Changing the Paradigm of Energy Geopolitics: Security, Resources and Pathways in Light of Global Challenges

This book offers an overarching view of the underlying challenges that the energy transitions pose to interstate energy relations. Geopolitics of energy currently epitomizes one of the principal sources for geopolitical vicissitudes affecting global energy landscapes. The ever-changing global energy architecture, global decarbonization plans and low-carbon technology developments are having deep geopolitical consequences. The extensive and rapid adjustment towards low-carbon energy is unsettling the conventional transnational energy structures, affecting economies and altering energy interstate relations. The geopolitics of the energy transitions is a field in the making, hence the existent academic literature is scarce and limited in scope. Current debates on decarbonization tend to mimic the geopolitics of oil and gas when discussing the stakeholders involved in the energy transitions. Besides, energy transitions tend to be studied at the national level overlooking the interactions at regional and global scales. Most research on the geopolitics of the energy transitions to date has mainly focused on the path to achieve the transitions to low carbon energy systems, and less on the global dynamics and the impacts of those transitions to inter-state relations and energy security. The fundamental question that needs dwelling is: How, and to what extent, will the multiple dimensions of the ongoing energy transitions affect existing fundamental geopolitical issues, and what new dynamics may result from the decarbonization process of the planet? The reasons to organize this publication are many, but among them stand one, which is functioning as the driving force behind this project: to contribute to a broader discussion on the ways in which energy transitions and geopolitics intersect.

Table of Contents:
List of Figures – List of Tables – Thijs Van de Graaf: Foreword – About the Cover Photo – Introduction: Muse of Fire—Energy, Geopolitics, and Decarbonization – Majia Nadesan/Jennifer Keahey: Energy Neomercantilism and Regenerative Alternatives – Cátia Miriam Costa/Ana Teresa Santos: Scientific Discourse about Energy Geopolitics: Changing Paradigms or Simply Adapting to New Times? – Rui Pereira/Carla Fernandes: China’s Energy Geopolitics and the Belt and Road Initiative: The Green Energy Cooperation – Evgeniia (Jen) Sidorova: The Energopower and Biopower Relations in Russia, China and the EU and Their Impacts on Russia-China and Russia-EU Energy Trade Before and After the War in Ukraine – Javad Keypour: The Energy Transition Geopolitical Outlook for the European Union: Will Russian Gas Decline? – Susann Handke: Governing the Energy Union: The Quest for a Secure, Low-Carbon Future for the EU – Alexandros-Cătălin Bakos: ord Stream 2 and Energy Security in Europe: The Impact of Economic Sanctions – Fernanda Delgado/João Marques Cardoso/Victor Gaspar Filho: The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Energy Transition: The Geopolitics of Energy Envisaged by American Politics – Alaz Munzur/Katharina Koch/Jennifer Winter: Geopolitical Implications of the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism – Ana Isabel Xavier: The European Union as a Military Green Player: Sustainability and Resilience in Security and Defense Actorness – Roberto Álvaro-Hermana/Jorge Fernández-Gómez/Macarena Larrea-Basterra/Jaime Menéndez-Sánchez: The Energy Geopolitics of the European Green Deal: Two Case Studies of International Strategic Techno-Industrial Cooperation – Jorge Tavares da Silva: The Chinese Energy Rush in Pakistan as a Regional Geopolitical Game-Changer – Venkatesh Dutta/Roopinder Oberoi: Transition to Low-Carbon Energy Resources in India: Issues and Challenges – Paulo Zagalo: The Role of Angola and Mozambique in the New Global Energy Trend – Gerardo Rabinovich: The Implications of Energy Transitions in Argentina – Sara Pugliese: Energy Issues in EU Agreements, Between Supply Security, Solidarity, and Sustainability, Before and After the Russian-Ukrainian Conflict: Can the EU Become a Leader in Global Energy Relationships? – Javad Keypour/Tanel Kerikmäe/Archil Chochia: Critical Legal Insight into the EU’s Hydrogen Strategy – Gianmatteo Sabatino: New Patterns of Resource Management for the Circular Economy: A Chinese-European Comparative Outlook on the Evolution of Circular Economy Law – Gabriela Benatti/Antônio Buainain/Marcelo Pereira da Cunha/Pedro Cavalcante Filho: The Politics of Biodiesel and the Structuring of a New Market for Brazilian Agribusiness – Dipta Majumder/Ferdous Rahman: Scaling Up Renewable Energy Technologies in Bangladesh: Prospects and Challenges – Lisha Fu/Chong Min Fui Nicole/Fu Faustina Yip: At the Forefront of Change: The Environment and Social Innovations by Generation Z in Russia – João Simões/Francisco José Leandro/Eduardo Caetano de Sousa/Roopinder Oberoi: Energy Geopolitics—A Changing Paradigm – Notes on Contributors.

About the Author :
João Simões received a Ph.D. in Portuguese-speaking countries studies from the City University of Macau, China, a master’s degree in Chinese studies from the University of Aveiro, Portugal, and a bachelor’s in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Lisbon, Portugal. He is currently working in the utility sector in Macau, China. Francisco José Leandro received a Ph.D. in political science and international relations from the Catholic University of Portugal. Since 2023, he is associate professor with habilitation in international relations at Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Macau (China). Eduardo Caetano de Sousa is a Colonel of the Portuguese Army (retired) and received a master’s degree in international relations from the Lusíada University of Lisbon, Portugal. He was a member of the Board of EuroDefense—Portugal Study Centre and coordinator of the Working Group Energy, Climate, Security and Defense. Roopinder Oberoi received a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Delhi. She has authored and edited books on corporate social responsibility and sustainable development in emerging economies. She is an editor of the Social Responsibility Journal (UK).