The abstract submission and selection period is closed. If you submitted an abstract for consideration, you will have received an email about its status. We will update this site with more information about the full program as the conference draws closer. For questions, please contact us at fossilfuelconference@sei.org.

The conference themes focus on production (supply) of fossil fuels within the context of addressing climate change during the energy transition:

  1. Equity, justice, and fossil fuel supply

  2. Business, finance, markets, and volatility

  3. Government and intergovernmental policies and institutions for a managed transition

  4. Narratives, vested interests, and opposition strategies

Our submission period for abstracts is now closed. Please stay tuned for an announcement on selected abstracts and registration information on 16 May.

Theme 1: Equity, justice, and fossil fuel supply

This theme encompasses international and intranational equity and justice in fossil fuel supply in the context of the energy transition, both at the conceptual and empirical levels. This includes approaches to understanding and addressing local and international distribution of benefits and costs. It also comprises issues relating to social inequality, and discrimination, including the rights of vulnerable groups such as women, Indigenous peoples, and youth.

Examples of pertinent topics and case studies include:

International Equity

  • What are equitable ways to allocate fossil fuel production within the remaining carbon budget?

  • What are the different meanings of “global just transition,” in theory and practice, for the fossil fuel sector, for civil society, for governments, and other stakeholders, in an era of climate emergency, global disparities, renewed nationalism, and pandemic/post-pandemic geopolitics?

  • How can the international community support the phase-out of fossil fuel production in developing countries, including through public and private financial institutions and dedicated instruments (financial and otherwise)?

  • Is there a role for fossil fuel revenues in financing the energy transition, and if so, what are the equity implications? How should these be managed?

Intranational Equity

  • Equity and scalar politics of energy transition (e.g. subnational regions as “sacrifice zones” in transition; subnational transfers and transitional assistance policy).

  • How can the transition away from fossil fuel extraction be designed in a way that helps address existing forms of social and economic inequality and doesn’t create new ones? What can be learned from historical and current experiences of transition?

  • What are the economic, distributional, and social implications of specific policies and measures to curb fossil fuel extraction?

  • What are good practices for mine, well, and field closure?

  • How are labor movements addressing equity issues in their proposals for just transition planning? Case studies of cross-regional exchange, including South-South and North-South.

  • How can resource-rich developing countries embark on alternative and inclusive development pathways that do not leave workers and communities behind? What can the international community support this process?

  • How should an equitable transition address informal economies around coal extraction? Sometimes prevalent in developing countries, these might range from the extensive informal labor networks, linkages, and value chains connected to formal large-scale coal production to small- and medium-scale coal mining, and include gender and/or vulnerability dimensions.

  • What are appropriate metrics and indicators to measure progress in the just and equitable dimensions of the energy transition?

Theme 2: Business, finance, markets and volatility

This theme explores the relationship between production of fossil fuels and energy markets, price volatility, finance, and private sector roles and strategies throughout the energy transition. This includes economic arguments to accelerate the energy transition, emerging good business practice, and the effects of demand policies on fossil fuel production, among others.

Examples of pertinent topics and case studies include:

  • What are the effects of demand policies on fossil fuel production? For example, phase-down of coal, diesel, and fuel oil power plants or consumer subsidies.

  • How can supply and demand policies align and coordinate to meet climate ambitions?

  • How can fossil fuel production be curtailed during a commodity supercycle?

  • Are high or low fossil fuel prices preferable for a transition, and what are the corresponding policy implications?

  • What are the economic arguments to accelerate the energy transition in developing countries?

  • What are the effects of carbon pricing or carbon adjustment on fossil fuel production?

  • Reliability: Are fossil fuels needed to compensate for intermittent energy resources? What are the economic and technological arguments for/against this claim?

  • Bridge fuel: Do we need fossil fuels like gas as a transition fuel?

  • What supply and demand measures can be used to overcome the “Green Paradox,” where some countries may consider accelerating their fossil fuel production to minimize their amount of fossil reserves stranded in the ground?

  • Incumbent power dynamics during price spikes and lows.

  • Who are the leaders and laggards among fossil fuel producing companies planning for the energy transition? Are there emerging good practices or strategies that fossil fuel producing entities could adopt towards carbon neutrality? What are the long-term prospects for fossil fuel companies?

Theme 3: Government and intergovernmental policies and institutions for a managed transition

This theme explores the relationship between production of fossil fuels and energy markets, price volatility, finance, and private sector roles and strategies throughout the energy transition. This includes economic arguments to accelerate the energy transition, emerging good business practice, and the effects of demand policies on fossil fuel production, among others.

Examples of pertinent topics and case studies include:

  • Case studies of national and subnational strategies and roadmaps, including legislation, to manage the wind-down of fossil fuel supply. These may include, but are not limited to, restrictions on licensing for new fossil fuel extraction and processing infrastructure, closure and rehabilitation regulations, and transition funds for workers and regions.

  • The performance of existing global and transnational governance arrangements in addressing fossil fuel production, and suggestions for institutional reform. Analyses could focus on relevant multilateral forums (e.g. UNFCCC, IEA, OPEC, G20), transnational governance arrangements (e.g., EITI), emerging club-based approaches (e.g., the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance), and/or proposals for future governance (e.g., a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty).

  • Fossil fuel supply commitments under UNFCCC and other international initiatives/venues.

  • Case studies of stakeholder participation in governmental strategies for a managed transition away from fossil fuel production.

  • Strategies to manage the changes to revenue, balance of payments, and local economic resilience for resource-rich dependent regions, including at the sub-national level, in the context of production wind-down and price volatility.

  • How can governments and intergovernmental organizations steer global public and private financial flows away from fossil fuels and towards decarbonized energy systems? Advantages and disadvantages of various instruments and mechanisms.

  • Use of Covid recovery packages to support or disincentivize fossil fuel production and deepen/avoid carbon lock-in.

theme 4: Narratives, vested interests, and opposition strategies around fossil fuel production

  • How do different fossil fuel and other constituencies construct narratives and counter-narratives to support or block policy alternatives that either deepen carbon lock-in or push for low-carbon transitions? Examples might include narratives around Covid recovery, net zero announcements, security of domestic fossil fuel supplies, and energy sovereignty; development narratives or imaginaries (e.g. around jobs, foreign exchange, balance of payments, royalties, or cleaner cooking fuels), or sociotechnical imaginaries (e.g., around existing or emerging technologies, such as CCS or blue hydrogen) that might be used to influence policy in maintaining or shifting fossil fuel-based development paths.

  • What are the political economies and related political dynamics playing into the entrenchment of vested fossil fuel interests or opportunities for disrupting these?

  • How do narratives shift and adapt in the context of fossil fuel price volatility and supply constraints, particularly in the Covid context? How do the jobs and development narratives of fossil fuel producers evolve with low prices, high prices, and price volatility?

  • How does fossil fuel production align (or not) with net-zero narratives and targets at the national, subnational, and company levels? Can fossil fuel producer countries claim to be net zero? Is there such a thing as a net-zero coal mine?

  • How are climate and energy transition goals affected by loss of state revenue, deterioration in trade balances, or increasing energy prices due to low fossil fuel supply?

  • How does the fossil fuel industry maintain social license and political power, and what has been effective at eroding that? How do consumer shortages affect public support for fossil fuel production?

  • The role of litigation in addressing fossil fuel production, including discussion of various types of litigation (e.g. based in human rights law, corporate law, administrative law, and investment law), challenges faced by litigants and opportunities for further litigation, and an assessment of direct and indirect effects brought about by litigation. Analyses could focus on specific cases (e.g. Milieudefensie v. Royal Dutch Shell; Gloucester Resources v. Minister for Planning; Duarte Agostinho et al.).

  • Investor and shareholder activism.

  • Community-level strategies to cope with or oppose fossil fuel production infrastructure.

  • Linkages between fossil fuel opposition and other social movements (e.g. local environmental justice and climate movements, racial justice, ecofeminism, Indigenous rights, and land rights movements), including, for example, lessons from specific cases, and impacts on policy traction.