“Humanity has opened the gates of hell”, said the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres during the Climate Ambition Summit, in New York, in September 2023, three months before COP28. The sense of urgency that he conveyed seems shared across the international community.
Climate policies and energy transition
The Climate policies and energy transition research axis whithin Ifri's Center for Energy & Climate deals with the climate change policies adopted at national levels, as well as the positions of the main emitting countries in the international climate negociations. In particular, this area focuses on the implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate and global efforts to reduce green-house gas emissions to limit the increase of temperature at +1,5° by 2100.
Director of Ifri’s Center for Energy & Climate
...Research Fellow, Head of European energy and climate policies, Center for Energy & Climate
...Research Fellow, Center for Energy & Climate
...Associate Research Fellow, Center for Energy & Climate
...Associate Research Fellow, Center for Energy & Climate
...The deployment at scale of electric mobility in France and in Europe withholds significant industrial, societal, geopolitical, and financial challenges, against the backdrop of strategic dependencies along the value chain of the electric vehicle (EV).
North-South tensions are exacerbated at a time of unprecedented turmoil for both Europeans and Africans. European polycrises (geopolitical, energy-related and economic) echo the systematic vulnerability of Africans, which is reinforced by external shocks.
Finance is arguably the most sensitive climate negotiation topic. Different studies have shown that rich countries emit the majority of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, while the climate footprint of the poorest countries is much more limited.
Although late in adopting clean hydrogen (H2) and defining a national strategy–a draft was presented by the Department of Energy (DOE) in September 2022–, the United States (US) has strongly reinforced its support to clean hydrogen with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in...
Russia’s war in Ukraine, and the brutal decoupling from Russian fossil fuels, is a game changer for the Central and Eastern Europe region which was still heavily dependent on Russia for its energy supply.
2022 saw the climax so far of the weaponization of energy. Following its geopolitical demise, Russia has undertaken its own gas amputation, moving from a super energy power status to a diminished role with uncertain prospects and only hard options left.
India is at the helm of the G20 presidency since the 1st of December 2022 for the duration of a year, with energy transition and climate finance being key topics on its agenda. In this context, the Gateway House put in place a G20 Energy Task Force to which Ifri’s Research...
“Deutschland – Einstieg in die Deindustrialisierung?” – “Germany, the beginning of deindustrialisation?” asked the German economic newspaper Handelsblatt in the context of the spike in energy prices that has put at risk thousands of companies across Germany in 2022. Whereas...
In response to Russia's illegal attack on Ukraine, EU member states have issued a series of economic sanctions against Russia. This also includes moratoria on certain products, e.g., in the energy sector.
The Transformation of Brazil’s Energy Sector: Opportunities and Challenges G2030
Brazil has announced at COP 26 its intention to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and eliminate illegal deforestation by 2028. With this new commitment from the government of Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil is entering a new phase which aims to end three years of climate diplomacy isolation due to its...
Germany's Energy and Climate Policies after the Parliamentary Elections
Germany's September Parliamentary elections opened the way for coalition negotiations that may last until December. Yet first hints at directions and red lines in energy and climate policy can be identified as the country must prepare for an accelerated decarbonisation.
Geopolitics of Forests: How to Strengthen the International Response to Deforestation? Webinar
Across the tropical world, the race for land continues to fuel deforestation and threatens the stability of climate, territorial biodiversity and freshwater cycles. The central challenge is to preserve these ecological services without undermining national sovereignty on forest resources.
QUAD 2021 Annual Meeting
Since 1983, the QUAD gathers every year, the SWP, RAND Corporation, Chatham House and Ifri. The QUAD was set up during the Euromissile crisis and brings together European and American diplomats, military officers, journalists and research fellow to debate on current geopolitical issues.<...>
What to expect from the COP26 Climate Conference? Shifts in global attitudes and diplomatic strategies Ifri Closed Videoconference
In spite of President Biden’s Leaders Summit in April, there has been little improvement in national climate pledges. The world is still heading for a >2.5°C warming and the 1.5°C trajectory looks increasingly unlikely, if not impossible. Chances to bridge the pledges gap before...
Climate, Trade and Industrial Policy: What Strategy for the European Union? Les Jeudis de l'Ifri
A "Les Jeudis de l'Ifri" videoconférence around Carole MATHIEU, Head of EU Policies, Center for Energy & Climate.
Building up a Green Alliance between Japan and Europe: Opportunities and Challenges
The EU-Japan Green Alliance has been adopted during the 27th EU-Japan Summit in May 2021.
The ‘Fit-for-55’ Package: A Giant Leap for the European Economy? Ifri Green Deal Virtual Lunch Series
With the “Fit for 55” package, the European Union (EU) is the first global player to turn its climate neutrality pledge into a wide set of transformative policy proposals.
Japan’s Energy and Climate Strategy for 2030 Videoconference
In direct response to the climate diplomacy push by US President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced a new 2030 goal to reduce emissions by 46% from 2013 levels, representing a significant additional effort compared to the country’s previous commitment under the Paris...
The International Dimension of Hydrogen: What Value Chains Could Develop and Are Large Hydrogen Imports Realistic? Ifri Closed Videoconference
Hydrogen will play a role for reaching climate neutrality and is key to industrial recovery strategies in Europe. Japan and Germany have developed large hydrogen import plans, while others, such as Australia, Chile, Saudi Arabia, the UK, Spain, Portugal or Russia, are planning for exports....
Following the 18 May Franco-German initiative and ahead of next week's critical presentation (27 May) by the European Commission of the European recovery plan aligned with the carbon neutrality objective, Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, Director of Ifri's Center for Energy &...
Economic recovery measures taken by several governments in the world so far are not aligned with the Paris Agreement. Yet some governments took important steps in the right direction but they are often insufficient. Two cases stand out : South Korea and the EU. But delivering on the ambitions...
The price of CO2 credits on Europe’s emissions trading scheme needs to rise to around €50 per tonne in order to drive the long-term development of Europe’s biomethane industry, says Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, a French researcher.
The prospects for biogas in Europe look bright, with conservative estimates pointing to a tenfold increase in production by 2030. However, the industry will need to stay rooted in the local economy and come clean on environmental credentials if it wants to avoid a green backlash, analysts say....
Over and again, legislators worldwide are confronting the same question: which technologies do we subsidise and support, when, by how much, and for how long. Get it right and those costs will reduce and should disappear once scale is reached. Solar and wind are on their way to proving...
Carole Mathieu of the French Institute of International Relations explains some of the developments between the EU battery manufacturing and automaker industries and how they impact on the region's contributions towards the global energy storage market.
Belgium is slowly phasing out its aging nuclear energy infrastructure. But looming winter weather, limited renewable options and a poorly connected electricity network have left the country at risk of blackouts.
A few months ago French environment minister Nicolas Hulot took the trip of almost 100m to the top of a wind turbine funded partly by a co-operative of poultry farmers. Back on the ground, he found the right analogy to tell his audience why the country needs plenty more of the same.
PARIS — The United States may have withdrawn from the Paris climate change accord, but on Tuesday dozens of world leaders and philanthropists met to find solutions to the swiftly warming planet — and send a message of resolve to the White House. More symbolic than policy-driven, Tuesday’s...
A year after the landmark COP21 climate discussions, the ambitious Paris Agreement entered into force just before COP22 began in Marrakech, Marrocco. With this latest round of talks new over, Carole Mathieu of Ifri debriefs Nuclear Report on what happened in Marrakech, the importance of the...