Perhaps, the call towards utilizing alternative energy sources (like renewable energy sources) isn’t new to you.
And like all things new, there’s a resistance. The kind that’s driven by the existing systems and the uncertainties of the unknown.
As a student, it’s easy to think about a straightforward solution to climate change. That if you want to save the world, then you must shift your activities to less-energy intensive ones. But is it easy to do away from what made our life easier in the first place?
Check out my 2019 academic paper on the relationship between economic growth and CO2 emissions in the Philippines here.
So instead of reducing energy consumption, there have been drives about energy efficiency and a shift away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy sources.
However, now that I am working in the energy sector, with real people who have the power to influence the national policy, I realized that systems are never straightforward.
Most of the time, systems are complex.
Aside from financing, it’s not just about mere politics. There is also geopolitics that runs as we continue our journey on energy transition.
From Green Upheaval: The New Geopolitics of Energy:
In order to understand the geopolitics of a world moving away from fossil fuels, it is critical to grasp which elements of being a clean energy superpower will actually yield geopolitical influence. Here, too, reality differs from the conventional wisdom, and the transition process will look very different from the end state. In the long run, innovation and cheap capital will determine who wins the clean energy revolution.
Indeed, there are forces at play that my simple mind cannot comprehend yet.
What’s clear is that as we strive further towards energy transition, the global economy changes with it.
We’re starting to see it now.
And there’s more to it in the future.
jessa 