Suchergebnisse

Only a few years ago, governments, corporations, and energy analysts were fixated on the problem of the end of cheap oil or peak oil, pointing to growing shortages of conventional crude oil due to the depletion of known reserves. The International Energy Agency's 2010 report devoted a whole section to peak oil. Some climate scientists saw the peaking of conventional crude oil as a silver-lining opportunity to stabilize the climate-provided that countries did not turn to dirtier forms of energy such as coal and unconventional fossil fuels. Today all of this has changed radically with the advent of what some are calling a new energy revolution based on the production of unconventional fossil fuels. The US witnessed its biggest climate demonstrations yet in February 2013, with upward of 40,000 people protesting in front of the White House and more than a thousand arrested in opposition to the Keystone XL Pipeline. In Canada, meanwhile, the indigenous-led Idle No More has utilized a variety of strategies and tactics in fighting tar-sands production. Adapted from the source document.

AbstractEnergy transition to greener systems has been a focal point in climate policy agendas across countries as the negative environmental impacts of fossil fuel technologies have become more evident Displacing fossil fuels with clean energy alternatives in this regard is essential for meeting global climate objectives. In this context, the study analyzes the role of disaggregated renewable energy sources on fossil fuel displacement in 36 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries in the period 2000–2020. The findings demonstrate a discernible trend in the displacement of fossil fuels by various forms of renewable energy sources. It is found that to effectively displace 1% of fossil fuels, it is necessary to achieve an average increase of 1.15% in renewable generation capacity. In addition, a one-to-one displacement of fossil fuels occurs with hydropower, demonstrating its higher level of competitiveness and effectiveness in displacing fossil fuels. Moreover, there is a partial displacement of fossil fuels by solar and wind power. These findings suggest that renewable energy sources are progressively advancing towards effectively displacing fossil fuels.

The campus movement for divestment from fossil fuel holdings is but a few years old, barely 2 percent of the time gone by since human beings, having discovered how to extract stupendous amounts of energy from the buried remains of extinct life, started clogging the atmosphere with carbon dioxide. One way to frame these facts is to say that the climate movement—of which fossil fuel divestment is a part—started late. Another way to frame the same facts is to say that fossil fuel divestment has come a long way in a hurry.

Historically, climate governance initiatives and associated scholarship have all but ignored the potential for "global moral norms" to bring about changes in the political conditions for global climate mitigation. This is surprising, since global moral norms are widely employed—as both a mode of governance and an analytical framework—in other domains of global governance, from international security to human rights. However, recent national-level fossil fuel divestments, moratoria on new coal mines and bans on gas fracking, among other developments, suggest the promise of global moral norms prohibiting fossil fuel-related activities, which this article terms "anti-fossil fuel norms" (AFFNs). The article interprets recent examples of such activities in the light of international relations theory on moral norms to provide a general framework for understanding how AFFNs originate, spread and affect states. Specifically, the article argues that there are: (i) influential agents that are originating, and likely to continue to originate, AFFNs; and (ii) international and domestic mechanisms by which AFFNs are likely to spread widely among states and have a significant causal effect on the identity-related considerations or rational calculations of states in the direction of limiting or reducing the production or consumption of fossil fuels. The article also shows that, because they spread and affect state behaviour through mechanisms of "international socialization" and domestic "political mobilization", AFFNs cohere with and build upon the new paradigm of global climate governance crystallized in the Paris Agreement. AFFNs, the article concludes, represent a promising new frontier in climate governance.

Historically, climate governance initiatives and associated scholarship have all but ignored the potential for "global moral norms" to bring about changes in the political conditions for global climate mitigation. This is surprising, since global moral norms are widely employed—as both a mode of governance and an analytical framework—in other domains of global governance, from international security to human rights. However, recent national-level fossil fuel divestments, moratoria on new coal mines and bans on gas fracking, among other developments, suggest the promise of global moral norms prohibiting fossil fuel-related activities, which this article terms "anti-fossil fuel norms" (AFFNs). The article interprets recent examples of such activities in the light of international relations theory on moral norms to provide a general framework for understanding how AFFNs originate, spread and affect states. Specifically, the article argues that there are: (i) influential agents that are originating, and likely to continue to originate, AFFNs; and (ii) international and domestic mechanisms by which AFFNs are likely to spread widely among states and have a significant causal effect on the identity-related considerations or rational calculations of states in the direction of limiting or reducing the production or consumption of fossil fuels. The article also shows that, because they spread and affect state behaviour through mechanisms of "international socialization" and domestic "political mobilization", AFFNs cohere with and build upon the new paradigm of global climate governance crystallized in the Paris Agreement. AFFNs, the article concludes, represent a promising new frontier in climate governance.