The Geopolitics of the Energy Transition?

This presentation is part of the 2021 lecture series, entitled Rethink Energy: Countdown to COP26, which is co-organised by the IIEA and ESB. On this occasion, Professor O’Sullivan discusses how the transition away from fossil fuels will remake the geopolitical landscape. In the wake of the COP26 summit in Glasgow, she focuses on how the increasingly urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is changing the priorities of the great powers, creating new divisions between countries, and offering new sources of geopolitical leverage. Professor O’Sullivan examines the global energy transition, particularly over the next decade as countries meet 2030 targets. She concludes by assessing how the actual efforts to move to a net-zero future will disrupt current patterns of international affairs, long before the world has completed this historically unprecedented energy transition.

About the Speaker:

Meghan O’Sullivan is the Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Affairs and Director of the Geopolitics of Energy Project at Harvard Kennedy School. She is also the Chair of the North American Group of the Trilateral Commission. Professor O’Sullivan is an award-winning author, most recently of Windfall: How the New Energy Abundance Upends Global Politics and Strengthens America’s Power. From July 2013 to December 2013, Professor O’Sullivan was the Vice Chair of the All Party Talks in Northern Ireland. She was also special assistant to President George W. Bush and Deputy National Security Advisor from 2004-2007. She is on the board of Raytheon Technologies and is a member of the International Advisory Group for Linklaters. Professor O’Sullivan was awarded the Defense Department’s highest honor for civilians. She holds a B.A. from Georgetown University and a masters and doctorate from Oxford University.