much of the discussion on global energy politics, they also deftly trace the connections between energy, environmental politics, and community activism. The authors argue that we are on the cusp of a global energy shift that promises to be no less transformative for the pursuit of wealth and power in world politics than the historical shifts from wood to coal and from coal to oil. This ongoing energy transformation will not only upend the global balance of power; it could also fundamentally transfer political authority away from the nation state, empowering citizens, regions and local communities. Global Energy Politics will be an essential resource for students of the social sciences grappling with the major energy issues of our times.

This book focuses on Renewable Energy (RE) governance - the institutions, plans, policies and stakeholders that are involved in RE implementation - and the complexities and challenges associated with this much discussed energy area. Whilst RE technologies have advanced and become cheaper, governance schemes rarely support those technologies in an efficient and cost-effective way. To illustrate the problem, global case-studies delicately demonstrate successes and failures of renewable energy governance. RE here is considered from a number of perspectives: as a regional geopolitical agent, as a tool to meet national RE targets and as a promoter of local development. The book considers daring insights on RE transitions, governmental policies as well as financial tools, such as Feed-in-Tariffs; along with their inefficiencies and costs. This comprehensive probing of RE concludes with a treatment of what we call the “Mega-What” question - who is benefitting the most from RE and how society can get the best deal? After reading this book, the reader will have been in contact with all aspects of RE governance and be closer to the pulse of RE mechanisms. The reader should also be able to contribute more critically to the dialogue about RE rather than just reinforce the well-worn adage that “RE is a good thing to happen”.

Analysing the interactions between institutions in the climate change and energy nexus, including the consequences for their legitimacy and effectiveness. Prominent researchers from political science and international relations compare three policy domains: renewable energy, fossil fuel subsidy reform, and carbon pricing. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Tracing the changing activities of international bureaucracies active in global climate and energy governance, this book provides an in-depth analysis of processes of institutional innovation and governance integration between the two fields. It shows that rather than the consequence of a designed strategy, governance integration – the convergence of approaches and practices among different actors within one or between two or more governance architectures – has come as the result of organizational changes arising from the international bureaucracies’ various efforts to pursue and broaden their mandate in a complex and dynamic global policy environment. Each of the three cases analyzed (the UNFCCC Secretariat, the IEA Secretariat and the World Bank) began their life focused on particular activities that today, following periods of sustained organizational change, make up only part of their operations. Beyond creating greater synergies for cooperation across the governance architectures, improving policies, and mobilizing greater investment to tackle the climate emergency, the book shows governance integration to have contributed to preserving and expanding the role and relevance of all three international bureaucracies. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of global climate and energy governance, climate policy, and international organizations and their bureaucratic arms. Practitioners will find this book useful in thinking about why innovation in governance emerges and how it may be directed.