MenuIn a bold move, the US has announced sweeping tariffs on Chinese solar cells and modules, intensifying the Sino-American trade war in the renewable energy sector. Like electric vehicles, U.S. will use the full power of its trade regulatory apparatus to stymie China’s unfair competition. This latest announcement came after a Department of Commerce probe
Category Archives: Geopolitics
BRICS Expansion: China’s Energy Victory?
At a recent summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) group, which some believe can counter-balance the West, for the first time in over a decade, opted to invite six new members: Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE UAE0.0%). This disparate group of emerging economies has one
Will China’s Electric Vehicle Dominance End?
Amidst Hangzhou’s modern skyline are scores of weed-infested lots filled with the remains of thousands of abandoned electric vehicles (EVs). China’s EV revolution soared to prominence, generating envy and fear from Western competitors. Like the Greek mythological hero Icarus, however, it may have flown too close to the sun. As China now confronts intense deflationary
Putin’s Threats To Zaporizhhia Nuclear Power Plant Endangers Energy Transition
Carl Sagan once said, “The nuclear arms race is like two sworn enemies standing waist-deep in gasoline, one with three matches, the other with five.” The near-universal recognition of the futility of an all-out nuclear war led to widespread cuts in nuclear armaments since Gorbachev’s perestroika and the Soviet collapse in 1991. Even anti-communist hawks
Russia’s War & China’s Ambition Remake Eurasian Energy Routes
Putin’s chef and international villain par excellence, Yevgeny Prigozhin’s half-baked coup against Russia’s Vladimir Putin highlighted just how toxic Russia has become as a global business partner. While Prigozhin ostensibly failed and his power base is being purged, his failed coup revealed the fragility of the Russian state. Read the full article here.
The Promise and Peril of AI in the Energy Sector
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the energy industry, driving digitalization and predictive capabilities. While boosting efficiency, it also exposes vulnerabilities that require careful management. Cyberattacks, which will increasingly leverage AI, experienced a significant surge of 2000% between 2018 and 2019, but the frequency has since stabilized. Read the full article here.
India’s Green Energy Potential Hampered By Pakistan’s Turmoil
The environmental costs of extracting lithium present another barrier to local lithium production which may exacerbate tensions. The mining of lithium, like other minerals, will pollute the surrounding areas, potentially contaminating the groundwater and exposing local populations to toxic chemicals. The fact that Jammu and Kashmir are the origin points for Pakistan’s primary river, the Indus River,
China’s Sovereign Wealth Fund In Energy Markets Expansion
In contrast to the Western publicly and privately held and disparate investment companies, China’s SWF demonstrates a remarkable degree of policy consistency and wields power to secure long-term power purchase agreements with global energy suppliers—a capability lacking in most Western countries, including the United States. This helped China secure long-term deals for uranium supplies for its growing nuclear
Breaking Free: The Nuclear Fuel Alliance Strikes Back At Russian Control
Moscow’s dominant position in the nuclear supply chain grants Russia influence over the nuclear renaissance in the West, vital for the transition to low-carbon energy generation and helps fund its war machine in Ukraine. To redress these challenges, last month the United States, France, Japan, Canada, and the United Kingdom formed the Nuclear Fuel Alliance (NFA) to
War in Ukraine is creating new Silk Road corridor
In the year after Russia’s 2022 reinvasion of Ukraine, freight volume more than doubled on the Middle Corridor, a transportation network connecting Asia with Europe via rail, boat and highway. In March, Secretary of State Antony Blinken unveiled a new U.S. approach to Central Asia that stressed the facilitation of the Middle Corridor, which bypasses Russia. This route