| Description | The Clean Energy Institute Interdisciplinary Seminar Series was established to bring distinguished leaders in the field of clean energy to campus to present their research and meet students, postdocs, and faculty from departments across the Colleges of Arts & Sciences, Engineering, and the Environment.
Title:
The Comparative Energy Transition
Summary:
The global energy transition is everywhere. In this talk, I compare national experiences of the energy transition in emerging economies based on extensive field work in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. I argue that contemporary discussion on energy and climate policy underestimates the importance of two central factors. First, emerging economies remain dependent on fossil fuels far beyond a small number of petrostates. Second, national experiences with the energy transition are nuanced and complex, with different countries facing their own challenges.
I conclude that the comparative energy transition offers a wide range of learning opportunities, but our current approach to understanding the energy transition is not nuanced enough to facilitate peer learning.
About the Speaker:
Johannes Urpelainen is the Director and Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Professor of Energy, Resources and Environment at Johns Hopkins SAIS and the Founding Director of the Initiative for Sustainable Energy Policy (ISEP). He received his PhD in Political Science from the University of Michigan in 2009 and spent the next eight years at Columbia University. As one of the world’s top energy policy experts, Johannes frequently advises governments, international organizations, and the private sector on energy and environment. As the Founding Director of ISEP, Johannes is responsible for the vision, strategy, and general management of the initiative. |
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