1. Overview

This course, "Sessions 1 & 2: understanding the global dynamics around energy," covers the geopolitics of ecological transition, focusing on humanity's relationship with energy, the link between energy consumption and climate change, and broader environmental challenges including biodiversity loss and planetary boundaries. It emphasizes the foundational role of energy in economy and daily life, fossil fuel dependency, the physical laws governing energy, energy consumption trends, carbon emissions, climate impacts, biodiversity crises, and the planetary boundaries framework.

2. Core Concepts & Key Elements

• Introduction & Structure

  • Understanding our relationship to energy
  • Links between energy and climate
  • Environmental challenges: biodiversity and planetary boundaries

• Understanding Our Relationship to Energy

  • Energy definition: capacity to do work; measures transformations in the world
  • Energy enables quantifying system state changes, drives everyday activities (transport, building, industry, agriculture)
  • Economy depends on energy to transform goods/services; better economy with more energy
  • Energy costs represent 5-7% of French household revenues, 5% of global GDP for fossil fuels
  • Fossil fuels (oil, coal, gas) combined with other sources and machine converters enable current lifestyles and population growth
  • Energy law: conservation of energy - energy neither created nor destroyed, only transformed
  • Humans need external energy sources beyond bodily energy
  • Energy converters: bodies convert food energy; machines convert fossil/renewable sources
  • Power (rate of energy transfer) vs energy (quantity)
  • Units: power in Watts (W), energy in Joules (J) or Watt-hours (Wh)
  • Example: 1 liter gasoline ≈ 10 kWh, fuels 10 kW machine for 1 hour or 100W for 100h
  • Human leg power ≈ 0.5 kWh/day energy; industrial machines equate to millions of human legs/arms
  • Fossil fuels are attractive due to abundance, concentration, access, easy use, and low direct cost (rent + extraction)
  • 77% of modern global energy consumption is fossil fuels; total 2023 ~15.7 GToe
  • Global energy consumption and population growth correlation (1 billion in 1850 to over 8 billion in 2023)
  • Fossil fuels cause CO₂ emissions, increasing greenhouse gases and climate change
  • Fossil fuel reserves may last 50-139 years depending on source at current consumption rates
  • Energy services per average European equivalent to 400 slaves (machines) working perpetually
  • Need ~35 billion barrels oil per year to sustain consumption habits

• Links Between Energy and Climate

  • Global energy consumption closely correlates with CO₂ emissions over time
  • Rising atmospheric CO₂ concentration correlates with global temperature increase
  • 1.1°C warming recorded by 2018 linked to cumulative emissions (~2,250 billion tons CO₂)
  • To limit warming below 2°C, limit emissions to 3,000 billion tons CO₂ total (max 750 additional by 2100)
  • Climate change causes milder winters/springs, longer growing seasons, fewer extreme cold events
  • Arctic amplification reduces sea ice extent and alters weather patterns at mid-latitudes
  • Geographical and economic disparities affect countries' emissions profiles
  • Among G7, emissions per capita vary 1 to 3 times among countries
  • Kyoto protocol divides countries into Annex I (reduce emissions) and Annex II (no target)

• Larger Environmental Challenges: Biodiversity & Planetary Boundaries

  • Planetary Boundaries concept defines safe boundaries for Earth’s system (Rockström, 2009)
  • Nine critical boundaries: biosphere integrity, climate change, ocean acidification, ozone depletion, atmospheric aerosols, freshwater use, land-system change, novel entities, biogeochemical flows
  • Many boundaries exceeded or in zones of increasing risk (e.g., nitrogen flows, climate change, biodiversity loss)
  • Biodiversity drivers: land/sea-use change, direct exploitation, climate change, pollution, invasive species
  • Habitat destruction, especially deforestation, peaked in 1980s but continues in tropics (Latin America, SE Asia, Africa)
  • Oceans affected; goal to protect 30% of land/sea by 2030 (COP15)
  • Overexploitation of resources, including fisheries; illegal fishing significant
  • Environmental pollution examples: plastic waste increase tenfold since 1980, eutrophication causes hypoxic "dead zones"
  • Invasive species threaten ecosystems
  • Warming impacts species extinction risks and ecosystems such as coral reefs
  • Ecosystems currently mitigate climate change by carbon sinks but risk turning into carbon sources (e.g., Amazon)
  • False good ideas to avoid: monocultures for bioenergy, industrial tree plantations, increasing irrigation alone
  • Needed: stop ecosystem degradation, restore ecosystems, end harmful subsidies, develop sustainable agriculture/forestry

3. High-Yield Facts

• Energy = capacity to do work, enables transformations
• Energy consumption = rate of world’s change
• Energy costs ~5-7% household revenue, 5% global GDP coal/gas/oil
• Fossil fuels = 77% global energy mix (2023)
• Global primary energy consumption 15.7 GToe in 2023
• Global population: 1 billion in 1850 → 8.09 billion in 2023
• Energy conservation law: energy neither created nor destroyed
• 1 liter gasoline = 10 kWh = 10 kW machine for 1h or 100W for 100h
• 400 “energy slaves” equivalent per average European person
• Fossil fuel reserves: oil 56 yrs, gas 139 yrs, coal 50 yrs (2020 data)
• Carbon intensity emissions fossil sources: nuclear (6g CO2e/kWh) to coal (1058g CO2e/kWh)
• Limit warming to max 2°C → max 3000 billion tons CO2, max 750 additional billion tons by 2100
• +1.1°C warming recorded by 2018 from ~2,250 billion tons CO2 emissions
• 1/3 global forests lost, 71% land habitable, 62% tropical/temperate/boreal forests intact
• Over 30% planet land/sea protection goal by 2030
• Plastic pollution affects 267 species, including 86% turtles, 44% seabirds
• Nitrogen fertilizer production up 5x in 50 years
• Dead zones caused by eutrophication in marine/rivers
• 25-33% fishing illegal, 62% Mediterranean/Black Sea stocks overexploited
• Coral reefs projected 99% decline at +2°C
• Amazon is currently net carbon emitter, not "lungs of planet"
• False solutions include large scale monocultures for bioenergy, algal plantations

4. Summary Table

5. Mini-Schema (ASCII)

Global Energy Dynamics  
 ├─ Relationship to Energy  
 │   ├─ Definition and role  
 │   ├─ Energy law: conservation  
 │   ├─ Economy and energy link  
 │   ├─ Energy converters and machines  
 │   └─ Fossil fuel dependency and costs  
 ├─ Energy and Climate Links  
 │   ├─ CO2 emissions and energy use  
 │   ├─ Temperature rises and limits  
 │   ├─ Climate change impacts  
 │   └─ Emissions by countries and inequalities  
 └─ Environmental Challenges  
     ├─ Biodiversity loss  
     │   ├─ Habitat destruction, overexploitation  
     │   ├─ Pollution (plastic, eutrophication)  
     │   └─ Invasive species  
     ├─ Planetary Boundaries  
     │   ├─ Definition and limits  
     │   └─ Current status (exceeded risks)  
     └─ Ecosystem services and sustainability  
         ├─ Carbon sinks / sources dynamics  
         └─ Needed vs false mitigation approaches  

6. Rapid-Review Bullets

• Energy = capacity to do work, drives system transformations
• Economy depends on energy; more energy improves productivity
• Energy law: conserved, transformed not created/destroyed
• Fossil fuels = 77% global energy, main source despite environmental costs
• Power ≠ energy; power = Joules/second (Watts), energy in kWh
• 1L gasoline ≈ 10 kWh energy
• Average European’s energy services equal to 400 human slaves
• Global energy consumption rose with population growth (1→8B since 1850)
• CO₂ emissions tightly linked to energy use and climate warming
• Limit cumulative CO₂ emissions to ~3,000 billion tons total to avoid >2°C warming
• +1.1°C global temperature rise recorded by 2018
• Biodiversity heavily affected by habitat loss, exploitation, pollution, invasive species
• Planetary Boundaries provide framework to avoid Earth system tipping points
• Amazon currently net carbon emitter due to deforestation and fires
• Plastic pollution and eutrophication expanding marine dead zones
• Fisheries overexploited; illegal fishing remains high
• Mitigation requires ecosystem protection/restoration, sustainable agriculture, reducing fossil fuel use
• False fixes: monocultures, bioenergy industrial plantations, irrigation expansion alone