New energy – new world

“A New World: The Geopolitics of the Energy Transformation – 2019” Report presented at the 9^th Assembly of the International Renewable Energy Agency was prepared by the Global Commission on the Geopolitics of Energy Transformation, an independent body comprising distinguished leaders from the worlds of politics, energy, economics, business, trade, environment, and development.

 “The Report will convince you all in the emergence of this new world. This is a new reality that is happening faster than any of us could foresee five or ten years ago,” Adnan Z. Amin, Director-General of IRENA said at the presentation of the new document.

According to the authors of the Report, the shift from fossil fuels to renewables transforms the geopolitical map of the world no less than the transfer from woods to coal and from coal to oil did. More “democratic” and accessible ways for energy production, reduction of the dependence from a limited circle of suppliers – all this gradually stipulates internal and geopolitical changes. Unlike the fossil fuel, renewable energy sources cannot exhaust themselves, and it is a lot more difficult to block them. They are the factors of security of energy supply and independence for the majority of states, including those that had been previously affected by the energy poverty.

We can say that the entire world is now literally “snapping into action” with renewable energy sources (RESs): countries, cities, regions, and corporations set ambitious goals; religious and public organizations promote them at all levels. 

“So far, industrially developed countries dominate the process of global transformation; they were the initiators and key ideologists of ‘low-carbon changes’,” experts claimed. “However, more and more new economic leaders appear in the world arena.”    

In experts’ opinion, as the time goes by, oil and gas-related conflicts might vanish. The countries exporting energy resources will lose their competitive position. First of all, the transition period will leave behind those countries and industries that will not have been able to adapt and switch to the new no-carbon technologies.  

“Countries should be getting ready to the upcoming changes and develop strategies for the enhancement of the prospects for a smooth transition. A fast abandonment of fossil fuel might create a strong financial shock with momentous outcomes for the global economy,” IRENA experts wrote.

In the “New World” Report, IRENA experts attributed Russia, along with Iran, Algeria, and Azerbaijan, as “moderately stable.” “These countries are quite vulnerable; however, their economies are predisposed to positive changes… They should have the options for the control over the transitive period and implement efficient policies on the diversification of their economies,’ the analysts believe.  

The IRENA Report mentions certain Russia’s successes in the development of RESs: the program of renewable energy support, commissioning of new facilities. Yet, the goals for the development in this sphere look pretty modest on the global background; obviously, they are not sufficient to meet the needs of the new energy layout, experts believe. There is a need in much more large-scale amounts on the internal market, corresponding to the magnitude of the country.   

“If we speak about diversification of the economy, RESs is exactly what is there right on the surface. The global prospects of the industry are obvious, and a modern and independent major economy absolutely must take part in those, and have relevant competencies,” authors of the RenEn expert canal wrote in an article devoted to the new Report. “Only on this way it should be able to preserve its positions on the global energy market and the political map of the world,” the experts claim.

R. Edelgeriyev, Advisor to the RF President and Head of the Inter-Departmental Working Group on the issues of climate change and sustainable development, has recently raised the theme of the enhancement of competitiveness based on no-carbon technologies.

In his letter to the Chair of the RF Government D. Medvedev he wrote: “I believe that regulating the greenhouse gas emissions should make the foundation for the formation of the economy with low emission level and modernization of the technologies employed at enterprises; enhancement of the competitiveness of Russian goods and services in the conditions of strengthening of carbon protectionism at the international level.” The letter stressed the advantages of carbon tax: “Uncomplicated administration and enhancement of the budget revenues does not require any additional infrastructure for the provision of carbon unit trade and gives a stable understanding of the current and upcoming situation for the investors.”  

“As a whole, both the fiscal and market mechanisms for the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions are focused at their reduction through the implementation of more sophisticated technologies and the use of fuels with lower emission levels,” the RF Presidential Advisor pointed out.

“Decarbonization of the economy (replacement of fossil fuels with diversified renewable energy sources, energy efficiency measures, and the release of “clean energy” at this account) is the way to the future and foundation for the competitive development of the national economy; this is the money for the development which is right under our feet,” this is the point that representatives of the Russian Social and Ecological Union (RSEU) have been promoting for several years. “The priorities for the low-carbon development of Russia are the energy efficiency and RESs; they are in need of a strengthened state support and the development of a RESs roadmap for the RF subjects,” they wrote in their Position.