How may tension and conflict in oil, gas and mineral markets undermine future global peace and economic development? Which new modes of behaviour can promote an appropriate balance between competition and collaboration? Possible answers to these key questions stem from the EU project on the...

The demand for critical minerals is rising in support of the low-carbon energy transition, as well as global economic growth. Despite its hostile environment, the Arctic is a region with historic and existing mineral production. This paper assesses the potential of the Arctic to make a...

China has a huge and growing influence on the global politics and economics of energy. The topic of China's role in the new geopolitics of energy is hardly new, but the supply chain crisis following Covid and then the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 have combined to further elevate the...

In late 2021, China experienced a severe electricity supply crisis that affected 20 provinces. Industrial activity was curtailed, and even households suffered prolonged outages in some areas. The country is no stranger to periodic energy supply shortages and in many outages in the past, the...

With an installed capacity of 56 GWe, China has the world's third largest fleet of civil nuclear reactors after the U.S. and France and its ambitious expansion programme will give it the largest fleet by 2030. The government's policy objectives driving this programme are fourfold: enhancing...

Rare earth elements (REEs) have many uses in the energy and defence industries, among others, and demand for them is set to increase rapidly in support of the low-carbon energy transition. Although the REEs are not geologically rare, China dominates the supply chain, accounting for 70% of global...

As tensions between the West and China deepen, critical minerals and materials for strategic technologies, including for low-carbon energy, have become one of the battlegrounds. China's centrality to the supply of some of these critical minerals and materials has prompted Western governments to...

The demand for critical minerals is rising in support of the low-carbon energy transition, as well as global economic growth. Despite its hostile environment, the Arctic is a region with historic and existing mineral production. This paper assesses the potential of the Arctic to make a...

The global low-carbon energy transition will require major changes to institutional practices and energy industry paradigms with implications for society writ large. A country's existing institutional pattern inevitably shapes the transition, and helps or hinders its progress. This is perhaps...

Prompted by the urgent need for a timely and orderly transition away from coal power, this paper critically examines the prospects for repowering coal-fired power plants with nuclear energy in China. While existing studies often adopt a technology-centric perspective that highlights the...