Non-renewable energies between scarcity (importing countries) and abundance (exporting countries): how to reconcile the two in the era of globalization ?
To explain this problematic, we should first shed light on the difference between renewable and non-renewable energies. The first concept refers to a set of means of producing energy from theoretically unlimited sources or resources, available without time limit or reconstitutable more quickly than they are consumed (solar energy, wind energy, hydraulic energy …)
In contrast, non-renewable energy is an energy source that is not renewed rapidly enough to be considered inexhaustible on a human scale, or even that is not renewed at all.
In the contemporary world, non-renewable energies represent a major geopolitical issue. The States that have abundant resources derive economic and political benefits from them. A limpid example is that Russia supplies 1/3 of the European Union’s gas consumption through pipelines. There are many other conflicts over oil, for example in Sudan. The recent history of conflicts in Sudan between a predominantly Muslim north and a Christian south can be explained as much by conflicts over access to hydrocarbon resources as by political, ethnic and religious issues. Generally speaking, there is a great deal of conflict when there is no match between the geography of a coveted resource and the political geography.
However, some countries are using their resources as a way of protection, such as Saudi Arabia through the Quincy Agreement, which is an informal agreement made on 1945 between the U.S president Franklin D. Roosevelt and king Abdulaziz , aiming that the U.S. would provide military protection to Saudi Arabia in exchange for unrestricted access to Saudi oil. This was crucial for the U.S. and its allies after World War II, as they needed reliable energy supplies.
So we can conclude that for exporting countries, the geopolitics of energyis (particularly interested in rivalries for the control and sharing of raw materials) is closely linked to the appropriation of oil and gas revenues and their use by politicians. Meanwhile, security of supply is a major political concern for importing countries.
As a matter of fact, the fight against global warming (caused by greenhouse gases mainly from the combustion of coal, oil and natural gas),the pollution and its harmful repercussions on the environment and the human health, and the inevitable depletion of fossil resources, make the energetic transition primordial.
The concept of energy transition, created in Germany by the Öko-Institut in the 1980s, refers to the phase of transformation that should allow a gradual shift from an energy system primarily based on fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas, radioactive materials), which are inherently limited, to less centralized, diversified, and renewable energy sources (wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, etc.).
Competition is fierce for the renewable energy industries. They face challenges in this field from the development of the Chinese industry, which is causing a collapse in prices. Some industrial sectors, such as photovoltaics, are even threatened in developed countries.
As a result, four issues, which will become even more pronounced in the decades to come, weigh on energy: the extent of reserves, the rise or volatility of prices, technological developments and environmental impacts. The first two give rise to increasingly acute tensions both on access to resources and on their transport.
These challenges are generally related to raw materials, due to the sharp increase in demand from developing countries, especially emerging economies, and the frequent disconnect between production areas and consumption areas.
All in all, energy and raw materials are under intense pressure due to the industrial and population growth of southern countries, while those in the North have not changed their energy-intensive development model, and resources are gradually being depleted. Tensions, and even conflicts, are emerging at all levels, mainly along the global trade routes of these materials and in producing regions, as competition grows. In response to these challenges, globalization, lacking international governance, faces a triple challenge:
The emergence of a new world order based on multipolarity, which is destabilizing geopolitical power dynamics.
The questioning, or even the rejection, of purely economic globalization.
And finally, the environmental future of the planet, jeopardized by an anti-ecological development model.
A propos de Imane SAHLI
Ingénieure en Énergétique et Énergies Renouvelables avec double facette technique et réglementaire en énergie
