DSPO 27A42 - Global Energy Transition and the Anthropocene

Human civilization's impact on our global environment has been recognized as so significant in recent centuries as to constitute a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene. This new classification means that no other force can affect our planet as deeply as human collective behavior: large-scale deforestation, human-caused climate change, and massive biodiversity loss trends have accelerated over the past three decades due to human activity. At the core of these negative environmental dynamics, lies the unprecedented large-scale production and consumption of energy resources as well as our values and lifestyles, policy debates, and national priorities for energy security. But the very notion of the Anthropocene also means that humanity holds the technoscientific capacities to alter our ecosystems for the better and stop ongoing destructive dynamics, restore degraded ecosystems, and enhance our global habitat for the benefit of humanity and all living species. Is only political will missing? Deeply transforming the global energy mix has become a key goal for the United Nations and the international community at large. However, there are now many debates – some theoretical, most very programmatic – as to how to undertake this global energy transition. Far from the simplistic dream of ‘techno-fixing' the world's problems with some green infrastructure and eco-friendly merchandise, the global energy transition is part of a broader movement of deep policy reforms, disruptive industrial innovation, social-ecological transition, and geopolitics. These will be reviewed during this course, along more fundamental questions for environmental policies this century. What is a just energy transition? Shall we rather speak of an energy transition (ET) or of multiple energy transitions (ETs), and why? How have ETs happened in the past? What have been the actors of the currently unfolding ET and what have been their respective motivations and strategies? What are the regional characteristics of the current global transformation? Why are the European Nordic countries – several of which have long been important oil and gas producers - expected to benefit from this global ET? In the global South, how could energy diversification mitigate the risks of conflicts over natural resources? Why is the US-China rivalry hindering the ET? How is the global energy transition expected to transform the global geopolitics of energy? And most importantly, how can the research community and civil society effectively contribute to the world's most daunting challenges underpinning the Anthropocene? Here are but a few questions that this course will focus on during the semester. The course will equip students with conceptual building blocks, important theoretical tools, empirical insights, and some hands-on training on how to devise and negotiate greener energy policies.

Laurent LAMBERT

Séminaire

English

None

Spring 2021-2022

Individual Oral Participation during the Class: 20% Group essay: 40% Group Presentation: 40%.