Development of renewable energies: towards a new geopolitical energy landscape? IFPEN and IRIS launch the GENERATE project

17.04.2018

2 minutes of reading

IFP Energies nouvelles (IFPEN) and the Institut de relations internationales et stratégiques (IRIS - French Institute for International and Strategic Relations) have launched the GENERATE project concerning the Geopolitics of renewable energies and prospective analysis of the energy transition.

While today’s geopolitical energy landscape is still largely dominated by balances of power associated with oil reliance, how will it look in the future, in the context of the energy transition? Funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR). the GENERATE project aims to analyze the major geopolitical repercussions of the large-scale, international deployment of renewable energies (RnE). The objective is to conduct a prospective assessment of the future balances of power between developed and emerging countries, related to reliance on new materials and the research and innovation capacities of the various players.

Applying a multidisciplinary approach (technological, legal, geopolitical and industrial), the GENERATE project will take into account 3 key issues:

An assessment of the criticality of raw materials (aluminum, copper, nickel, concrete, cobalt, granulates, steel) in the energy transition technologies rollout process (wind power, solar energies, electrification of the global vehicle fleet, etc.);
New market powers resulting from national innovation policies and mapping of energy transition technologies;
The energy transition trajectory of oil and gasproducing countries.

This two-year project will provide a greater understanding of the balances of economic, technological and political power in the new geopolitical energy landscape. It will thus constitute a decision-making tool to support the introduction of international energy and climate policies.