#Energy
China Holds a Kill Switch to European Power Grids
As the EU leans into its ambitious climate goals, solar energy has become the poster child of the energy transition. On the surface, it appears to be a success story in the global race…
Strengthening Taiwan’s Deterrence: The Importance of Energy Transition
In the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a new concern for energy security has emerged. Whereas energy transitions were previously viewed primarily through the lens of climate change, they have now become…
How China Completely Redefined a Key Energy Target
Shifting the meaning of “energy intensity” may affect the realization of China’s 2025 carbon intensity goal.
China Goes Green in Central Asia
Beijing targets Central Asia with green energy investments and eyes the boosted role of the region as a trans-Eurasian connectivity corridor amid Red Sea tensions.
Supercharged China: Cars, Batteries, and Lithium
With no internal combustion engine and no burning of fossil fuels, electric vehicles (EVs) – running solely on batteries – are coming in their billions to electrify mobility. By 2035, at least half of all global passenger vehicle sales will be for EVs, and the proportion will keep increasing. The roadmap for the global energy sector to reach carbon neutrality developed by the International Energy Agency (IEA) requires the number of EVs to increase from eleven million in 2020 to 350 million in 2030 and almost two billion by 2050. In the global race to build batteries and battery-powered cars and to get access to the vital lithium, cobalt, and nickel that go into them, China is winning hands-down.
More Renewables, More Coal: Where Are China’s Emissions Really Headed?
China’s emissions will peak when clean energy growth overtakes energy demand growth. This may happen in 2024.
China Wants the Line D Pipeline. Can Central Asia Deliver?
China is signaling that it wants to move forward with a Central Asian natural gas pipeline project that’s been discussed for decades. But does Central Asia have gas to fill the pipeline, known as…
“Depends on How You Look at It”: Russia Struggles to Explain Why “Power of Siberia 2” Is Still Not Happening
Even as Russia and China project an image of a tight partnership, the failure to reach a deal on the Power of Siberia 2 pipelines complicates Moscow’s official narrative.
The Sino-Russian Energy Partnership: A Strategic Response to a Turbulent World?
Even as debates about the characterization of the Sino-Russian partnership continue, energy cooperation between the two grows in intensity.
Reaching the New Levels of Sino-Serbian Relations
While China’s presence in Central and Eastern Europe has been affected by the crisis of the erstwhile “17+1” format after the withdrawal of the Baltic countries, Beijing still has committed partners in the region.
A Coal-Free Future Leaves China’s Engagement in the Balkans Uncertain
There might not be a better moment for the transformation of China’s relationship with the Western Balkans than now. With Xi Jinping’s pledge that China will no longer fund the construction of coal-fired power…
How Cernavodă Made Romania a Key Geopolitical Battleground in Europe
In 2013, after the then-16+1 summit in Bucharest, Romania was bombarded with gushing headlines about a dozen Chinese investments and projects that would soon supercharge the Romanian economy, with the Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant…