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This article provides a review of global energy subsidies of definitions and estimation techniques, their type and scope, their drawbacks, and effective ways to reform them. Based on an assessment of both policy reports and peer -reviewed studies, this article presents evidence that energy subsidies could reach into the trillions of dollars each year. It also highlights how most subsidies appear to offer net costs to society, rather than benefits, in the form of government deficits, increased waste, shortages of energy fuels, and aggravated environmental impacts, among others. The review then talks about how tools such as best practices in measurement and estimation, subsidy elimination, impact studies, and adjustment packages can dramatically reorient subsidies so that they become more socially and environmentally sustainable. It also argues that such efforts need to explicitly learn from previous successes and recognize the importance of political economy, the possible winners and losers to subsidy reform. The final part proposes a future research agenda. (C) 2017 The Author. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license

The five Nordic countries have aggressive climate and energy policies in place and have already emerged to be leaders in renewable energy and energy efficiency. Denmark is renowned for its pioneering use of wind energy, Finland and Sweden bioenergy, Norway hydroelectricity and Iceland geothermal energy. All countries aim to be virtually "fossil free" by 2050. This study explores the Nordic energy transition through the lens of three interconnected research questions: How are they doing it? What challenges exist? And what broader lessons result for energy policy? The study firstly investigates the pathways necessary for these five countries to achieve their low-carbon goals. It argues that a concerted effort must be made to (1) promote decentralized and renewable forms of electricity supply; (2) shift to more sustainable forms of transport; (3) further improve the energy efficiency of residential and commercial buildings; and (4) adopt carbon capture and storage technologies for industry. However, the section that follows emphasizes some of the empirical barriers the Nordic transition must confront, namely political contestation, technological contingency, and social justice and recognition concerns. The study concludes with implications for what such historical progress, and future transition pathways, mean for both energy researchers and energy planners.

This article explores what the academic literature tells us about environmental conservation challenges in Myanmar, and what types of domestic and international mechanisms are suited to address those challenges. It begins by providing background information on rural energy use, environmental legislation, forestry, agriculture and the country's network of protected areas. It notes, for example, that the country's protected areas face environmental degradation caused by poverty, corruption, the expansion of agricultural land and population growth. It goes on to argue that planners in Myanmar can, however, utilize a variety of mechanisms to overcome these challenges. Policy-makers can enhance community involvement in protected areas and management schemes through ownership and engagement. They could integrate conservation efforts with income generation, provide education and awareness campaigns for those living near wildlife areas and expand the number and size of protected areas. They could, furthermore, increase penalties against illegal activities within protected areas, offer accelerated staff training and education programmes and similarly consolidate regulatory authority for environmental conservation. Even those outside of Myanmar can prevent environmental destruction. International planners could implement ecosystem payments schemes, involve Myanmar more concretely in the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) process, an international agreement launched in 2012, and expand Myanmar's participation in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Lastly, they could advocate international bans on exports of illegal products and strengthen capacity building efforts in the areas of forestry, land use and agriculture. (Contemp Southeast Asia/GIGA)

This work inaugurates a critical inquiry into whether the ideas of Karl Popper, a philosopher of science, are used by astronomers and astrophysicists, a practicing community of scientists. It examines four basic components of Karl Popper's philosophy— falsification, prohibition, simplicity, and risk taking— and the extent that these themes become integrated into recent scientific literature on astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology, and stellar evolutionary theory. It concludes that the philosophy of science is highly relevant to the practice of astronomy, and that Karl Popper plays a unique role in directing different communities of astronomers and cosmologists.

Introduction : visions and futures in the study of low-carbon energy systems -- Technological utopianism : small modular reactors and the physics community -- Symbolic convergence : hydrogen fuel cells and the engineering community -- Technological frames : the interpretive flexibility of shale gas in Eastern Europe -- Discursive coalitions : contesting clean coal in South Africa -- Sociotechnical imaginaries : smart meters and the public in the United Kingdom -- Expectations : electric mobility and experts in the Nordic region -- Conclusion : dimensions, dichotomies and frameworks for energy futures

"Concepts from justice and ethics can significantly inform energy decision-makers. Benjamin K. Sovacool introduces readers to the injustices and insecurities inherent in the global energy system before presenting an energy justice conceptual framework consisting of availability, affordability, due process, good governance, prudence, intergenerational equity, intragenerational equity, and responsibility. He showcases the application of these principles to eight real-world case studies involving national energy planning in Denmark, the Warm Front program in the United Kingdom, the World Bank's Inspection Panel, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, São Thomé e Príncipe's Natural Resource Fund, solar energy in Bangladesh, climate change adaptation efforts in least developed countries, and the Yasuni-ITT Initiative in Ecuador"--

This Handbook examines the subject of energy security: its definition, dimensions, ways to measure and index it, and the complicating factors that are often overlooked. The volume identifies varying definitions and dimensions of energy security, including those that prioritize security of supply and affordability alongside those that emphasize availability, energy efficiency, trade, environmental quality, and social and political stewardship.? It also explores the various metrics that can be used to give energy security more coherence, and also to enable it to be measured, inc.

Through the critical lenses of "modern slavery," "dispossession," and "gendering," this study examines the contours of power, patriarchy, and child labor in the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) of cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). There, a veritable mining boom for cobalt is underway, driven by rising global demand for batteries and other modern digital devices needed for future sustainability transitions. Based on extensive and original field research in the DRC—including 23 semi-structured expert interviews with a purposive sample, 48 semi-structured community interviews with ASM miners, traders, and community members, and site visits to 17 artisanal mines, processing centers, and trading depots—this study asks: What power relations does ASM cobalt mining embed? What are its effects on patriarchy and gender relations? Critically, what is the extent and severity of child labor? It documents the exploitation of ASM miners by the government, the police, and even at times other mining actors such as traders or local communities. It reveals the often invisible gendered nature of mining, showing how many vulnerabilities—in terms of work, status, social norms, and sexual abuse and prostitution—fall disproportionately on women and girls. It lastly reveals sobering patterns of child labor and abuse, again at times by the government or police, but other times by families or mining communities themselves. These factors can at times make cobalt mining a modern form of slavery and a catalyst for social, economic, and even regional dispossession. However, rather than despair, the study also draws from its empirical data to showcase how mining can in selected situations empower. It also proposes a concerted mix of policy reforms aimed the Congolese government (at all scales, including local and national); suppliers and end-user companies for cobalt; and international governments and trading bodies. In doing so, the study humanizes the plight of Congolese cobalt artisanal miners, reveals the power relations associated with the recent mining boom, and also proposes pathways for positive change.

This study critically examines 20 years of geography and political ecology literature on the energy justice implications of climate change mitigation. Grounded in an expert guided literature review of 198 studies and their corresponding 332 case studies, it assesses the linkages between low carbon transitions—including renewable electricity, biofuel, nuclear power, smart grids, electric vehicles, and land use management—with degradation, dispossession and destruction. It draws on a framework that envisions the political ecology of low-carbon transitions as consisting of four distinct processes: enclosure (capture of land or resources), exclusion (unfair planning), encroachment (destruction of the environment), or entrenchment (worsening of inequality or vulnerability). The study vigorously interrogates how these elements play out by country and across countries, by type of mitigation option, by type of victim or affected group, by process, and by severity, e.g. from modern slavery to organized crime, from violence, murder and torture to the exacerbation of child prostitution or the destruction of pristine ecosystems. It also closely examines the locations, disciplinary affiliations, methods and spatial units of analysis employed by this corpus of research, with clear and compelling insights for future work in the space of geography, climate change, and energy transitions. It suggest five critical avenues for future research: greater inclusivity and diversity, rigor and comparative analysis, focus on mundane technologies and non-Western case studies, multi-scalar analysis, and focus on policy and recommendations. At times, low-carbon transitions and climate action can promote squalor over sustainability and leave angry communities, disgruntled workers, scorned business partners, and degraded landscapes in their wake. Nevertheless, ample opportunities exist to make a future low-carbon world more pluralistic, democratic, and just.