The world’s largest emitting countries are reconsidering the role of carbon pricing instruments and increasingly looking at carbon border adjustment mechanisms (CBAMs) to address leakage concerns. This renewed momentum should trigger a broader discussion on how to make trade policies...

Energy & Climate

Ifri has celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2019 and is ranked in the top-3 of the world's most influential think-tanks (Upenn Index). Its Center for Energy & Climate combines a unique expertise on energy & climate policies and European and global energy markets, technologies and value chains. In particular, the Center analyses the interplay between geopolitics, geo-economics and energy markets & policies. And how the traditional tensions around fossil fuels evolve and are complemented by new rivalries for other resources, norms, technologies, investments, value chains.
Through its reports, closed-door seminars and open events in Paris and Brussels, the Center for Energy & Climate is conducting forefront and independent research to provide strategic information and analyses to policy-makers, industry stakeholders, academia, media and the wider public. The Center is a leading voice in France and the European Union.
Research areas
- The strategic dimension of the European Union energy transition and drive towards carbon neutrality by 2050; cooperation and coordination among relevant actors; geo-economic rivalries around the deployment of low carbon energy systems; risks and opportunities for public and private stakeholders.
- Shifting power relations and alliances in the global climate governance and implementation of the Paris Agreement; climate change and instability.
- Electricity sectors in Sub-Saharan Africa: scaling up sustainable electricity access, attracting investments and restructuring, and developing low carbon electricity systems.
- The evolving interdependence between and among fossil fuels producers and consumers; the future stability and geopolitical orientation of fossil fuel exporters.
Organisation of the Centre
The governance and financial structure of the Center ensures that our work is fully independent and of the highest quality and relevance. The Center is financed by Ifri partner institutions, organizations and companies as presented in Ifri's activity report.
The Steering Committee gathers representatives from the Center’s partners, the Director of Ifri, and the Director of the Center for Energy & Climate. Meetings of the Steering Committee provide our partners the opportunity to express their views on the general orientation of the Center.
Director of Ifri’s Center for Energy & Climate
...Research Fellow, Center for Energy & Climate
...Coordination Assistant, Ifri's Energy & Climate Centre
Associate Research Fellow, Center for Energy & Climate
...Senior Advisor, Center for Energy & Climate
...Associate Research Fellow, Sub-Saharan Africa Center / Center for Energy and Climate
...Associate Research Fellow, Center for Energy & Climate
...Associate Research Fellow, Center for Energy & Climate
...Senior Advisor, Center for Energy & Climate
Associate Research Fellow, Center for Energy & Climate
...Associate Research Fellow, Center for Energy & Climate
...Associate Research Fellow, Center for Energy & Climate
...The sharp rebound in oil prices since the second half of 2020, to nearly $70 per barrel in May 2021, represents only a temporary respite for oil-dependent African economies that must change their economic model very quickly.
The European Union’s energy infrastructure policy has become obsolete with the adoption of both the Green Deal and the 2050 climate neutrality target. The ongoing review of the regulation on Trans-European Energy Networks (TEN-E) should lead to an-depth discussion on Europe’s energy transition...
In recent years, Denmark has steadily emerged as a leader and role model in the global green energy transition. Its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions since 2010 have been reduced at greater pace than those of the European Union (EU) average.
Aligning its climate and industrial policies, the European Union (UE) is introducing sustainability requirements for the whole life-cycle of electric vehicle (EV) batteries. This initiative would not only ensure that EVs fit with Europe’s climate-neutrality and resource-efficiency pledges, but...
2020 marked the beginning of the total phasing out of electricity production based on coal, as well as coal extraction in Germany. Laws implemented in 2020 concluded a governmental process started in 2015, which itself resulted from a prior broader debate on the role of coal in a viable and...
In order to have any chance of limiting global warming to well below +2°C, there is no choice but to tackle coal-fired power plants head-on, around the world.
The Trump administration has been very actively designing and implementing a new strategy for reliable supply of critical minerals which aims at reducing the country’s vulnerabilities and becoming a leader in this field.
The global car market has been shrinking since 2018. This is a key economic sector for Germany whose producers belong to the Top 15 carmakers worldwide. Yet they are running the risk of being outclassed and eventually replaced, given emerging actors in the USA and China.
What are the next geopolitical challenges of the century? The global pandemic has altered the equilibrium between Asia and the West and sealed the rift between China and the United States, accentuating the world’s shift towards the East. On this polarized chessboard, two fault lines converge:...
Ukraine energy sector reforms and perspectives post 2020
Ukraine’s post-Soviet transformation has entered a new stage with the election of President Zelensky and his ability to gain a parliamentary majority.
Breakfast-debate with Tarek El Molla, Minister of Petroleum & Mineral Resources of Egypt
Egypt has been undertaking bold and comprehensive reforms of its energy sector: liberalization and progressive removal of fossil fuel subsidies, alongside a deployment of renewable energy sources. At the same time, super large gas discoveries and rapid and efficient investments have...
Closures of Coal and Nuclear Capacities in North West Continental Europe: Maintaining generation adequacy after 2022 Ifri Energy Breakfast Roundtable
The electricity system in North-West continental Europe is highly-interconnected and political decisions to adjust the national generation mixes have direct implications on neighboring countries.
G7 / Think Tank7 Summit G7 Engagement Group
The Think Thank 7 (T7) is an engagement group that brings together the leading Think Tanks from the G7 countries in order to analyze and make recommendations on key issues of the G7 presidency.
Shifting Paradigms for Gas in the European Energy Transition Ifri Energy Breakfast Roundtables
2019 sets the stage for a reassessment of the role of natural gas in the European energy transition. The proposed coal phase out in Germany may foster its role in power generation. France has pledged to give biomethane a try while expecting a cost cut, and grid injection projects are booming...
4x4 Directors Forum 2019 African-European Think Tank Dialogue
The 4x4 Directors Forum is an annual meeting gathering the directors of four European and four African Think Tanks to discuss current challenges that both continents are facing. The purpose is to identify common positions and asymmetries, and address possible areas of cooperation in order to...
What to expect from COP24? Seminars and Round-table Conferences
Only three years after its adoption, the Paris Agreement on Climate is undermined. With the US announcing their withdrawal, maintaining the momentum for climate action and international cooperation has proven increasingly complex.
Toward a Global Low Carbon Transition: What Sustainable Opportunities for Africa? Ifri-OCP Policy Center Roundtables
Despite its marginal contribution to the historical growth in greenhouse gas emissions, the African continent could be one of the most vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change.
The Competition between Russian Gas and US LNG Séminaire & Table ronde
The United States (US) are currently ramping up exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and new export projects are being developed. President Trump’s energy dominance and trade deficit reduction policy relies strongly on promoting US LNG exports. At the same time, Gazprom has been...
A New EU Framework for a Well-Functioning and Low-Carbon Electricity System Seminar
After years of debates around the structural failures of the EU electricity markets, time has come to agree on potential remedies. With the adoption of the Clean Energy Package, a new legislative framework will govern electricity exchanges for the next decade. In parallel, the EU is about to...
Deputy Director, Ministère de la transition écologique et solidaire, describes the main challenges for the French energy system at the 2030 horizon and highlights the need to find the right balance between EU harmonization and national measures to achieve energy transition at the lowest cost.<...>
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.
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.
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...
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?
“US LNG exports will revolutionise international trade in LNG” according to a recently published report from French think-tank, Institut Francais des Relations Internationales (Ifri).
...Innovation as a Catalyst for Energy Markets? Special Address by Andris Piebalgs, Senior Fellow Florence School of Regulation, Member of the Global Agenda Council on Decarbonizing Energy, Former EU Commissioner for Energy, during an Ifri conference in Brussels on...
OPEC will not cut the output production target at the next meeting on Dec. 4 because the goal to defend its market share has not been reached yet, Director of Center for Energy in French Institute of international Relations (IFRI) Marie-Claire Aoun believes.
...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...
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...
2022
- Feedback from the Ifri Center for Energy & Climate on the EC initiative on "Production of renewable transport fuels – share of renewable electricity (requirements)", 13 June 2022
2021
- Ifri Center for Energy & Climate Activity report 2021:
Rapport d’activité 2021 Centre Énergie & Climat
- Center for Energy and Climate, 18 October 2021:
- Hugo Le Picard, Center for Energy & Climate, 30 September 2021:
- Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega and Juliette Blais, Center for Energy and Climate, 6 September 2021:
Low carbon technologies and critical metals: Revisiting the criticality and implications for scaling up the deployment of low carbon technologies
- Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega and Juliette Blais, Center for Energy and Climate, 6 September 2021:
David against Goliath: The European Union facing the issue of critical minerals and metals
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Ifri Energy Transition Scorecard 2021 focusing on the European Union, China, the United States and Japan, Center for Energy & Climate, April 2021
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Italy’s Energy and Climate Policies in the Post COVID-19 Recovery, Briefing Memo by Massimo Lombardini, February 2021
2020
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2020 Activity Report of the Center for Energy & Climate: publications, conferences and outreach (in French).
- Assessment of Renewable Investments in Europe by Leading Companies & Perspectives to 2025 by Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, Carole Mathieu and Thibault Menu, Ifri Center for Energy & Climate, 9 December 2020
- Analysis of the key issues that will make or break the Green Deal's energy and industrial aspects, by Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, Director of the Center for Energy & Climate, Ifri, 19 may 2020: The Twelve Labours of the European Green Deal
- Overview and assessment of policy measures taken in several G7, EU, G20 and regional economies and their climate impacts, two months after the start of the global lockdowns, by Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, Hugo Le Picard and Eloïse Couffon, 5 May 2020: “Green” or “Brown” Recovery Strategies? A preliminary assessment of policy trends in a selection of countries worldwide
2019
- Presentation by Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, Director of Ifri Center for Energy, 2nd German-Danish Roundtable on Energy Transition, Copenhaguen, 24 September 2019: The perspectives for biomethane in the EU
- Dialogue with Naftogaz CEO Kobolyev on gas negociations and Naftogaz restructuring, Brussels, 20 September 2019.
Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, Director, Ifri Center for Energy and Andriy Kobolyev, CEO, Naftogaz
- Hearing of Carole Mathieu, Head of EU Energy & Climate Policies of the Ifri Center for Energy, National Assembly, 25 July 2019, Paris : Commission of inquiery Impacts of the Energy Transition (video)
- Fruitful conversation with Egypt's Minister of Petroleum and Natural Resources Tarek El Molla about Egypt's impressive energy sector reforms and positioning as a regional gas hub, Ifri, 12 June, Paris.
Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, Director of Ifri Center for Energy, Tarek El Molla, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources of Egypt, Thomas Gomart, Director of Ifri
- Presentation by Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, Director of Ifri Center for Energy and Carole Mathieu, Head of EU Energy & Climate Policies of the Ifri Center for Energy, Plateforme française de l'automobile, 11 June 2019, Paris: "The European industry of batteries"
- Presentation by Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, Director of Ifri Center for Energy, Russian Gas Society, 16 May 2019, Berlin: The role of gas in the European energy transition: risks and opportunities
- Presentation by Carole Mathieu, Head of EU Energy & Climate Policies of the Ifri Center for Energy, Bruegel Institute,15 May 2019, Brussels : The French Energy & Climate Strategy and the Future Role of Nuclear Electricity
- G7 Environment Ministerial, 5-6 May 2019, Metz. Presentation by Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, Director of Ifri Center for Energy: Scaling up environment protection, energy transition & climate action: vision and actions for a G7 leadership
- Presentation by Sylvie Cornot-Gandolphe, Associate Research Fellow, Ifri Center for Energy, Energetika workshop on the future of gas, 24 April 2019, Berlin: Decarbonization of the French energy mix and the role of gas
- Presentation by Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, Director of Ifri Center for Energy, Trilateral forum, Council of Europe, 25 March 2019, Strasburg: Global and regional energy security revisited: old trends, new paradigms
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Presentation by Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, Director of Ifri Center for Energy, Workshop for Algerian delegation on future gas demand in the EU, European Commission, DG ENER, 19 March 2019, Brussels : EU gas demand perspectives by 2030
- Presentation by Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, Director of Ifri Center for Energy, Convention de l'Association française du gaz, 12 March 2019, Neuilly-sur-Seine : The Future of Gas in the EU
- Presentation by Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, Director of Ifri Center for Energy, Valdai Middle East Conference, 19 February 2019, Moscow : The Future of OPEC
2018
- Presentation by Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, Director of Ifri Center for Energy, Ifri-OCP Roundtable, 9 November 2018, Rabat : Sub-Saharan Africa’s electricity challenges and opportunities
- Presentation by Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, Director of Ifri Center for Energy, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in France, 22 October 2018, Paris : La transition énergétique : la voie de la mise en œuvre de l’accord de Paris
- Press release by Moroccan press agency MAP Express, 8 November 2018: Débats d’experts à Rabat sur les opportunités durables pour l’Afrique en matière d’énergies renouvelables
- Presentation by Carole Mathieu, Head of EU Energy & Climate Policies, Center for Energy, 26 September 2018, New Delhi: The EU Energy Transition: Progress, Perspectives and Global Implications
- Presentation by Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, Director of Ifri Center for Energy, 11 June 2018, Oslo: Sub-Saharan Africa’s electricity challenges and opportunities
- Presentation by Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, Director of Ifri Center for Energy, Energy Club - Rueil, 20 April 2018, Paris: The prospects for nuclear power in Saudi Arabia
- Presentation by Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, Director of Ifri Center for Energy, Eni, 18 April 2018, Brussels: The impacts of Western restrictive measures on Russia's oil and gas sectors
2017
- Presentation by Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, Director of Ifri Center for Energy, Energetika XXI, 8-10 November 2017, St Petersburg: Ukraine's future role for gas transit
- Presentation by Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, Director of Ifri Center for Energy, Ukrainian Gas Forum, 11-12 October 2017, Kiev: Ukraine and the great game of pipelines: the ball is in Ukraine's court
- Presentation by Sylvie Cornot-Gandolphe, Associate Research Fellow, Ifri Center for Energy, OIES 12th Annual Gas Day, 12 October 2017, Oxford: Can Gas displace Coal in Europe and Asia, and if so what?
- Presentation by Michel Cruciani, Associate Research Fellow, Ifri Center for Energy, 12 September 2017, Ifri Paris: Managining the energy transition in an age of innovation