Energy - Climate
In the face of the climate emergency and geopolitical confrontations, how can we reconcile security of supply, competitiveness, accessibility, decarbonization and acceptability? What policies are needed?
Related Subjects
Water in Mexico: an Emergency that Will Wait
Access to water is already and will become increasingly problematic for Mexican economic actors due to the progressive scarcity of the resource resulting from climate change, a geographical distribution that does not coincide with that of the population or economic activity, and management that has so far been far too lax.
AI, Data Centers and Energy Demand: Reassessing and Exploring the Trends
The information and communication technologies sector today accounts for 9% of global electricity consumption, data centers for 1-1.3%, and artificial intelligence (AI) for less than 0.2%. The growing energy demands of cloud services first, and now AI workloads (10% of today’s data centers electricity demand), have exacerbated this trend. In the future, hyperscale data centers will gain shares amongst all kinds of data centers and AI will probably account for around 20% of data centers electricity demand by 2030.
Unlocking India’s Energy Transition: Addressing Grid Flexibility Challenges and Solutions
India is rapidly scaling up its renewable energy (RE) capacity, adding 15–20 GW annually, but the ambitious goal of 500 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030 is at risk unless the pace accelerates.
The Caspian Sea as an Emerging Energy Hub : Potentials and Limitations
This report analyzes the prospects of the Caspian Sea region — and its key actors except for Russia and Iran — becoming an important energy hub serving the needs of the European Union (EU).
How do maritime companies cooperate with the navies? An interview with Evan FUERY, EQUINOR
On the sidelines of the Paris Naval Conference 2025, on February 4, 2025, organized by Ifri and the French Navy (Marine nationale), Evan FUERY, Senior Vice-President for Corporate Security and Crisis Management, EQUINOR, shares insights on how maritime companies collaborate with the navies to secure maritime economy.
Geopolitics of Climate Change - World Policy Conference 2024 (Plenary Session)
Plenary session 6: Geopolitics of Climate Change. Friday, December 13, 2024 - 17th edition of the World Policy Conference in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
The New Geopolitics of Energy
Following the dramatic floods in Valencia, and as COP29 opens in Baku, climate change is forcing us to closely reexamine the pace—and the stumbling blocks—of the energy transition.
Europe’s Black Mass Evasion: From Black Box to Strategic Recycling
EV batteries recycling is a building block for boosting the European Union (EU)’s strategic autonomy in the field of critical raw minerals (CRM) value chains. Yet, recent evolutions in the European EV value chain, marked by cancellations or postponements of projects, are raising the alarm on the prospects of the battery recycling industry in Europe.
From Crisis Hotspots to Convening Powers. African Cities Launch Diplomacy to Create Climate Mobility Partnerships
African local governments cannot afford to turn into climate mobility hotspots without taking proactive action – drawing on local knowledge, convening power and access to affected communities.
Can carbon markets make a breakthrough at COP29?
Voluntary carbon markets (VCMs) have a strong potential, notably to help bridge the climate finance gap, especially for Africa.
Water in Mexico: an Emergency that Will Wait
Access to water is already and will become increasingly problematic for Mexican economic actors due to the progressive scarcity of the resource resulting from climate change, a geographical distribution that does not coincide with that of the population or economic activity, and management that has so far been far too lax.
AI, Data Centers and Energy Demand: Reassessing and Exploring the Trends
The information and communication technologies sector today accounts for 9% of global electricity consumption, data centers for 1-1.3%, and artificial intelligence (AI) for less than 0.2%. The growing energy demands of cloud services first, and now AI workloads (10% of today’s data centers electricity demand), have exacerbated this trend. In the future, hyperscale data centers will gain shares amongst all kinds of data centers and AI will probably account for around 20% of data centers electricity demand by 2030.
Unlocking India’s Energy Transition: Addressing Grid Flexibility Challenges and Solutions
India is rapidly scaling up its renewable energy (RE) capacity, adding 15–20 GW annually, but the ambitious goal of 500 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030 is at risk unless the pace accelerates.
The Caspian Sea as an Emerging Energy Hub : Potentials and Limitations
This report analyzes the prospects of the Caspian Sea region — and its key actors except for Russia and Iran — becoming an important energy hub serving the needs of the European Union (EU).
The New Geopolitics of Energy
Following the dramatic floods in Valencia, and as COP29 opens in Baku, climate change is forcing us to closely reexamine the pace—and the stumbling blocks—of the energy transition.
Europe’s Black Mass Evasion: From Black Box to Strategic Recycling
EV batteries recycling is a building block for boosting the European Union (EU)’s strategic autonomy in the field of critical raw minerals (CRM) value chains. Yet, recent evolutions in the European EV value chain, marked by cancellations or postponements of projects, are raising the alarm on the prospects of the battery recycling industry in Europe.
From Crisis Hotspots to Convening Powers. African Cities Launch Diplomacy to Create Climate Mobility Partnerships
African local governments cannot afford to turn into climate mobility hotspots without taking proactive action – drawing on local knowledge, convening power and access to affected communities.
Can carbon markets make a breakthrough at COP29?
Voluntary carbon markets (VCMs) have a strong potential, notably to help bridge the climate finance gap, especially for Africa.
Taiwan's Energy Supply: The Achilles Heel of National Security
Making Taiwan a “dead island” through “a blockade” and “disruption of energy supplies” leading to an “economic collapse.” This is how Colonel Zhang Chi of the People’s Liberation Army and professor at the National Defense University in Beijing described the objective of the Chinese military exercises in May 2024, following the inauguration of Taiwan’s new president, Lai Ching-te. Similar to the exercises that took place after Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei in August 2022, China designated exercise zones facing Taiwan’s main ports, effectively simulating a military embargo on Taiwan. These maneuvers illustrate Beijing’s growing pressure on the island, which it aims to conquer, and push Taiwan to question its resilience capacity.
India’s Broken Power Economics : Addressing DISCOM Challenges
India’s electricity demand is rising at an impressive annual rate of 9%. From 2014 to 2023, the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) surged from 1.95 trillion dollars ($) to $3.2 trillion (constant 2015 US$), and the nation is poised to maintain this upward trajectory, with projected growth rates exceeding 7% in 2024 and 2025. Correspondingly, peak power demand has soared from 136 gigawatts (GW) in 2014 to 243 GW in 2024, positioning India as the world’s third-largest energy consumer. In the past decade, the country has increased its power generation capacity by a remarkable 190 GW, pushing its total installed capacity beyond 400 GW.
War and energy transitions: medium and long-term consequences
In a world already threatened by climate change, wars bring an additional component of instability. How do armed conflicts impact the energy transition, and what can be done about this? Learn more from the discussion featuring Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, Director of Ifri’s Center for Energy & Climate, moderated by Tatiana Mitrova, NEAH Founder and Director.
Pétrole : l’attaque du Hamas contre Israël nourrit des craintes autour de l’Iran
Les Etats-Unis, alliés traditionnels d’Israël, pourraient être amenés à encadrer plus strictement l’application des sanctions contre Téhéran, pays qui représentait 4 % de l’offre mondiale de brut en 2022. Voire à les durcir s’il est avéré que l’Iran a aidé à planifier les actes terroristes du Hamas.
Long-Term Operation Of Nuclear Plants Vital For Future Of Grid, Says Expert
Argument that reactors are expensive "does not hold any more", conference hears. Nuclear plants will be needed for the future stability of Europe’s grid, Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega said.
Energy sector: outlook and opportunities
The recent energy crisis has highlighted our economies' dependence on energy resources. With fossil fuels becoming less available, and a necessary transition to more decarbonised alternatives, could tomorrow's energy not become more expensive and less certain in availability?
Iranian lithium deposits: EU can ‘easily’ do without, experts say
The Iranian government claimed last week it had found a new deposit of lithium in the Hamedan province, worth 10% of all global lithium resources, but experts say this marks no shift in EU-Iran diplomatic ties.
EDF’s problems pile up as full nationalisation looms
French supplier of nuclear energy is struggling with plant shutdowns, build problems and skills shortages.
Solar power shines through after a slow start in Africa
The case for the renewable energy source is becoming clearer on the ‘sun continent’
Delhi to Paris: A strategic partnership
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to France on May 4 is his fifth since 2015, and the 10th such high-level bilateral visit.
Le Pen Puts Fuel-Tax Cut, Wind Crackdown at Heart of Energy Plan
As Europe suffers its worst energy crisis in a generation, French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen is proposing to subsidize consumption while further curtailing supply.
What can we expect from Russia at COP26?
We ask experts whether the Kremlin’s latest moves on climate, including its 2060 net-zero target, heralds genuine change or more greenwash.
Russia has been seen as a climate pariah by the international community for some years. It was one of the last counties to ratify the 2015 Paris Agreement – not until September 2019, at the UN’s Climate Action Summit.
How do maritime companies cooperate with the navies? An interview with Evan FUERY, EQUINOR
On the sidelines of the Paris Naval Conference 2025, on February 4, 2025, organized by Ifri and the French Navy (Marine nationale), Evan FUERY, Senior Vice-President for Corporate Security and Crisis Management, EQUINOR, shares insights on how maritime companies collaborate with the navies to secure maritime economy.
Geopolitics of Climate Change - World Policy Conference 2024 (Plenary Session)
Plenary session 6: Geopolitics of Climate Change. Friday, December 13, 2024 - 17th edition of the World Policy Conference in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
The EU’s Power System by 2030: Navigating the Crisis and Keeping the Decarbonization Cap (video)
Replay from Ifri's conference at the European Parliament in Brussels (October 11, 2022). The combination of the climate crisis and Russia’s war in Ukraine makes the case for a much faster transition to a fully decarbonized power system.
Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega on Global Energy, Valdai Discussion Club
Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, director of Ifri’s Centre for Energy, discusses various issues related to the energy market, from the strategic move of Russia towards Saudi Arabia and the role of the United States to the recent prices collapses and gas crises.
ENTSO-E's views on the Clean Energy Package - An Interview with Laurent SCHMITT
Laurent Schmitt, Secretary General, ENTSO-E, explains how to improve cooperation between transmission system operators and strengthen security of electricity supply, and how the Clean Energy Package will enhance the design of electricity market as a continuation of the network codes.
Reforming the EU electricity markets - Florian ERMACORA
Florian Ermacora, Head of the Internal Energy Market Unit in DG Energy, explains how the Clean Energy Package will improve the functioning of the internal electricity market, and how the new market design will help integrating larger shares of renewables.
Does Russia still have an "energy weapon"?
What are the Current Challenges for Gazprom and Russia’s Energy Policy? What are the Gas Risks for Europe? Is the Nord Stream-II a Risk or an Opportunity for Europe?
How to reflect non-parties contributions? The Taiwanese experience with climate action
Minister Kuo-Yen Wei, the third speaker to our conference on Climate Action beyond COP21, shared his insights on how Taiwan, which is not an official party to the UNFCCC, is determined to contribute to the global fight against climate change by taking action domestically. Mr. Wei is the current Minister of the Environmental Protection Administration of Executive Yuan, ROC (Taiwan).
Key challenges for COP21
Yvo de Boer, the first speaker to our conference Climate Action beyond COP21, shared his insights on what should be the core elements of the Paris agreement. Mr de Boer is the Director General of the Global Green Growth Institute and he was the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change between 2006 and 2010.
What chances do we have to stay below the 2°C limit?
Jean Jouzel, the second speaker to our conference on Climate Action beyond COP21, shared his insights on the aggregate effect on national climate pledges and adressed the issue of consistency with the globally agreed long-term goal of keeping the average temperature rise below 2°C. Mr Jouzel is a climatologist, research director at CEA and former vice-president of the scientific working group of the IPCC (2002-2015).
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Related centers and programs
Center for Energy & Climate
Ifri's Energy and Climate Center carries out activities and research on the geopolitical and geoeconomic issues of energy transitions such as energy security, competitiveness, control of value chains, and acceptability. Specialized in the study of European energy/climate policies as well as energy markets in Europe and around the world, its work also focuses on the energy and climate strategies of major powers such as the United States, China or India. It offers recognized expertise, enriched by international collaborations and events, particularly in Paris and Brussels.