The risks of an uneven energy transition

PhD Student Laima Eicke and Prof. Andreas Goldthau published an article on the importance of relative timing of energy transition processes, and implications of a global divide among transition leaders and laggards. The findings of the mixed method study suggest that uneven transition patterns increase the risks of economic instability and decrease the competitiveness of ‘late decarbonizers’. Feedback cycles might impede the latter to catch up, with potentially severe consequences for global equity and international tensions. Countries particularly in the Global South are exposed to higher transition risks than technology-leading economies of the Global North. The paper reflects debates on energy transition processes in contested contexts among members of the newly founded Graduate Centre EIPCC.