Thijs Van de Graaf Profile picture
Associate Professor @GIESGhent | Non-Resident Fellow @BIGEurope | Contributing author to @IRENA reports on Geopolitics of the Energy Transition
Jul 12, 2023 14 tweets 5 min read
📢 @IRENA’s new report on the geopolitics of critical materials has just been launched.

Proud to have been involved in the production of this report, working with a great team under the guidance of @ElizabethSPress.

Here’s a thread with some of my takeaways: 🧵

(1/n) Energy transition technologies will become major drivers of demand for critical materials.

Today, 66% of all lithium goes to the energy sector. By 2030, this share could rise to 95-99%.

>50% of all graphite, dysprosium and cobalt could go to the energy sector by 2030.

(2/n)
Oct 17, 2022 15 tweets 4 min read
As 🇪🇺 is moving closer to imposing a PRICE CAP on gas, here is a summary of what a price cap is and what it is not. 🧵

1/15 By my count, there are now at least 5 versions of a gas price cap as discussed in the EU.

2/15
May 31, 2022 7 tweets 4 min read
I see many early analyses of the EU's #oil #embargo against Russia but one crucial point that is not mentioned very often is that the package is almost certainly going to include a #shipping #insurance ban.

This might make or break the EU's oil embargo. 🧵 The details still need to be fleshed out, but if it is included, the #insuranceban is a potentially powerful tool.

95% of shipping insurance for Russian oil was carried out in Europe, primarily in London.

bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Feb 23, 2022 9 tweets 3 min read
Can Russia really turn off the gas taps to Europe? Some thoughts. 🧵 Russia can afford to turn off the taps. Russia earns 5x more from export of oil than from export of gas (pipeline + LNG) and it holds over $630 bn in foreign reserves. But that does not imply it will cut-off gas deliveries to Europe.
Feb 21, 2022 6 tweets 3 min read
Wat bedenkingen bij de geopolitieke “analyse” van @BouziAdam en @FChombar ter ondersteuning van de keepthelightson.be campagne. keepthelightson.be/wp-content/upl… Ja, invoer van aardgas gaat gepaard met geopolitieke risico’s. Maar slechts 27% van het gas dat wij verbruiken gaat naar productie van elektriciteit. Al dan niet verlengen 2 reactoren is dus hoogstens een druppel op een hete plaat. Image
Jan 31, 2022 15 tweets 6 min read
Will petrostates such as Russia only grow stronger as the energy transition progresses?

@OSullivanMeghan and @JasonBordoff suggest they will.
nytimes.com/2022/01/27/opi…

But some arguments seem debatable, or even contradictory. A thread.🧵 The first argument goes like this: the clean energy transition will cause more price volatility, and this will strengthen the geopolitical hand of petrostates.
Jan 15, 2022 13 tweets 6 min read
Thrilled to see the launch of @IRENA’s report on the geopolitics of hydrogen: bit.ly/33wQOxz
It has been a pleasure to serve as the lead author and work with a great team under the guidance of @ElizabethSPress
#TheHydrogenFactor #IRENA12A Image It is hard to summarize all of the ideas in the report in a thread, but here are some of the key themes. 🧵