A just transition is crucial to address global climate change. Mafalda Duarte, head of the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), Nick Robins, Professor in Practice for Sustainable Finance with the Grantham Institute, and Sarah Ladislaw, SVP and director of the CSIS energy Security and Climate Change Program, explain the importance of a just transition in the context of their work, as well as how investors can engage with just transitions. They also examine the impact from the COVID 19 pandemic – and subsequent responses – on the just transition agenda. 

For more on the Just Transition Initiative, a new partnership project developed by CSIS and CIF:

https://www.csis.org/analysis/who-needs-just-transition 

https://www.csis.org/programs/energy-security-and-climate-change-program/projects/just-transition-initiative 

Robin Mills, CEO of Qamar Energy based in Dubai, joins Ben Cahill, Senior Fellow in the CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program, to discuss energy sector implications of Covid-19 in the Middle East. They focus on how the Gulf states are responding to the pandemic and the volatility in the oil markets. They also look at how the downturn is affecting gas consumption in the Middle East and whether there is an opportunity for energy subsidy reform in some of the region’s countries.

Yao Li, founder and CEO of SIA Energy based in Beijing, and Ben Cahill, Senior Fellow in the CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program, look at the implications of Covid-19 for the energy sector in China. Ben and Yao discuss the direction Chinese economic recovery may take as energy demand—especially in transportation—begins to rebound.  They also delve into how the recovery is likely to be uneven across the energy sector, including oil, refining, natural gas and LNG, and inventories. Part of our series of deep dives into the energy implications of Covid-19. 

This week we bring you three podcasts with views from around the world about Covid-19 impacts on the energy sector. In this first episode, Arunabha Ghosh (CEEW) talks with Sarah Ladislaw (CSIS) about implications of Covid-19 in India; how it has impacted the electric power sector, renewable energy projects, and economic growth. They offer thoughts on whether there is an opportunity going forward to stimulate green growth and promote an energy transition in India.

Dr. Katherine Levine Einstein (Boston University) joins Nikos Tsafos (CSIS) to talk about infrastructure and transportation priorities of U.S. mayors, as outlined in the most recent Menino Survey of Mayors. 

In this week’s Energy 360, Energy Program Director Sarah Ladislaw talks with Dan Reicher (Stanford's Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance) about clean energy options in the economic stimulus packages. Dan was a member of the Obama administration's transition team, which passed a $90 billion clean energy stimulus package. They discuss what lessons could be learned from previous stimulus packages and what new options the Congress and Administration have to revive the economy which could also promote clean energy and address climate change impacts. 

Dan is the founding executive director of Stanford's Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance, formerly Google's director of climate and energy initiatives, DOE assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy and the Department’s chief of staff in the Clinton administration, and a member of the Obama administration's transition team and Secretary of Energy Advisory board. He recently wrote the op-ed, Turning the Virus into a Virtue — for the Planet. 

Ditte Juul Jørgensen, director general for energy with the European Commission, talks with Nikos Tsafos (CSIS) about the European Green Deal. This new roadmap provides a framework for the EU to be carbon neutral by 2050 and develops best practices to meet new energy targets and to maintain forward momentum for the energy transition across Europe (recorded in late February).

For more, read: 

A European Green Deal: https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en 

Why Europe’s Green Deal Still Matters: https://www.csis.org/analysis/why-europes-green-deal-still-matters 

Jon Alterman (CSIS Middle East Program) and Frank Verrastro (CSIS Energy Program) join Energy 360 this week to update us on the fast moving developments from OPEC, the oil markets, Saudi Arabia, and across the Middle East.

Note: As the COVID-19 pandemic changes rapidly, the frequency and quality of this series may vary over the next month. But we are still in production as we try to get you the most up-to-date information, so you won't miss out on Energy 360.

Alice Hill (CFR) and Leo Martinez-Diaz (WRI) talk climate resilience with Sarah Ladislaw (CSIS), to understand how communities are learning from past disasters and how decision-makers from various sectors—energy, national security, investment, and more—are addressing resilience needs. Alice and Leo are the authors of Building a Resilient Tomorrow: How to Prepare for the Coming Climate Disruption.

Lisa Jacobson (BCSE) and Ethan Zindler (BloombergNEF) join Lisa Hyland (CSIS) to discuss the major findings of the eighth annual edition of the Sustainable Energy in America Factbook. They reflect on the larger trends of the tremendous energy transformation that has occurred in America over the past decade.