This chapter explores the environmental benefits and social challenges for the city of Dubai’s public transport network electrification plan. The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) in Dubai is currently experimenting with the possibility of powering public buses with electric energy. The shift from fossil fuels to electric power has been experienced in many European cities with evidence of benefits for both the environment and citizens. The enhancement of public transport and the use of ‘CO2-free’ energy has made people less dependent on cars, reducing the amount of air pollution and easing traffic congestion on the roads. Air quality also improved significantly with direct and indirect results on people’s health and life quality. In the pledge for a reduction of CO2 emissions, the coverage of the entire territory of Dubai with an interconnected transport system, fuelled by electric power, is an achievement to pursue. The authors show evidence of this statement using data collected from a number of European experiences. To simulate the feasibility of a similar model in Dubai, the authors consider different contextual situations, such as climatic variation, urban forms, and social and cultural characteristics of users, enhancing the specificities of present technological research in alternative energy sources. Electrified and hydrogen-fuelled vehicles are analysed and their potential and limitations explained based on data and tests conducted in Europe.

This chapter discusses the building blocks of the European Union’s strategy for climate neutrality. Carbon pricing in the EU is described, focusing on the EU ETS and on the forthcoming CBAM. Then the roles of electrification and clean molecules in the future European energy system are discussed. Finally, sustainable finance priorities, capacities, and regulatory instruments put forward by the EU are reviewed, before a brief conclusion.

This chapter analyzes the interconnections between energy, security, and defense policies from a transition perspective in Finland. It explains the key characteristics of Finland’s energy and security regimes, and then examines administrative interaction and policy interplay. The interconnections are visible via three cases: expansion of wind power and the operation of air surveillance radars, framing of peat as a security question, and how the Finnish government addressed the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Policy coherence between energy and security was limited before 2022, mainly focusing on stockpiling fuels and mitigating direct risks to the electricity network, for example, collaboration via the “Power Pool.” Geopolitical discussion pertaining to Russia was avoided in energy policy discussions. Energy policy integration into security and defense policy has occurred on a general level, for example, energy is now seen as a critical infrastructure and the energy efficiency of defense premises has been improved. Recent events show the need for improved coherence and collaboration.

This chapter introduces the topic of the book, namely the interconnections between zero-carbon energy transitions and security, and why this topic is of importance. It creates a setting for the following chapters by explaining the status of the energy transition in Europe, and introducing the academic fields the book draws from: sustainability transition studies, security studies, and studies of policy coherence and integration. The chapter also describes the research methods used and a brief background to the country cases, followed by a summary of the contents of the book.

This chapter examines the role of oil in the early Soviet period, analysing the importance Lenin and Stalin attached to this commodity for domestic development and international trade.

Chapter Seven focuses on China’s domestic policy imperatives and regulatory/policy support to enhance its dominance in the lithium supply chain. It examines incentive regimes designed to support EVs and the policy transition from government-led to market-oriented approaches. Given the increasing demand for EV power batteries and the supply shortage for lithium resources and products, this chapter critically analyses whether and to what extent China can achieve greater lithium supply chain sustainability. It highlights the need for sustainable material consumption through harmonised circularity standards and indicators such as recyclability, efficiency, environmental protection, carbon footprint, corporate due diligence, and accountability.

Ireland was in a rush to embrace electrification in the 1930s and 1940s, as it was digitalisation in the post-Celtic Tiger age of Yahoo and Google. In the face of this state-led dedication to light and currency, Irish literature has consistently found ways to restore stubborn materiality to the semiotic field. This depends on what this chapter calls its tradition of stupidity. Reclaimed as a device within literary texts, ‘stupidity’ is an instructive and often comic mode of emphasising embodiment and drawing attention to a persistent lack of connection. Moving through several literary examples taken from the mid-twentieth century to the present day (Edna O’Brien’s The Country Girls, Stewart Parker’s Pentecost, and Mike McCormack’s Solar Bones), this chapter suggests three themes by which this stupidity is registered as a complicating factor within an electric modernity set adrift on the neoliberal current: emigration, constitutional politics, and ecology. The purpose of the examples offered is to show how disconnection functions, thematically and formally, within a networked imaginary, and how it might be repositioned within new discourses oriented around ecological crisis.

Just before the start of the First World War, Robert Millikan, professor of physics at the University of Chicago and a specialist in electron theory, travelled to Germany to present an academic paper. A few years earlier, in 1905, the scientist Albert Einstein had proposed a linear relationship between the wavelength of light and the maximum velocity of electrons emitted from irradiated metal. Einstein was developing quantum theory – and Millikan was adamant that he was wrong.

While visiting Dresden Millikan was introduced to a young researcher who had just completed his PhD. The young man was South African and could thus speak English – which is probably why he was asked to show Millikan around campus. They also shared a research interest, as the young researcher was also working on Einstein’s theory.

This is the first of two chapters that focus on mitigation or emissions reduction. Chapter 6 addresses the primary cause of climate change, which is the emission of CO2 that derives from the combustion of fossil fuels. We review the oppositional forces of exploration and consumption in respect of fossil fuel reserves and the concepts of peak oil, gas, and coal. We turn next to the carbon cycle and how it is altered by widespread fossil fuel combustion. The low hanging fruit in mitigation is to electrify everything within reason and to simultaneously decarbonize our electrical supply. However, grid limitations, scant electrical storage capacity, and the intermittent nature of wind and solar combine to make deep decarbonization a more difficult challenge than is often appreciated. These factors along with the distinct consideration of national energy security help explain why fossil fuels are likely to persist late into this century as a source of dispatchable electric power. Finally, there are economic sectors such as aviation and steel making that lend themselves poorly to electrification and will likely remain recalcitrant sectors.

Transport contributes around 11% of greenhouse gas emissions and the sector is also vulnerable to climate change. High temperatures can melt roads and distort rail lines while sea-level rise can disrupt coastal transport infrasructure. At the community level, cities and precincts can help mitigate climate change and adapt to changes by promoting active lifestyles with walking and bicyling replacing powered transport for short-distance travel and making cities more compact. Significant cost and health benefits can accrue from reduction of diseases associated with low physical activity and air pollution can also be mitigated. Increased provision and electrification of public transport based on renewable energy can decarbonise these services. The electification of sea and air transport present challenges but significant development work is underway with expected early availability of electrically powered short-haul aircraft. Phase-out of internal combustion engine cars and other vehicles is scheduled in several countries as battery-electric and hydrogen cars, buses and heavy transport vehicles emerge. Governments can help the transition with a range of policy initiatives.

Industry is a major contributor to climate change. Many industrial sites, supply chains and customers are vulnerable to climate change and policy and consumer responses to climate change. Profits from industrial production depend on consumer demand, and how products are provided. Powerful forces such as digitalisation, dematerialisation, decentralisation, electrification, efficiency improvement and circular economies influence production and emissions Industrial firms face pressure from regulators, investors and customers. However, there is enormous potential to capture multiple benefits through aggressive, innovative decarbonisation strategies that target growth markets and involve cooperation along supply chains. Economic productivity and business competitiveness improvement can cut business costs and reduce extreme weather risk exposure, whilst positioning manufacturing companies for fast-growing markets in low-carbon resilient products and services. The chapter overviews policies national and subnational government policymakers can consider to support transition to a zero-carbon resilient industrial sector.

This chapter synthesises insights from the Deep Decarbonisation Pathways Project (DDPP), which provided detailed analysis of how 16 countries representing three-quarters of global emissions can transition to very low-carbon economies. The four ‘pillars’ of decarbonisation are identified as: achieving low or zero-carbon electricity supply; electrification and fuel switching in transport, industry and housing; ambitious energy efficiency improvements; and reducing non-energy emissions. The chapter focuses on decarbonisation scenarios for Australia. It shows that electricity supply can be readily decarbonised and greatly expanded to cater for electrification of transport, industry and buildings. There would be remaining emissions principally from industry and agriculture, these could be fully compensated through land-based carbon sequestration. The analysis shows that such decarbonisation would be consistent with continued growth in GDP and trade, and would require very little change in economic structure of Australia’s economy. Australia is rich in renewable energy potential, which could re-enable new industries such as energy-intensive manufacturing for export