LIST OF PANELS

The transition to a sustainable energy system is currently facing the challenges created by two consecutive global crises: the COVID-19 global pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The dramatic reduction in natural gas international flows and the consequent increase in energy prices, due to the economic sanction against Russia, has come at a time when countries are still recovering from the economic shocks and disruption to global value chains from the global health pandemic. This has led to questioning how the combination of these two crises is going to affect countries’ policies, and ambitions, on their energy transition programs in the short, medium, and long term. Even though the need to implement policies to limit the impact of climate change and a faster transition to sustainable energy systems is as urgent as, or even more than, ever (floods in Pakistan this year as an example).

However, there is the risk that governments’ climate agenda will be left secondary to “other more pressing issues”. This may include legitimate actions to support the population that may be more severely impacted by the increase in energy prices for electricity, thermal comfort, and transportation (as highlighted by the literature on energy poverty). As well as short-term energy security concerns which may justify the need to extend the lifetime of polluting energy generation plants. But there is also the risk that it may be utilized by some others to limit or reduce the transition to more sustainable energy systems. In addition, there are risks that the current sourness of international relations may affect the required cooperation in the climate agenda at international fora, as happened at the G20 (and so might be seen at COP27, not yet at the time of this writing). All this will impact for severely countries in the Global South. For example, a slowing down in the progress on the realization of the 7th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG-7) has been reported, particularly in the pace of electrification and the impossibility for around 90 million people in Asia and Africa to afford energy services to which they had access previously.

Nonetheless, there are opportunities to learn from the crises and practices experienced and feed them into the design of new policies and redefine research agendas. For that, this panel aims to bring together papers on experiences and practices from both Global South and North to address the two crises and their impact on energy and climate agendas, as well as those reflecting on emerging topics related to the intersection between energy transition and energy security. 

References:

Höysniemi, S. (2022). Reimagining energy futures: Global energy transition and dependence on Russian energy as issues in the sociotechnical imaginaries of energy security in Finland. Energy Research & Social Science, 93, 102840.

Kuzemko, C., Bradshaw, M., Bridge, G., Goldthau, A., Jewell, J., Overland, I., ... & Westphal, K. (2020). Covid-19 and the politics of sustainable energy transitions. Energy Research & Social Science, 68, 101685.

Quitzow, R., Bersalli, G., Eicke, L., Jahn, J., Lilliestam, J., Lira, F., ... & Xue, B. (2021). The COVID-19 crisis deepens the gulf between leaders and laggards in the global energy transition. Energy Research & Social Science, 74, 101981.

Sovacool, B. K., Del Rio, D. F., & Griffiths, S. (2020). Contextualizing the Covid-19 pandemic for a carbon-constrained world: Insights for sustainability transitions, energy justice, and research methodology. Energy Research & Social Science, 68, 101701.

Zakeri, B., Paulavets, K., Barreto-Gomez, L., Echeverri, L. G., Pachauri, S., Boza-Kiss, B., ... & Pouya, S. (2022). Pandemic, War, and Global Energy Transitions. Energies, 15(17), 6114.

The transition to a sustainable energy system is currently facing the challenges created by two consecutive global crises: the COVID-19 global pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The dramatic reduction in natural gas international flows and the consequent increase in energy prices, due to the economic sanction against Russia, has come at a time when countries are still recovering from the economic shocks and disruption to global value chains from the global health pandemic. This has led to questioning how the combination of these two crises is going to affect countries’ policies, and ambitions, on their energy transition programs in the short, medium, and long term. Even though the need to implement policies to limit the impact of climate change and a faster transition to sustainable energy systems is as urgent as, or even more than, ever (floods in Pakistan this year as an example).

However, there is the risk that governments’ climate agenda will be left secondary to “other more pressing issues”. This may include legitimate actions to support the population that may be more severely impacted by the increase in energy prices for electricity, thermal comfort, and transportation (as highlighted by the literature on energy poverty). As well as short-term energy security concerns which may justify the need to extend the lifetime of polluting energy generation plants. But there is also the risk that it may be utilized by some others to limit or reduce the transition to more sustainable energy systems. In addition, there are risks that the current sourness of international relations may affect the required cooperation in the climate agenda at international fora, as happened at the G20 (and so might be seen at COP27, not yet at the time of this writing). All this will impact for severely countries in the Global South. For example, a slowing down in the progress on the realization of the 7th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG-7) has been reported, particularly in the pace of electrification and the impossibility for around 90 million people in Asia and Africa to afford energy services to which they had access previously.

Nonetheless, there are opportunities to learn from the crises and practices experienced and feed them into the design of new policies and redefine research agendas. For that, this panel aims to bring together papers on experiences and practices from both Global South and North to address the two crises and their impact on energy and climate agendas, as well as those reflecting on emerging topics related to the intersection between energy transition and energy security. Papers will address some, but not limited to, of the following points:

·    Policy responses to the two crises in general, and their impact on sustainable energy.

·    Policy responses to address the impact of energy security and high prices, and their potential impact on the climate agenda.

·    National energy policies and impact on international relations and restructuring on the new geopolitics of energy and renewables.

·    Evaluation of existing theoretical frameworks and recommendations for reforms and/or new ones.

·    Discussions on a research agenda to bridge between science and policy.

The panel welcomes papers from different disciplines, methodologies and geographies; and encourages comparative and interdisciplinary approaches.