We came to understand that climate change is a political issue. Gradually, we are learning that it is becoming a geopolitical one as well. Transitioning away from fossil fuels and scaling up green technologies is certain to disrupt key global value chains as well as existing power relations, all the while giving rise to new material dependencies and numerous mining projects. Both direct and indirect impacts of a changing climate will add to the complexity.
At the same time, trade-offs related to upholding climate targets while reinvigorating the European economy are shaping the debate both in Brussels and national capitals as we move toward the European Parliament elections. Tensions between international competitiveness, material dependencies, environmental protection and the interests of local communities will be a key challenge for the new EU leadership.
To navigate this landscape and to create space for a critical but inclusive discussion, the Association for International Affairs (AMO) is convening a high-level international conference on Material Dependencies and the Geopolitics of the Green Transition.
The conference aims to understand the unfolding geopolitics of the green transition by focusing on the EU’s existing and projected material dependencies and their possible mitigation. This is particularly important in the context of resilience, sovereignty and climate security. At the same, it recognises the urgent need to rethink the extractivist logic that is underpinning the dominant green strategies and policies, focusing on the rights of the local communities and environmental protection.
We thus seek to open up the space for a nuanced policy discussion by bringing together Czech and international experts and policymakers for this one-day event.
PROGRAM: Material Dependencies and the Geopolitics of the Green Transition (1)
- Date and time
Tuesday, 26 March 2024
9:00-17:30
Program
9:00 Welcome and intro
Keynote speech
Laurence Tubiana, architect of the Paris Agreement and CEO of the European Climate Foundation9:20 Opening plenary: Navigating the geopolitics of the green transition
Eric Buisson, Critical Minerals Analyst at the International Energy Agency
Daria Ivleva, Senior Advisor + Co-Lead Climate Policy at Adelphi
Olivia Lazard, Fellow at Carnegie Europe
Julia Mildorfova Leventon, Head of Department at CzechGlobe, Czech Academy of Sciences
Moderation: Tomáš Jungwirth Březovský, AMOWe came to understand that climate change is a political issue. Increasingly, it is also becoming a geopolitical one. The transition away from fossil fuels and the scaling up of green technologies is set to rekindle key global value chains as well as existing power relations. Both direct and indirect impacts of a changing climate will add to the complexity. How can we then best understand the world of tomorrow, using the climate lens? What actors, dynamics and leverage points should we keep an eye on?
10:30 Coffee break
11:00 Parallel panels 1:
a) Moving beyond mining and extractivism
Rachel Donald, investigative journalist and creator of Planet: Critical
Simon Holmström, Deep Sea Mining Policy Officer at Seas At Risk
Anna Kárníková, Director of Hnutí DUHA – Friends of the Earth Czech Republic
Mariana Walter, Assistant Professor and Researcher at the Institut Barcelona Estudis Internacionals
Moderation: Nina Djukanović, AMORaw materials are a key component of ‘green’ technologies from electric vehicles to renewable energy storage. Yet the dominant climate policies are overreliant on technological solutions while assuming infinite economic growth and a continuous supply of metals and minerals. Mining and extractivism have devastating impacts on communities and environments across the world and the accelerating mining rush is threatening to deepen existing injustices. While recognising the urgency of climate change and the necessity to phase out fossil fuels, how can countries move beyond unsustainable extractivism and reduce their material and energy demands?
b) Aligning climate security with Europe’s economic security objectives
Mats Braun, Director of the Institute of International Relations Prague
Daria Ivleva, Senior Advisor + Co-Lead Climate Policy at Adelphi
Olivia Lazard, Fellow at Carnegie Europe
Linda Zeilina-Cross, Founder and CEO of the International Sustainable Finance Centre
Moderation: Ondřej Kolínský, AMORecent geopolitical developments have cast doubt over the complementarity between the EU’s economic and climate security objectives. What key tensions and trade-offs are there between security, justice and competitiveness? Practically, what would be the avenues to strengthen the coherence of EU climate diplomacy with its development cooperation or trade policies, having the relevant strategic documents in mind? And what role do raw materials and their value chains play in these considerations?
12:30 Plenary: Reporting back from panels & discussion
13:00 Lunch Break
14:00 Parallel panels 2:
a) EU decarbonisation: with or without China?
Belinda Schäpe, Independent Policy Advisor on Chinese Climate Policy and Diplomacy
Gregor Sebastian, Senior Analyst at Rhodium Group
Radek Špicar, Vice President of BusinessEurope
Moderation: Filip Šebok, AMOWith China having a strong, and sometimes controlling position in key technologies across relevant supply chains including photovoltaics, wind energy, and EV industry, the EU faces a challenge to achieve its energy transition while also addressing dangerous strategic dependencies and tackling the risk of deindustrialization. The urgency is highlighted by Beijing’s signals that it is capable and ready to use its control of raw materials and key technologies as a tool of economic coercion. How can the EU successfully navigate this complicated landscape?
b) What promises the EU Critical Raw Materials Act?
Eric Buisson, Critical Minerals Analyst at the International Energy Agency
Diego Marin, Policy Officer for Raw Materials and Resource Justice at the European Environmental Bureau
Lukáš Martin, Director for International Affairs at the Czech Confederation of Industry
Bettina Müller, Trade Policy Officer at PowerShift Germany; Associate Researcher at Transnational Institute
Moderation: Kateřina Novotná, CSRD.czCritical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) aims at increasing the security and sustainability of the supply of critical raw materials. The Act should come into force in 2024, setting ambitious goals in terms of diversification and self-sufficiency of the EU in the extraction, processing and recycling of critical raw materials. What needs to be done to achieve these targets? What will be the regulatory and fiscal fallout among Member States? And how will CRMA impact the EU’s other objectives in environmental protection, development cooperation or security?
15:30 Plenary: Reporting back from panels & discussion
16:00 Coffee break
16:30 Closing plenary: Merging principles with pragmatism: outlining ways forward
Diego Marin, Policy Officer for Raw Materials and Resource Justice at the European Environmental Bureau
Anna Kárníková, Director of Hnutí DUHA – Friends of the Earth Czech Republic
Gregor Sebastian, Senior Analyst at Rhodium Group
Moderation: Rachel Donald, Planet: CriticalThe closing plenary brings together speakers from the individual panels to address the most pressing questions discussed and draw together the main conclusions from the conference. What is the future of the green transition following the Critical Raw Materials Act? How can experts and practitioners ensure rapid decarbonisation while protecting the local communities and the environment? And what tasks remain ahead of us for the years and decades to come?
17:30 End of the formal part
- Location
-
Vila Lanna, V Sadech 1/1, Prague 6, Czechia
- Organizer
- Association for International Affairs (AMO)
- In cooperation with
- Held under the auspices of the Minister of the Environment Mr. Petr Hladík, Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic; Supported by European Union and Europaen Climate Foundation
- WORKING LANGUAGES
- English
- Official hashtag
- #GreenGeopolitics