The geopolitics of the global energy transition

Abstract

In physics, power is the rate of work per unit time. In geopolitics, it is the ability of one nation to influence the behaviour of other nations. It’s not surprising that the same word, with its root in the Latin posse (to be able), refers to both concepts. A nation’s command of physical power, notably through its control over primary energy resources such as oil, not only shapes its economic development but also its national security and military strength. As such, the international relations of nations are profoundly influenced by the distributions of energy resources and the technologies for their utilization. Every great transition in energy technology entails a shift in geopolitics as well. Our generation’s energy transition to zero-carbon energy, or decarbonization, will reshape geopolitics of the twenty-first century. This superb volume offers a deeply informed tour d’horizon of the geopolitics of global energy decarbonization, and the ways that geopolitics may stymie or support the transition to climate safety. Energy transitions have defined several key epochs of human history. Early man’s harnessing of fire changed the genetic and cultural trajectory of humanity itself. The harnessing of wind power for sailing ships enabled sea-based trade and migrations over vast distances. The harnessing of horse power gave rise to empires. And without doubt, it was James Watt’s coal-fired steam engine (building on precursors of Savery and Newcomen) that gave rise to industrialization, and with it, to Britain’s remarkable global hegemony in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Watt’s invention, commercialized around 1776, ushered in the Fossil-Fuel Age, a period of more than two centuries in which global economic growth has been powered by solar energy of tens of millions of years ago stored in fossilized remains of plant and animal life. By gaining the ability to harness the fossil fuels—coal, oil and natural gas—humanity tapped into a seemingly limitless reserve of power. Watt’s coal-fired steam engine was followed by Daimler and Benz’s internal combustion engine for automobiles, and Parsons’ and Curtis’s gas turbines for transport and mechanical power.