The Geopolitics of the Global Energy Transition

by Manfred Hafner (Editor), Simone Tagliapietra

The world is currently undergoing an historic energy transition, driven by increasingly stringent decarbonisation policies and rapid advances in low-carbon technologies. The large-scale shift to low-carbon energy is disrupting the global energy system, impacting whole economies, and changing the political dynamics within and between countries.

This open access book, written by leading energy scholars, examines the economic and geopolitical implications of the global energy transition, from both regional and thematic perspectives. The first part of the book addresses the geopolitical implications in the world’s main energy-producing and energy-consuming regions, while the second presents in-depth case studies on selected issues, ranging from the geopolitics of renewable energy, to the mineral foundations of the global energy transformation, to governance issues in connection with the changing global energy order. Given its scope, the book will appeal to researchers in energy, climate change and international relations, as well as to professionals working in the energy industry.

Genres: Economics

410 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 9, 2020

About the author

Manfred Hafner is Professor in International Energy Studies and lectures at the Johns Hopkins University (School of Advanced International Studies – SAIS Europe Bologna Center) and at the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences Po Paris. He also teaches/taught at the Skolkovo Moscow School of Management, at the Florence School of Regulation at the European University Institute, at the Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, at the Hautes Etudes Commerciales – HEC Paris, at the Ecole des Mines de Paris (Mines-ParisTech), at the IFP School of the Institut Français du Pétrole et Energies Nouvelles in Paris, at the International Academy of Business in Almaty/Kazakhstan and at the Diplomatic Academy of Armenia in Yerevan in cooperation with the College of Europe in Brugge.

Prof. Hafner is also President for Europe, MENA, Russia and CIS at International Energy Consultants (IEC) based in Canada; is President of the energy consultancy&training company HEAS SA based in Switzerland, is Research Fellow and directs research on energy policy at the Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM); is Research Fellow at the Centre for Research on Energy and Environment Economics and Policy (IEFE) of Bocconi University where he directs research on natural gas markets; and is Senior Scientist at the Euro-Mediterranean Center for Climate Change (CMCC). Previously he was for many years the Scientific Director of the Observatoire Méditerranéen de l’Energie, an association of some 35 leading energy companies operating in the Euro-Mediterranean area. Dr. Hafner has consulted extensively for the energy industry and for Governments. He lives in Switzerland and works mostly on Europe, Middle East North Africa, Russia and CIS countries.

Dr. Hafner has earned master degrees in energy engineering, economics and policy from the Technische Universität München (Germany), from the IFP-School in Paris (France), from the University of Pennsylvania (USA) and from the Université Panthéon Assas / Paris 2. He got his PhD from the Ecole des Mines de Paris (Mines-ParisTech). He speaks English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Russian.