On 2 December 2021, Chemonics, in partnership with The Policy Practice, organised a webinar entitled “Power shift: politics and the energy transition in emerging markets.” 

This webinar brought together leading thinkers on the political economy of the energy transition to discuss the factors that slow down, but also those that might speed up the energy transition.  Experts from South Africa, Sri Lanka and Lebanon shared their knowledge about how the political economy context affected the nature and speed of transition and the implications for the implementation of programs. 

The Policy Practice Director, Dr. Neil McCulloch, introduced a framework for analysing the political economy challenges of the energy transition.  His presentation pointed out that the energy transition will happen quite differently in different countries because of their different endowments, geography, demographics and institutions – it is important not to assume that ‘one size fits all’.  Analysing the ideas, interests and influence of all the key actors can help to understand why the transition happens in the way it does.