Political Geography: Europe / Topic: Coal

Author:: Karsten Heinz Schönbach
Publication Date:: 11-2024
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET)
Abstract:: Ever since the publication of Henry Turner’s German Big Business and the Rise of Hitler, most historians in both Germany and the United States have dismissed the idea that support from German major industry played a key role in bringing Hitler to power. This consensus is wrong, as I have shown in a series of works that began with my doctoral dissertation at the Free University of Berlin and now extends to more than ten different works, including two books. These works rely extensively on archival resources that were either inaccessible or only selectively open to earlier researchers. This paper analyzes in detail one of the most crucial episodes in Hitler’s rise to power – one that previous historians, particularly Turner, have profoundly misjudged thanks in part at least to the shortcomings in the documentary sources available to them. This is the history of the political relations between Hitler, the NSDAP leadership, and the German “coal industrialists” in the period from 1926 to 1933 and the key role these firms played in supporting and financing the eventual Nazi triumph.
Topic:: History, Business, Coal, Industry, and Adolf Hitler
Political Geography:: Europe and Germany

Author:: Szymon Kardas
Publication Date:: 09-2023
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR)
Abstract:: Poland’s economy, including its energy sector, is still heavily dependent on fossil fuels, including coal. In recent years Poland has significantly developed its renewable energy potential, reduced carbon dioxide emissions, and rolled out energy efficiency measures. Yet challenges remain, attributable to the government’s failure to devise a coherent national energy strategy and its insistence on picking fights with the EU over “sovereignty”; together, these weaken Poland’s influence over European energy policy. Poland has the potential to carry out an ambitious energy transition, considering its renewable energy potential, plans for nuclear power, and public support for change. Whatever the results of the 2023 parliamentary election, the government should aim to forge a cross-party consensus in favour of the energy transition and give it a strategic weight comparable to Poland’s accession to the EU and NATO.
Topic:: Climate Change, European Union, Renewable Energy, Coal, Carbon Emissions, and Energy Transition
Political Geography:: Europe and Poland

Author:: Barbora Kociánová
Publication Date:: 05-2023
Content Type:: Research Paper
Institution:: Europeum Institute for European Policy
Abstract:: As part of the Café Evropa debate series, a debate was held on the topic The future of energy in the Czech Republic - how to further reduce dependence on fossil fuels? Is the Czech Republic succeeding in diversifying its resources and reducing its dependence on fossil fuels? Will the Czech Republic be energy independent from other countries if it moves away from coal? You can read a summary of the outputs of each guest in the report written by our intern Barbora Kociánová.
Topic:: Fossil Fuels, Coal, Energy, and Debates
Political Geography:: Europe and Czech Republic

Author:: CESD Research Team
Publication Date:: 04-2022
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Center for Economic and Social Development (CESD)
Abstract:: The Western Alliance has approved a new package of sanctions against Russia. The most notable of the sanctions is the suspension of coal exports from Russia. What does this mean for Russia, and how can the European Union compensate for this ban? Yesterday, the European Commission posted a decision on sanctions on its website, which means that the ban will come into force. This means that from today, European companies will not be able to conclude contracts to buy coal from Russia. The contracts signed in the previous period must be completed by August.
Topic:: Sanctions, European Union, Economy, Exports, Coal, and Russia-Ukraine War
Political Geography:: Russia and Europe

Author:: François Cohen and Giulia Valacchi
Publication Date:: 11-2020
Content Type:: Research Paper
Institution:: Centre for International Environmental Studies, The Graduate Institute (IHEID)
Abstract:: Climate policy will predominantly affect industries that primarily rely on fossil fuels, such as steelmaking. Within these industries, exposure may be different by country according to the energy-intensity of national plants. We estimate the effect of coal prices on steel plant location worldwide and production preferences for BOF, a polluting technology, and EAF, a greener one. A 1% increase in national coal prices reduces BOF installed capacity by around 0.37%, while it has no statistically significant impact on EAF capacity. We simulate the implementation of a stringent European carbon market with no border adjustment and find a non-negligible shift in steel production outside Europe, with a concomitant impact on the technologies employed to produce steel. If applied worldwide, the same policy would primarily affect production in Asia, which relies on BOF and currently benefits from lower coal prices than those expected to emerge in the future.
Topic:: Climate Change, Natural Resources, Green Technology, Fossil Fuels, Coal, and Price
Political Geography:: Europe

Author:: Lukas Lehotsky and Mikulas Cernik
Publication Date:: 01-2019
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: International Issues: Slovak Foreign Policy Affairs
Institution:: Slovak Foreign Policy Association
Abstract:: The article offers an overview of coal production policies in the Czech Republic – the third-largest coal consumer in the EU and a post-communist country struggling to take decisions over the future of the coal phase-out. It developed its phase- out policy in the early 1990s to address the destruction of the local environment. However, since then no steps have been taken in relation to phase-out. Instead, coal production stakeholders have attempted to maintain the coal lock-in and to reverse phase-out. The article begins by discussing the factors that have led to the ambiguity. It then places the discussion over the future of phase-out within the wider context of a just transition, and offers insights into the Czech case which may prove useful to other countries considering transitioning away from coal.
Topic:: Energy Policy, Natural Resources, Mining, Renewable Energy, and Coal
Political Geography:: Europe and Czech Republic

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