Contested Futures for Coal-Foundations of the Energy Transitions and Regional Challenges

Abstract

Despite broad agreement in research and global politics about the need of renewable energy in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change, socio-economic and political efforts towards phasing out of fossil fuels are highly contested. This is reflected in diverse energy trends across countries and regions, but also in different political goals and understandings of ‘clean energy’. As a result, we observe several parallel and sometimes even conflicting energy transitions. Focusing on developments in Europe and Germany in particular, the contributions in this working paper show that energy transitions have different historical and economic foundations and that they bring new regional challenges or even conflicts.