The Geopolitics of the Global Energy Transition

Energy has long shaped global geopolitics, determining great powers, alliances and outcomes of wars. Every international order in modern history has been based on an energy resource: coal was the backdrop for the British Empire in the nineteenth century, oil has been at the core of the subsequent ‘American Century’, and today many expect China to become the twenty-first century’s world renewable energy superpower. Since World War I, oil has undoubtfully represented the cornerstone of global energy geopolitics. The decision of then-First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill to shift the power source of the Royal Navy’s ships from coal to oil in order to make the fleet faster than its German counterpart truly signed the opening of a new era. The switch from the reliable coal supplies from Wales to the insecure oil supplies from what was then Persia, not only made the oil-rich Middle East a key epicentre of global geopolitics, but also turned oil into a key national security issue. Since the early twentieth century, control of oil resources played a central role in several wars. This was, for instance, the case of the 1967–1970 Biafran War, the 1980–1988 Iran–Iraq War, the 1990–1991 Gulf War, the 2003–2011 Iraq War and of the conflict in the Niger Delta ongoing since 2004. The second half of the twentieth century also saw increasing tensions between oil-producing and oil-consuming countries, which in two cases erupted in major oil crises. In September 1960, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was established in Baghdad, with the participation of five member countries: Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait and Venezuela. The original aim of OPEC was to prevent its members from lowering the price of oil, by coordinating their production and export policies. During the 1970s, some of OPEC members also had the aim of nationalizing their petroleum resources to preserve sovereignty. The geopolitical role of OPECs became clear as the Arab–Israeli War—also known as Yom Kippur War—erupted in October 1973. Arab members of OPEC imposed an embargo against the United States, the Netherlands, Portugal and South Africa in retaliation of their support to Israel. A ban of oil exports to the targeted countries as well as oil production cuts was introduced by OPEC. This resulted in a sharp rise in oil prices, and in severe oil shortages and spiralling inflation across the West. As OPEC kept raising prices in the following years, its geopolitical and economic power grew.

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https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-39066-2