Category: Energy and Development

Accelerating Coal Plant Retirement at Scale 8/1/2023

Accelerating Coal Plant Retirement at Scale

Deb Chattopadhyay, Payne Institute Program Manager Brad Handler, and Chandrasekar Govindarajalu write about how coal plants in some countries are actively being retired ahead of their planned closure dates, there is yet to be sufficient clarity on which business model(s) might help to achieve this at scale.  Policy-based and market-led closures, buyout of coal plants, auctioning them off, repurposing them, and swapping coal assets with renewables have all been tried in different parts of the world. They make an assessment of various proposed financial and business models to retire coal fired power plants early and which model or combination of models might work best for “at-scale” closure. August 1, 2023.  

Transitional dynamics from mercury to cyanide-based processing in artisanal and small-scale gold mining: Social, economic, geochemical, and environmental considerations 7/21/2023

Transitional dynamics from mercury to cyanide-based processing in artisanal and small-scale gold mining: Social, economic, geochemical, and environmental considerations

Payne Institute Research Associate Aaron Malone and Faculty Fellow Nicole Smith and others examine the environmental issues around artisanal gold mining, in particular highlighting often-overlooked problems that are occurring as more of the sector incorporates cyanide processing. The common sense among policy makers and the international community is that anything that decreases use of mercury is an improvement – but what we show is that the current transition phase, with mercury and cyanide use overlapping, actually makes environmental problems worse. In this regard, it is important not to be complacent or imagine that artisanal gold mining’s environmental problems will fix themselves. July 21, 2023.

Mining Profile – Ghana 7/13/2023

Mining Profile – Ghana

The Payne Institute looks at the current mining profile of Ghana, in the first of a series of informational snapshots of mining around the world.  July 13, 2023.

Can CSR strategy mediate conflict over extraction? Evidence from two mines in Peru 6/19/2023

Can CSR strategy mediate conflict over extraction? Evidence from two mines in Peru

Payne Institute Advisory Board member Deborah Avant, Devin Finn, and Tricia D. Olsen write about how corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies can shape political contexts to mediate or exacerbate the resource curse. Using a relational pragmatic approach—one that recognizes actors are dynamic and focuses on the interactions that shape how they see their interests—we develop expectations about two ideal type CSR strategies: transformational and transactional and their relational implications. June 19, 2023.

Electric regionalism: Path dependence, development, and the African power pools 6/7/2023

Electric regionalism: Path dependence, development, and the African power pools

Payne Faculty Fellow Kathleen Hancock writes about how low access, unreliable supply, and high- cost electricity have hampered many African states’ ability to grow their economies. Even high- income states, like South Africa, are increasingly challenged to provide reliable electricity. To help address this shortfall, African states belong to five regional power pools: organizations that link together electricity grids of member states and cre-ate markets to buy and sell electricity across borders.  June 7, 2023.

Analyzing a deadly confrontation to understand the roots of conflict in artisanal and small-scale mining: A case study from Arequipa, Peru 6/7/2023

Analyzing a deadly confrontation to understand the roots of conflict in artisanal and small-scale mining: A case study from Arequipa, Peru

Payne Institute Research Associate Aaron Malone, Faculty Fellow Nicole M. Smith, Eliseo Zeballos Zeballos, Rolando Quispe Aquino, Ubaldo Tapia Huamaní, Jerónimo Miguel Gutiérrez Soncco, Guido Salas, Zacarias Madariaga Coaquira, Jose Herrera Bedoya write about how conflicts around large-scale mining are common and widely researched, but artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) features sparingly in the mining conflict literature, despite the prevalence of ASM conflicts. This paper examines ASM conflicts, focusing on a central case study from Arequipa, Peru, where violence between rival ASM groups and a mining company resulted in 15 deaths between 2020 and 2022. June 7, 2023.

Zimbabwe’s Attack on Carbon Offsets 6/6/2023

Zimbabwe’s attack on carbon offsets

Payne Institute Program Manager Brad Handler and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how Zimbabwe’s announcement that it is canceling all carbon offset contracts in its borders and demanding a larger government share of any new ones is wearily familiar to those who have experience with resource nationalization.  But tearing up contracts can only set a bad precedent for developing economies seeking to attract investment that might benefit their communities.  June 6, 2023.

What You Should Do Is What You Can Do 5/23/2023

What You Should Do Is What You Can Do

Payne Institute Research Associate Baba Freeman is on this podcast discussing how as the world shifts toward green technology, how can African countries with abundant rare mineral reserves navigate and benefit from this change? What role do global financial systems play in responsibly investing in these minerals? With an in-depth analysis of the implications for developing countries in Africa and across the globe.  May 23, 2023.

Chile Is Nationalizing Lithium. It May Not Go How Nervous Investors Expect. 4/25/2023

Chile Is Nationalizing Lithium. It May Not Go How Nervous Investors Expect.

Payne Institute Research Associate Aaron Malone and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how lithium is one of the renewable energy transition’s most crucial minerals, primarily for its use in electric vehicle batteries. Chile is the world’s second-largest producer of lithium, and has the largest reserves. So, when Chilean President Gabriel Boric announced his intention on Thursday to nationalize the country’s lithium industry, it provoked strong reactions.  April 25, 2023.  

Filling the hole Silicon Valley Bank left in the climate tech ecosystem 3/15/2023

Filling the hole Silicon Valley Bank left in the climate tech ecosystem

Payne Institute Sustainable Finance Lab Program Manager Brad Handler and Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian write about the Silicon Valley Bank playing a critical role in the climate tech industry, particularly for early-stage companies. The bank’s recent collapse will be felt even though its depositors will get their money back, as announced by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. March 15, 2023.