Energy Transition Diplomacy

This course aims to make students familiar with the complexity of the energy transition - the global energy sector’s shift from fossil-based systems of energy production and consumption, including oil, natural gas and coal to zero-carbon energy sources. It presents students an overview of the organisational and regulatory frameworks affecting the energy transition and explains technological challenges associated with the energy transition. Moreover, the course discusses dilemmas of the main stakeholders, including energy consuming, transiting, and exporting countries, as well as businesses and non-state actors such as NGOs. The course consists of lectures, interactive seminars, and a negotiation game. The goal of the game is to show complexity of the ongoing energy transition, its impact on industries and societies. 

Knowledge and Understanding

After successful completion of the course, every student will be:

• Familiar with the international instruments and mechanisms related to the climate and energy policies;
• Familiar with the EU framework for the Energy Transition and its instruments applicable within and beyond the EU;
• Aware of different perspectives of the Energy Transition seen from the angle of predominantly energy consuming, transiting, and exporting countries;
• Aware of dilemmas of the main industry stakeholders, role and impact of climate change advocacy and potential and instruments of subnational actors in the energy transition.

Research Skills

After successful completion of the course, every student will be able to:

• Critically evaluate a range of legal and policy materials related to the energy transition
  adopted at different level of public and corporate governance;
• Make critical judgment about international energy policy and legal materials and reflection
  on their impact to the energy security and investment in countries with different place in the
  energy value chain;

Transferable skills

After successful completion of the course, every student will be able to:

• Demonstrate skills of self-management including an ability to reflect on the content and quality of their own work;
• Assess evolving climate and energy policy and legal framework from the perspectives of energy security, energy affordability and accessibility (UN SDG 7);
• Asses an impact of different stakeholders to development and evolution of complex public policy challenges;
• Understanding of the dynamics of multilateral negotiations, presenting proposals and
  accepting contra-arguments in a structured and rational manner aiming on compromise and consensus building.

Syllabus (a description of the course)

1. Actors of the Energy Transition: Public Institutions - universal and specialised multilateral institutions, intergovernmental regional organisations, regional economic integration organisations, states, subnational entities, cities, and municipalities. Private stakeholders – corporations, industry associations, interest groups and non-profit pressure groups, individuals. Their role and functions, interactions, complementarity, mutual exclusivity, conflicts, and their management.
2. Instruments of the Energy Transition: Legal: International law, treaties and agreements, customary international law, supranational regulation (REIOs), national laws and regulations. Economic: Taxation, innovation, competition. Diplomatic: negotiations, advanced cooperation of ‘like-minded countries’, sanctions. Dispute resolution: bilateral negotiations, mediation, conciliation, arbitration.
3. Industries and Technologies involved:  Historical overview of previous energy transitions and their ecological impact. Old industries - Coal, Oil, Gas, Hydro and Nuclear; their role in the energy mix, ways forward to de-carbonisation.
4. Industries and Technologies involved (cont.) New industries – Solar, Wind, Grid Storage, their role in the energy mix, ways forward to scaling-up. New technologies and nascent industries – Hydrogen, Carbon Capture Storage and Utilisation, New Nuclear (thorium – fusion). Research & Development.
5. Generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity. Traditional grids, smart grids, storage technologies. Electrification and energy transition. Energy Industry cycles. Investment, technological transfer, and international development.
6. Energy Security and Energy Diplomacy. Four pillars of the Energy Security - Security of Supply, Security of Demand, Security of Transit/Transportation, Security for the End Consumer (absence of energy poverty). OPEC, IEA, GECF, ECT. Energy security trilemma. Prevention and Early Warning of Conflicts, managing emerging conflicts, resolving energy conflicts. Elusive ‘peace dividend’. UN Sustainable Development Goal 7.
7. Climate Diplomacy. UNFCCC historical background, evolution, milestones. Rio, Kyoto, Paris. Achievements and its limits. SWOT analyses of the UNFCCC process. Montreal Protocol. Mitigation and adaptation strategies. Role of Advocacy, battle of lobbyists. Public opinion and regulatory impact. G2, G7, G20 formats – elitist alternatives to the UN or source of synergies?
8. Energy Transition Diplomacy. Identifying key parameters, actors, and stakeholders. Technological transfer and/or investment. Bilateral and Multilateral diplomatic instruments. Leadership, inclusiveness, and competition. Principle of Common by Differentiated Responsibilities. Role of technological innovation in the energy transition. 

Literature

IEA: World Energy Investment 2022 Overview and key findings
IEA: Global Energy Outlook 2022 - Energy security in energy transitions (pp. 188-233)
IEA: The Oil and Gas Industry in Energy Transitions World Energy Outlook special report 
IRENA: World Energy Transitions Outlook 2022  - An Executive Summary and Introduction
EU: State of the Energy Union report 2022
Energy Charter Secretariat: International Energy Security: Common Concept for Energy Producing, Consuming and Transit Countries

Teaching methods

Combination of lectures, interactive seminars, and a negotiation game. The goal of the game is to show complexity of the ongoing energy transition, its impact on industries and societies.

Assessment methods

The colloquium will be awarded upon a written test with open questions (min. 60% correct answers).

Informace k předmětu v IS