The Viability of a Fully-Renewable Energy Transition: a Quantitative International Relations Perspective (2023)

Undergraduate: Zoe Hatsios

Faculty Advisor: Navin Bapat
Department: Peace, War, and Defense

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Whether as a factor of climate-related concerns or energy independence, the world is shifting towards the usage of renewable energy sources. However, given the unique nature of oil’s strategic value in global geopolitics, the transition will be confounded by factors such as government structure, pressure to innovate technology, and terrorism. This study combines an analysis of past energy transitions with current proposals to generate an indicator of how well states will individually be equipped to fully transition to renewable energy in line with current goals and initiatives. Countries, such as Greece and Poland, which do not produce competitive amounts of oil or technologies, will be more successful in renewable efforts than states abundant in these sectors, such as Saudi Arabia and China. Understanding these dynamics is critical to shaping global energy policies - specifically towards countries which are determined to have more challenging geopolitical landscapes.

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