The Geopolitics of the Energy Transition and Opportunities for International Cooperation

The global energy transition is underway–in the past couple of years governments have pledged to enhance energy security, increase shares of renewable energy, and begin to decarbonize their economies. While there has been groundbreaking technical analysis on what a fossil-free energy system will look like, the interplay between the energy transition and emerging geopolitical challenges is underexamined. However, to reach climate targets, international engagement and cooperation is critical, and progress needs to be accelerated, even in the midst of rising geopolitical tensions and challenges.

The objectives of the workshop are to:

• Establish an agenda for geopolitics where key decisions around peace and security and climate action and policy are more intertwined, including a set of recommendations for international cooperation.
• Form a body of understanding around the energy transition on geopolitical relationships, dynamics, and tensions between key countries and blocs.
• Identify implications of the energy transition, as fossil fuels are phased down and renewable energy ramped up, for current geopolitical relationships and related international policy.

Emerging issues such as the changing structure and composition of the energy market, new concepts of energy security with evolving leverage and influence, and the new map of energy on land and sea demand innovative responses. The workshop participants will develop recommendations for fundamental course corrections in trade and investment agreements, political and security relationships, and global energy governance. These recommendations can move the energy transition and climate action to the heart of foreign policy decisions, building the geopolitical conditions to accelerate decarbonization for a more sustainable and peaceful future.