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
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French supplier of nuclear energy is struggling with plant shutdowns, build problems and skills shortages.
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The case for the renewable energy source is becoming clearer on the ‘sun continent’
Delhi to Paris: A strategic partnership
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to France on May 4 is his fifth since 2015, and the 10th such high-level bilateral visit.
Le Pen Puts Fuel-Tax Cut, Wind Crackdown at Heart of Energy Plan
As Europe suffers its worst energy crisis in a generation, French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen is proposing to subsidize consumption while further curtailing supply.
Energy & Climate Policies of France Going Forward
Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), makes 5 key recommendations for the future of French energy & climate policies to foster energy security and achieve climate objectives:
What can we expect from Russia at COP26?
We ask experts whether the Kremlin’s latest moves on climate, including its 2060 net-zero target, heralds genuine change or more greenwash.
Russia has been seen as a climate pariah by the international community for some years. It was one of the last counties to ratify the 2015 Paris Agreement – not until September 2019, at the UN’s Climate Action Summit.
Critical Metals: the need for an International Minerals Agency
Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, director of Ifri's Center for Energy & Climate, explains why the creation of an International Minerals Agency would be essential to the regulation of this strategic global issue and how it could facilitate the dialogue between producers and consumers, bringing together States, industrialists, multilateral and non-governmental organizations.
France eagerly awaits more detailed climate plan from China
The two countries have been solid partners throughout the Trump era and France is now watching China’s investments closely, both at home and abroad.
Nord Stream 2: Europe stays quiet while US ‘tramples over EU sovereignty’
With the recent adoption of its defence budget for 2021, the US has further tightened the screw on Nord Stream 2, threatening sanctions on EU companies involved in the Russian-backed pipeline and putting the future of the project further into uncertainty.
China Defies Elon Musk’s Warnings and Pushes Ahead With Hydrogen
Asia’s biggest economy wants to promote fuel cells for trucks. Renewable energy investments should make hydrogen less costly. Tesla Inc.Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk has spent years mocking the idea of using hydrogen fuel cells rather than electric batteries to power next-generation green vehicles.
Electric Vehicles: A Strong and Still Understated Performance
Electric vehicles (EVs) are better for the climate – even in worst-case scenarios. Across its life cycle, a typical European electric car produces less greenhouse gas (GHG) and air pollutants or noise than its petrol or diesel equivalent. Emissions are usually higher in the production phase, but these are more than offset over time by lower emissions in the use phase. According to the European Environment Agency’s report on electric vehicles, life cycle GHG emissions of EVs are about 17-30% lower than those of petrol and diesel cars.
How Can the Green Deal Adapt to a Brutal World?
The European Green Deal has not been planned for the current extraordinarily deteriorated internal and external environment. Russia’s war in Ukraine, higher interest rates, inflation, strained public finances, weakened value chains, and lack of crucial skills pose unprecedented challenges.
COP28: A Tale of Money, Fossil Fuels, and Divisions
“Humanity has opened the gates of hell”, said the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres during the Climate Ambition Summit, in New York, in September 2023, three months before COP28. The sense of urgency that he conveyed seems shared across the international community.
Global Coal Markets at a Climax. An Era of Coal Decline is Finally about to Begin
In a previous note published in 2018, we noted that global coal demand had flattened. Several governments had announced coal phase-out plans, global coal power investment had contracted, and investment in greenfield coal mines was also at a standstill. The freezing of financial resources for coal projects might have indicated the beginning of a structural decline in coal demand and supply.
Is International Climate Finance Unfair and Inefficient?
Finance is arguably the most sensitive climate negotiation topic. Different studies have shown that rich countries emit the majority of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, while the climate footprint of the poorest countries is much more limited.
IRA: Towards Clean Hydrogen Leadership in the U.S.
Although late in adopting clean hydrogen (H2) and defining a national strategy–a draft was presented by the Department of Energy (DOE) in September 2022–, the United States (US) has strongly reinforced its support to clean hydrogen with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in August 2022.
The Europeanisation of the Energy Transition in Central and Eastern EU Countries: An Uphill Battle that Can Be Won
Russia’s war in Ukraine, and the brutal decoupling from Russian fossil fuels, is a game changer for the Central and Eastern Europe region which was still heavily dependent on Russia for its energy supply.
The Strategic Repositioning of LNG: Implications for Key Trade Routes and Choke Points
2022 saw the climax so far of the weaponization of energy. Following its geopolitical demise, Russia has undertaken its own gas amputation, moving from a super energy power status to a diminished role with uncertain prospects and only hard options left.
G20 Energy Transitions and Climate Finance Task Force Report
India is at the helm of the G20 presidency since the 1st of December 2022 for the duration of a year, with energy transition and climate finance being key topics on its agenda. In this context, the Gateway House put in place a G20 Energy Task Force to which Ifri’s Research Fellow, Diana-Paula Gherasim, participated.
Higher Renewable Energy Targets in Germany: How Will the Industry Benefit?
“Deutschland – Einstieg in die Deindustrialisierung?” – “Germany, the beginning of deindustrialisation?” asked the German economic newspaper Handelsblatt in the context of the spike in energy prices that has put at risk thousands of companies across Germany in 2022. Whereas some sectors such as steel, glass and chemicals have been seriously hit, the manufacturing industries operating in the areas linked to the energy transition (such as renewable energies and hydrogen production) should benefit from decisions taken to reach climate neutrality.
France eagerly awaits more detailed climate plan from China
The two countries have been solid partners throughout the Trump era and France is now watching China’s investments closely, both at home and abroad.
China Defies Elon Musk’s Warnings and Pushes Ahead With Hydrogen
Asia’s biggest economy wants to promote fuel cells for trucks. Renewable energy investments should make hydrogen less costly. Tesla Inc.Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk has spent years mocking the idea of using hydrogen fuel cells rather than electric batteries to power next-generation green vehicles.
Academic: Higher carbon price needed to ramp up EU biomethane production
The price of CO2 credits on Europe’s emissions trading scheme needs to rise to around €50 per tonne in order to drive the long-term development of Europe’s biomethane industry, says Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, a French researcher.
The future of biogas in Europe: it’s a local affair
The prospects for biogas in Europe look bright, with conservative estimates pointing to a tenfold increase in production by 2030. However, the industry will need to stay rooted in the local economy and come clean on environmental credentials if it wants to avoid a green backlash, analysts say.
Naftogaz vs Gazprom: Infinity War
Energy has been at the heart of Ukraine's troubles with Russia over the past two decades, typically as a means for Moscow to pressure its former province. The pressure points have changed over the years – moving from a focus on direct supplies to transit through Ukraine – but the battle remains a constant for regional energy and security.
Naftogaz vs Gazprom: Infinity War
Energy has been at the heart of Ukraine's troubles with Russia over the past two decades, typically as a means for Moscow to pressure its former province. The pressure points have changed over the years – moving from a focus on direct supplies to transit through Ukraine – but the battle remains a constant for regional energy and security.
Biogas and Biomethane in Europe: Denmark, Germany, Italy lead
Over and again, legislators worldwide are confronting the same question: which technologies do we subsidise and support, when, by how much, and for how long. Get it right and those costs will reduce and should disappear once scale is reached. Solar and wind are on their way to proving that. What about biofuels?
EU challenges Asian dominance of battery cell manufacturing
Carole Mathieu of the French Institute of International Relations explains some of the developments between the EU battery manufacturing and automaker industries and how they impact on the region's contributions towards the global energy storage market.
Total CEO Steps Into Eye of Saudi Storm as Other Bosses Balk
Total SA boss Patrick Pouyanne proved once again that he’ll go where other business leaders fear to tread. The storm in Saudi Arabia caused by the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi was too much for the chief executive officers of Siemens AG and BlackRock Inc., who pulled out of an investment conference in Riyadh this week. But the head of France’s oil giant didn’t just show up, he maintained a high profile.
Belgium's creaky nuclear reactors raise risk of winter power outages
Belgium is slowly phasing out its aging nuclear energy infrastructure. But looming winter weather, limited renewable options and a poorly connected electricity network have left the country at risk of blackouts.
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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.