Commonwealth Club Of California Podcast

For decades we’ve seen nations exercise geopolitical dominance tied to their production and control of fossil fuels – especially oil. But that leverage may be changing. Last year, China installed nearly twenty times the amount of wind and solar as the United States. In ⁠this essay⁠ in The National Interest, the authors lay out a global political and economic realignment already underway. Petrostates, like those in OPEC, are increasingly at odds with electrostates like China and many in the EU. This isn’t to say that electrostates are not without resource challenges – they’re seriously dependent on mineral supply chains – but the challenges are different, as are the opportunities. When 70% of the world’s population lives in fossil-fuel-importing countries, how are these diverging resource paths shaping the global balances of power?  Guests: Tatiana Mitrova, Global Fellow, Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University Vijay Vaitheeswaran, Global Energy & Climate Innovation Editor, The Economist Li Sh