Energy 360°

This week, Dr. Emily Grubert, a professor at Georgia Tech, joins Stephen Naimoli (CSIS) to look at the recent winter storm in Texas that caused massive grid failures. Emily and Stephen consider what happened in Texas and why the grid there failed to handle the severe storm. They examine the tools and policies that decisionmakers can use to help the grid avoid problems like this and to prepare for worsening impacts as a result of climate change in the future. For more, read Stephen’s recent examiner: https://www.csis.org/analysis/extreme-weather-tests-grid-resilience-across-much-united-states And see Emily's bio for more of her work: https://spp.gatech.edu/people/person/emily-grubert

This week, Justin Wu (BloombergNEF) and Lachlan Carey (CSIS) take a tour of all things climate and energy related across Asia. They start with the outlook for U.S.-China relations on climate under the Biden Administration, consider the recent carbon neutral targets announced by Japan and Korea, move to the Covid recovery efforts and clean energy agenda in Vietnam, Indonesia, and India, and finally take a look at Australia and its technology-forward climate policy.

Ken Koyama (IEEJ) and Jane Nakano (CSIS Energy) look at recent energy and climate announcements from Japan. In October, Japan announced a plan to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. The climate pledge was followed by the launch of the Green Growth Strategy for Carbon Neutrality by 2050, in December. Ken and Jane look at what it will take to reach that target and its implications for Japan’s energy sector. For more, read https://www.csis.org/analysis/japan-seeks-carbon-neutrality-2050

Sarah Ladislaw (CSIS) and Kevin Book (ClearView Energy Partners) look at the U.S. climate and energy agenda.  Kevin and Sarah reflect on the outcome of the U.S. elections and the recent Senate race in Georgia, the divided nature of U.S. politics, the riots at the U.S. Capital, and how it all may affect the Administration’s energy and climate agenda. 

This week our guest is Mark Viviano, a Managing Partner & Portfolio Manager with Kimmeridge. Kimmeridge is a private equity firm investing in low-cost unconventional oil and gas assets in the U.S., and is also an activist investor pushing for company reforms. Mark has analyzed companies in the energy sector for more than 15 years. Ben Cahill (CSIS) talks with Mark about reforming the shale sector and responding to ESG pressure, the role of activist investors, and what to expect in oil and gas markets in 2021. For more, read http://kimmeridge.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Governance_Paper_111620.pdf and http://kimmeridge.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Preparing-the-EP-Sector-for-the-Energy-Transition-A-New-Business-Model.pdf

This week’s Energy 360 is part of our Energy Futures Forum. This annual project looks at trends and their impacts on the energy sector over the next ten years. This year’s overarching theme was Covid-19 and how it has had immediate impacts on the energy sector and what we might see unfold in near and medium term. Sarah Ladislaw (CSIS) talks with the three EFF discussion moderators to get their key takeaways and insights: Nikos Tsafos (CSIS) on the transportation sector, Ethan Zindler (BloombergNEF) on the electric power sector, and Taiya Smith (Garnet Strategies) on China. 

This week Energy 360 highlights our project on Energy Transition Strategies, which examines how emerging economies are balancing economic growth while reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. We looked at three different places: Vietnam, Ethiopia, and the Indian state of Gujarat. In each of these 3 podcasts, Nikos Tsafos and Lachlan Carey talk with an expert about that state’s development and low-carbon transition pathways within the major sectors of electricity generation and access, transport, and industry.   In this final episode of the mini-series, we look at Ethiopia’s pathway. Our guest is Easwaran Narassimhan, a research fellow at the Climate Policy Lab at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. For more, read Energy Transition Strategies: Ethiopia's Low-Carbon Development Pathway: https://www.csis.org/analysis/energy-transition-strategies-ethiopias-low-carbon-development-pathway

This week Energy 360 highlights our project on Energy Transition Strategies, which examines how emerging economies are balancing economic growth while reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. We looked at three different places: Vietnam, Ethiopia, and the Indian state of Gujarat. In each of these 3 podcasts, Nikos Tsafos and Lachlan Carey talk with an expert about that state’s development and low-carbon transition pathways within the major sectors of electricity generation and access, transport, and industry.   In this episode we turn to Gujarat. Joining the show is Sarang Shidore, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and a senior fellow with the Council on Strategic Risks. For more, read Energy Transition Strategies: Gujarat’s Low-Carbon Development Pathway: https://www.csis.org/analysis/energy-transition-strategies-gujarats-low-carbon-development-pathway

This week Energy 360 highlights our project on Energy Transition Strategies, which examines how emerging economies are balancing economic growth while reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. We looked at 3 different places: Vietnam, Ethiopia, and the Indian state of Gujarat. In each of these episodes, Nikos Tsafos and Lachlan Carey (CSIS Energy) talk with an expert about that state’s development and low-carbon transition pathways within the major sectors of electricity generation and access, transport, and industry.  Our first episode looks at Vietnam. Joining the show is David Dapice – David is a senior economist with the Ash Center at the Harvard Kennedy School and a leading expert on the economic development of Southeast Asia. For more, read the Vietnam report: https://www.csis.org/analysis/energy-transition-strategies-vietnams-low-carbon-development-pathway To learn more about the project, visit the project site: https://www.csis.org/programs/energy-security-and-climate-change-program/projects/energy-tra

This week our guest is Angus Taylor, the Australian Minister for Energy and Emissions. Joined by CSIS colleagues Sarah Ladislaw and Lachlan Carey, Minister Angus discusses the new technology-led climate approach that Australia is embarking on. They look at the priorities, mechanisms, and stakeholder engagement needed to ensure this is successful and sustained policy. They also look at possible areas of international collaboration on energy and climate issues, especially with a new Biden Administration and multilateral institutions like the G20. Read Australia’s Technology Investment Roadmap: https://www.industry.gov.au/data-and-publications/technology-investment-roadmap-first-low-emissions-technology-statement-2020

This week, we bring you a special two-part episode on the impacts of the U.S. elections on energy and climate policy. Our guests, Kevin Book with ClearView Energy Partners, Kyle Danish with Van Ness Feldman, and John Larsen with the Rhodium Group, join Sarah Ladislaw (CSIS) to share their outlooks for U.S. energy policy over the next 4 years. They look at the big and not-so-big actions and tools that the Biden Administration will have at its disposal to promote its energy agenda across the federal and state-levels.

This week, we bring you a special two-part episode on the impacts of the U.S. elections on energy and climate policy. Our guests, Kevin Book with ClearView Energy Partners, Kyle Danish with Van Ness Feldman, and John Larsen with the Rhodium Group, join Sarah Ladislaw (CSIS) to share their outlooks for U.S. energy policy over the next 4 years. They look at the big and not-so-big actions and tools that the Biden Administration will have at its disposal to promote its energy agenda across the federal and state-levels.

This week, our guest is Yannis Stournaras, Governor of the Bank of Greece. Governor Stournaras joins my colleague Nikos Tsafos (CSIS Energy Program) and Stephanie Segal (CSIS Economics Program) to talk about the economic impacts of climate change, what the Bank of Greece is doing to help prepare the country for climate risks, and the role of central banks in addressing climate change.

This week, Sven Egenter, founder of the Clean Energy Wire, joins Nikos Tsafos (CSIS) to talk about Germany’s energy transition - Energiewende, the ambitious plan to make Germany climate-neutral by 2050. They look at different perceptions of the plan in and outside the country, examining how lessons learned by Germany may be instructive for policy makers seeking to make similar transitions. 

This week Kevin Book (ClearView Energy Partners) and Paul Bodnar (Rocky Mountain Institute) join Sarah Ladislaw (CSIS) on Energy 360 to make sense of the energy and climate issues playing out in upcoming U.S. elections and understand what’s at stake in the election for the future of the U.S. energy agenda (Recorded on Sept. 29.) 

Just transitions have featured regularly in national-level conversations in South Africa around its energy transition plans and climate change policies and commitments. In this episode, hosted by Neha Sharma of the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), we explore the opportunities and challenges that South Africa faces in moving its just transition forward, and lessons which countries and leaders can learn from the case of South Africa. Neha is joined by two experts from South Africa: Brenda Martin (University of Cape Town) and Mike Ward (Rhodes University and Creating Sustainable Value) to dive into the multiple dimensions necessary to crafting a just transition.    This week’s episode is part of the Just Transition Initiative (link below), a partnership of the CSIS Energy Program and the Climate Investment Funds. Resources: https://www.climateinvestmentfunds.org/news/supporting-just-transitions-south-africa?cid=cif_tt_cif_en_ext https://www.csis.org/programs/energy-security-and-climate-change-program/projects/j

This week, guests Adrienne Cruz with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and May Thazin Aung with the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) join Sarah Ladislaw (CSIS) to discuss the gender dimensions of just transitions and offer recommendations for understanding and incorporating these dimensions into planning and implementation. Resources: www.ilo.org/ged  www.ilo.org/global/topics/green-jobs  https://www.sei.org/featured/just-transition/ https://www.sei.org/publications/assessing-the-gender-and-social-equity-dimensions-of-energy-transitions/ https://www.sei.org/publications/low-carbon-transitions-in-west-sumatra-indonesia-gender-and-equity-dimensions/ https://www.csis.org/programs/energy-security-and-climate-change-program/projects/just-transition-initiative

Morgan Bazilian, executive director of the Payne Institute at the Colorado School of Mines, joins CSIS Energy Program Director Sarah Ladislaw to discuss energy access globally and some of the metrics used to measure access.  Morgan and his colleagues recently released 'Measuring Reasonably Reliable Access to Electricity Services' (link below), which provides an in-depth view of the gaps in global electricity access and how quality of access matters as much as quantity.   Paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1040619020301202 

This week we dive into the U.S. energy transportation infrastructure. Kevin Book with ClearView Energy Partners and a CSIS non-resident Senior Associate talks with Amy Shank, Director of Pipeline Integrity at Williams, and Shawn Bennett, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Oil and Gas, U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy, about the National Petroleum Council study (link below).  As participants in the study, they discuss its key recommendations, what has changed since its release, and the importance of building major studies like it. Dynamic Delivery: America’s Evolving Oil and Natural Gas Transportation Infrastructure: https://dynamicdelivery.npc.org/

This week, Sarah Ladislaw and Nikos Tsafos (CSIS Energy) talk with Heather Conley (SVP for Europe, Eurasia, & the Arctic, Director of the CSIS Europe Program) and Scott Kennedy (Senior Adviser & Trustee Chair in Chinese Business & Economics) about geopolitical competition with the United States, Russia, and China and the strategic role that energy plays in these relationships.    To learn more, read the recent CSIS analysis: https://www.csis.org/analysis/race-top-case-new-us-international-energy-policy https://www.csis.org/features/countering-russian-chinese-influence-activities https://www.csis.org/analysis/washingtons-china-policy-has-lost-its-wei