Energy Policy in the Emerging Economies

Climate Change Mitigation under the Constraints of Path Dependence

Joachim Betz and Sören Scholvin

Energy has always been essential to economics and politics. While global energy consumption increases, fossil fuels are depleting. The countries that will be hit hardest by declining energy resources are the emerging economies of the Global South, where the relevance of the industrial sector is only slightly declining (or, indeed, still on the rise) and where governments have subsidised energy consumption for decades. Climate change – a direct outcome of the increasing consumption of fossil fuels – hits these emerging economies hard. Against this backdrop, Energy Policy inthe Emerging Economies: Climate Change Mitigation under the Constraints of Path Dependence analyses energy policy in Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africaand South Korea with particular regard to these countries’ contributions to climatechange mitigation. Advancing a new approach that expands on energy transition studies and the concept of path dependence, Sören Scholvin and Joachim Betzshed light on material conditions, energy demand and expansion plans, politico-economicconstellations, energy-related know-how and climate policy.

Lexington Books

Pages: 240 • Trim: 6¼ x 9

978-1-4985-3436-9 • Hardback • April 2019 • $117.00 • (£90.00)

978-1-4985-3437-6 • eBook • April 2019 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

Subjects: Political Science / Public Policy / Environmental Policy, Political Science / Developing Nations, Political Science / International Relations / General

Energy Policy in the Emerging Economies

Climate Change Mitigation under the Constraints of Path Dependence

Hardback

eBook

Summary

Energy has always been essential to economics and politics. While global energy consumption increases, fossil fuels are depleting. The countries that will be hit hardest by declining energy resources are the emerging economies of the Global South, where the relevance of the industrial sector is only slightly declining (or, indeed, still on the rise) and where governments have subsidised energy consumption for decades. Climate change – a direct outcome of the increasing consumption of fossil fuels – hits these emerging economies hard. Against this backdrop, Energy Policy inthe Emerging Economies: Climate Change Mitigation under the Constraints of Path Dependence analyses energy policy in Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africaand South Korea with particular regard to these countries’ contributions to climatechange mitigation. Advancing a new approach that expands on energy transition studies and the concept of path dependence, Sören Scholvin and Joachim Betzshed light on material conditions, energy demand and expansion plans, politico-economicconstellations, energy-related know-how and climate policy.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 240 • Trim: 6¼ x 9

978-1-4985-3436-9 • Hardback • April 2019 • $117.00 • (£90.00)

978-1-4985-3437-6 • eBook • April 2019 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

Subjects: Political Science / Public Policy / Environmental Policy, Political Science / Developing Nations, Political Science / International Relations / General

Author

Sören Scholvin is research fellow at the Institute of Economic and Cultural Geography at the University of Hanover and associate researcher at the German Institute of Global and Area Studies.

Joachim Betz is associate researcher at the German Institute of Global and Area Studies and professor emeritus at the University of Hamburg.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. China

Chapter 2. India

Chapter 3. Indonesia

Chapter 4. South Korea

Chapter 5. Brazil

Chapter 6. Mexico

Chapter 7. South Africa

Reviews

“Energy policy in the emerging economies of the Global South has become the crucial determinant of our ability to meet the ambitious climate change mitigation goals committed to in the Paris Agreement. The structural comparative analysis of energy policies and trajectories in seven pivotal emerging economies in this book by energy scholars Scholvin and Betz provides a crucial insight into the highest-stake issue confronting policy-makers in this century. The authors’ prognosis is disquieting, but a critical juncture, triggered by impending climate disaster combined with the immanent risk of fossil fuel-based energy shortages, also provides opportunities for shifting established energy trajectories. This expertly researched study contributes a critical piece of comparative empirical evidence to ongoing debates on the most pressing challenge of our time.”
— Stefan Andreasson, Queen’s University Belfast