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The Geopolitics of Energy System Transformation: A Review

Blondeel, M.; Bradshaw, M.; Bridge, G.; Kuzemko, C.

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Authors

M. Blondeel

M. Bradshaw

C. Kuzemko



Abstract

In 2009, Geography Compass published a paper on ‘The Geopolitics of Global Energy Security’ that reviewed research on the key geographical factors influencing the secure and affordable supply of energy resources. Now, just over a decade later, the energy landscape is undergoing a dramatic transformation, and the focus is no longer on fossil fuel scarcity. Rather, this is an age of fossil fuel abundance and the emphasis is on the need to decarbonise the global energy system, constrain the production of fossil fuels and accelerate the deployment of low-carbon energy technologies. We conceive energy system transformation as a twofold process: a set of ‘high-carbon’ energy transitions related to phasing out fossil fuel consumption, ‘low-carbon’ energy transitions related to the emergence of new renewable energy and other low-carbon technologies. This paper reviews the past decade's research that examines the nature and pace of energy system transformation, as well as that which identifies a range of geopolitical challenges associated with these two transitions. The paper concludes by advocating for a ‘whole systems’ approach to energy geopolitics that captures the critical interactions between the two transitions in a global framework.

Citation

Blondeel, M., Bradshaw, M., Bridge, G., & Kuzemko, C. (2021). The Geopolitics of Energy System Transformation: A Review. Geography Compass, 15(7), Article e12580. https://doi.org/10.1111/gec3.12580

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jun 7, 2021
Online Publication Date Jun 29, 2021
Publication Date Jul 18, 2021
Deposit Date Aug 17, 2021
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Geography Compass
Electronic ISSN 1749-8198
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 15
Issue 7
Article Number e12580
DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/gec3.12580

Files

Published Journal Article (1.1 Mb)
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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
© 2021 The Authors. Geography Compass published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.





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