The Tricky IPE of Going Low Carbon: Unburnable Fossils, Stranded Nations and Technology Ownership

The global low-carbon transition moves economic rents up the energy value chain, from the commodity to energy conversion. The impact will be deep. On the one hand, some resource-rich nations might end up ‘stranded’, as two thirds of fossil fuel reserves will be ‘unburnable’. On the other hand, technology leaders in the OECD and China stand to primarily benefit from the low carbon shift whilst the Global South risks losing out due to lacking access to patented technology and capital. Clearly, an ambitious low-carbon transition creates overall net benefit, but also new cleavages. Against this backdrop, this paper will set out the tricky IPE behind going low carbon. It will focus on the finance-investment-technology nexus of climate policies and ask how the unfolding dynamics can be grasped as phenomena of International Political Economy.