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The world is currently undergoing an historic energy transition, driven by increasingly stringent decarbonisation policies and rapid advances in low-carbon technologies. The large-scale shift to low-carbon energy is disrupting the global energy system, impacting whole economies, and changing the political dynamics within and between countries. This open access book, written by leading energy scholars, examines the economic and geopolitical implications of the global energy transition, from both regional and thematic perspectives. The first part of the book addresses the geopolitical implications in the world's main energy-producing and energy-consuming regions, while the second presents in-depth case studies on selected issues, ranging from the geopolitics of renewable energy, to the mineral foundations of the global energy transformation, to governance issues in connection with the changing global energy order. Given its scope, the book will appeal to researchers in energy, climate change and international relations, as well as to professionals working in the energy industry.

This book explores in detail the challenges which the European gas markets currently face, and the opportunities they present. Bringing together some of the most prominent gas experts on Europe from both academia and industry, this edited volume provides a comprehensive analysis of the various economic, political and technological factors that interact in this sector. Featuring a Foreword by Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of the Energy Union, contributions explore a wide range of issues, such as the role of gas in decarbonizing Europe, the outlook of Europe's gas demand, supply and pricing, and global LNG dynamics. Country specific studies include Russia, Norway, the Netherlands, and Germany, with regional studies including North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean. Alongside detailed analysis of this complex sector it also puts forward a set of policy recommendations for the sector's key stakeholders. This volume will be of interest to researchers and academics, as well as practitioners and professionals within European gas markets

Gas represents a pivotal element of the European energy architecture. New elements such as the evolution of the EU Energy Union, the international climate agreement reached at COP-21, the EU-Russia gas relations in the aftermath of the Ukraine crisis and the supply potential emerging in the Eastern Mediterranean, are rapidly reshaping the European gas markets. This book seeks to provide an insight on these developments, with the ultimate aim of contributing to the current European gas debate by providing a balancing act between two issues, decarbonisation of the European energy system and security of gas supply, that are usually conceived as different and unmatched but that represent, in reality, the two sides of the same coin

In a period of stress in the relationship between the European Union and Turkey, cooperation over energy could be a bright spot, because of strong mutual interests. However, EU-Turkey cooperation over energy requires a rethink. Up to now, gas and electricity have represented the main components of cooperation. Though highly visible, cooperation in these fields appears to be limited in practise. By contrast, cooperation in other fields - such as renewables, energy efficiency, nuclear energy and emissions trading - could make a real impact on long-term energy, climate and environmental sustainability, and on overall macroeconomic and geopolitical stability. On renewables and energy efficiency, the EU could support Turkey by scaling-up the financial support it currently provides within the framework of its climate finance commitments. This would reinforce the case for renewables and efficiency projects in Turkey, particularly as the cost of capital continues to represent a major barrier for these investments. On nuclear energy, the EU can make a sensible contribution to the establishment of a nuclear energy sector in Turkey. This can notably be accomplished by integrating Turkey into the framework of Euratom. On carbon markets, the EU can offer institutional support to Turkey, as is already being done with other countries such as China. Refocusing bilateral cooperation on renewable energy, energy efficiency, nuclear energy and carbon markets would be more effective and strategic for both the EU and Turkey. For the EU, it would provide an opportunity to put its sustainable energy leadership aspirations into practice, while opening up new commercial opportunities. For Turkey, it would enhance both climate and environmental performance, while reducing the energy import bill and energy dependency on Russia. This change in priorities would also be important to head off Turkey's rush into coal. Turkey currently has the third largest coal power plant development programme in the world, after India and China.

[Highlights] The security of the European Union's gas supplies is crucial to ensuring that supplies to households are not disrupted in freezing winters, that industry can flourish and that the EU cannot be blackmailed in vital foreign policy questions. Gas supply security should be addressed at EU level because a joint solution would be cheaper, national approaches could undermine the internal energy market and have adverse effects on other countries, and the EU Treaty explicitly calls for energy solidarity. The current focus on supply diversification and reduction of dependence on imported gas is expensive and does not constitute a systemic response. Instead of doing everything to reduce gas supplies from key suppliers, gas supply security could more effectively be safeguarded by ensuring that unused alternatives are maintained so that they can be tapped into for an indefinite period in case of supply disruption from a key supplier. This Policy Contribution outlines a market approach that could safeguard gas supply security at very low cost.

Four trends are reshaping the European energy system: decarbonisation, digitalisation and, as a result of the two, decentralisation and convergence. Based on strong public policies, decarbonisation is reshuffling the European energy mix, while innovation in digital technologies is enabling disruptive change in the way energy systems are operated. This enables the European energy system to become more decentralised with increasing interaction between services (electricity, heat, transport, data) that used to be largely separate. In this new context, cities are the key arenas of decarbonisation. However, European Union (EU) energy and climate governance is based on top-down policies that are not complemented by a solid bottom-up system that ensures consistency of EU, national and local measures and incentivises decarbonisation at city level. This Policy Contribution proposes better integration of top-down energy and climate policy mechanisms with new bottom-up incentives that aim to promote decarbonisation at city level. This mechanism can be set up in four steps. Step 1: understand a city's carbon footprint and create a baseline scenario. A participating city should start by carrying out an emissions inventory that would quantify the amount of greenhouse gases emitted from energy consumption on its territory during a specific year. This should identify the principal sources of emissions and therefore enable prioritisation of reduction measures. Step 2: understand a city's carbon handprint and create a reference scenario. With an emissions inventory in place, each city can identify the areas of its economy with the greatest decarbonisation potential, and can prioritise its decarbonisation policies accordingly. Step 3: create a city Climate Plan. The baseline and reference scenarios would form the basis of comprehensive city Climate Plans. To ensure consistency of national and municipal policies, Climate Plans could be developed as a sub-component of member state National Energy and Climate Plans. Step 4: track progress and allocate financial support. City progress reports on decarbonisation should be used by the EU to determine the eligibility of local governments for EU grants. Grants would be key to the success of this scheme. If EU money is given to a city to implement a project listed in its Climate Plan, it should be paid in in biennial tranches, conditional on positive progress reports. A grant-based system would give the EU some control over the effective implementation of cities' decarbonisation projects. EU countries could use city progress reports to provide fiscal incentives to cities that implement in practice their Climate Plans. This premium system would make economic sense for member states considering that the better cities perform in terms of decarbonisation, the easier it will be to achieve national decarbonisation targets.

The European Commission's February 2015 Energy Union Communication calls for intensified work on the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) and the establishment of a new strategic energy partnership with Turkey. The presence of the European Union and Turkey in the region is complementary in a number of ways. Building on this could unlock the region's gas export potential and make gas supplies to the EU and Turkey more secure. The EU should establish dedicated energy diplomacy taskforces with Turkey and each potential supplier in the region (Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Kurdistan Region of Iraq). This would allow the EU and Turkey to make use of their complementary diplomatic leverages to overcome barriers to regional gas trade. In parallel, the EU should establish with Turkey a dedicated financing mechanism to facilitate gas infrastructure investments, with a primary focus on the upgrade of the Turkish gas grid. The European Investment Bank might play a role in attracting private and institutional investors through its financing tools. The four "EU-Turkey Energy Diplomacy Taskforces" and the "EU-Turkey Gas Infrastructure Financing Initiative" would be initiatives of the recently started EU-Turkey Strategic High Level Energy Dialogue.

Over the last decade decarbonisation has become a key priority for the EU. However, on the contrary of renewable energy or energy efficiency, the role of gas in this process has never been clearly defined. This uncertainty opens a wide debate on the future role of gas in the EU energy system, particularly vis-à-vis the progressively stronger role of renewables in the EU energy mix. This paper tackles this issue with the aim to explore what role gas might play in making the EU decarbonisation path more balanced and secure up to 2030 and beyond.