The Global Energy Challenge: Environment, Development and Security

The Global Energy Challenge provides a comprehensive overview of today’s three most topical energy challenges, or the “energy trilemma”: climate change, energy poverty and energy security. The book addresses the rise of energy geopolitics and the related concerns surrounding “energy weapons” and the “race for resources.” Also discussed is the appropriate role of markets, the subject of a debate that has divided advocates and critics of free market solutions to energy problems. The prospect of a low-carbon transition is analyzed in the context of inertia in the energy system and of debates on the role of technology and innovation in addressing energy problems. The book also considers shifts in global energy governance, such as the emergence of new global institutions, and the role of non-state actors, including business interests, in confronting energy challenges.