Democracy and peace at stake? The rise of geo-strategy in energy transition

What are the ecological and geopolitical implications of the worldwide ongoing energy transition and industrial revolution? Will the energy transition really lead to a more peaceful world? There are reasons to question this assumption. As the world races to extract more mineral resources needed for clean and digital techs, the reality is that geo-economic forces keen on upending the rules based order are at work. They come from various geographies, although a lot of them tend to arise from China and Russia. The extraction revolution at the heart of the industrial process to create the clean tech economy is often connected to highly corrupt and predatory behaviours that threaten the stability of countries at the heart of the scramble for resources, and by the same token, threaten the integrity and solidity of democratic societies.

The keynote will give a global picture of what is at play, and some of the threats unleashing at present and looming on the horizon. This will provide the basis for a discussion over how these threats may impact regions like the Balkans, Central and Eastern Europe.