Geoeconomics of the transition to net-zero energy and industrial systems: A framework for analysis

R. Quitzow and Y. Zabanova

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2025, vol. 214, issue C

Abstract: The unfolding transition to net-zero energy and industrial systems has a major impact on global value chains, the geoeconomic strategies of key players, and rules of engagement in the global economy. This research develops a novel conceptual framework for analyzing the geoeconomics of energy and industrial transformation, while delimiting it from geopolitics. The framework has three basic dimensions: a) resources, technology, and data; b) markets and networks; and c) rules of international economic interaction, which are negotiated by powerful players in the world economy. The discussion emphasizes the dual nature of the geoeconomics of energy and industrial transformation as a balancing act between securing autonomy and projecting geoeconomic influence. This sets it apart and makes it incompatible with more overt forms of geopolitical confrontation as witnessed between NATO countries and Russia. A transition to net-zero energy and industrial systems, the analysis concludes, hinges on the cooperation among countries and economic blocs. Managing this dilemma – competing to build an advantageous geoeconomic position while cooperating to ensure the broad participation of actors around the world – lies at the center of the geoeconomics of the transition to net-zero and is indispensable for advancing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 7 (affordable and clean energy) and Sustainable Development Goal 13 (climate action) in ways that benefit a wider range of countries and not merely the most industrialized nations.

Keywords: Geoeconomics; Geopolitics; Transition to net-zero; Energy transition; Decarbonization; Clean technologies; Renewable energy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032125001650
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:rensus:v:214:y:2025:i:c:s1364032125001650

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 600126/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2025.115492

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews is currently edited by L. Kazmerski

More articles in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().