Global Energy Transition in a Fossil World

Do we need to phase down or to phase out fossil fuels for a successful energy transition? Meeting the Paris climate goals is far from a done deal. While the need for a global transition to a low-carbon energy sector is contested by few, opinions on what this means in practice and on how to get there vary between mainly technical change scenarios to radical societal change.

This course will focus on the societal and political side of energy transition, but also introduce you to physical and technical limitations of the energy system and to global boundaries. It will give you a broad overview of global energy transition needs, the key societal dilemmas and possible solutions. It will challenge you to discover your own preferred solutions ? as well as their main pros and cons. The course will further introduce you to the leading theories, concepts, proposed solutions and current governance efforts in the energy transition. Global solutions will be studied as well as national and local approaches in the Netherlands.

By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Understand the main concepts and theories in energy transition and be able to put them into the wider context of global sustainable development:
- Recognise what has been achieved on the road to energy transition so far;
- Have an overview of the greatest challenges and proposed solutions for the future of the energy transition;
- Gain a clear insight into their own preferred solutions for the energy transition and the main pros and cons of these solutions.

Contact hours listed under a course description may vary due to the combination of lecture-based and independent work required for each course. CEA CAPA's recommended credits are based on the contact hours assigned by Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU Amsterdam): 15 contact hours equals 1 U.S. credit