This report, published by IRENA's Global Commission on the Geopolitics of Energy Transformation with support from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Energy & Industry, and the German Federal Foreign Office, looks into these developments from a foreign policy perspective.
While the surge in wind, solar and other renewables has taken place mostly in the electricity sector, new technologies are enabling this transformation in other sectors. Electric vehicles and heat pumps are extending the deployment of renewables in transport, industry and buildings. Innovations in digitalization and energy storage are expanding the potential for renewables to flourish in ways that were unimaginable just a decade ago.
The accelerating deployment of renewables has set in motion a global energy transformation that will have profound geopolitical consequences. Just as fossil fuels have shaped the geopolitical map over the last two centuries, the energy transformation will alter the global distribution of power, relations between states, the risk of conflict, and the social, economic and environmental drivers of geopolitical instability.
These far-reaching effects have not yet been considered in a comprehensive manner in any international forum or setting. To raise awareness and deepen understanding of them, IRENA established the Global Commission on the Geopolitics of the Energy Transformation, with the support of the Governments of Germany, Norway and the United Arab Emirates.
This report published by the commission analyzes the geopolitical implications of the global energy transformation driven by renewables. It is informed by a number of background papers drafted by experts in the fields of energy, security and geopolitics.
