Energy & Development

Supporting developing economies in establishing sustainable energy systems and reducing energy poverty around the globe

Accelerating a transition to a radically different, and inclusive, energy system is a generational challenge. The poorest three-quarters of the global population still use only about 10% of global energy. Giving power to the poor through effective energy and development is a key factor in ensuring vibrant economic development around the world.

Access to modern energy services has been called the “golden thread” of development. As nations develop, energy demand continually increases as does the need for further infrastructure.

The Payne Institute at the Colorado School of Mines and our partners are focusing on the interconnected impacts of energy development on markets, trade, security, geopolitics and environment in creating vibrant industrialized societies. We are together creating a home for global discussion on the issue of energy and development.

NEWS

Can we please have a nuanced discussion of development and fossil fuels? 12/13/24

Can we please have a nuanced discussion of development and fossil fuels?

Payne Institute Fellow Todd Moss writes about how he was quoted in a New York Times piece that presents a pernicious strain of black-or-white thinking about climate and poverty. It’s pernicious both because it’s widespread and because it’s false: The real debate on climate and poverty is not 100% renewables now vs climate deniers. And while posing these two extremes as the only choices for global development might make good clickbait, it’s terrible for civil discussion or constructive policymaking. If we’re going to make faster progress on clean energy development, we need to call this false binary out. December 13, 2024.

Five Bipartisan Actions on Energy Security as Trump Returns to the White House 12/4/2024

Five Bipartisan Actions on Energy Security as Trump Returns to the White House

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian, Accelerated Methane Program Manager Simon Lomax, and Roger Pielke, Jr. write about how Republicans and Democrats can meet in the middle on the complex set of issues that comprise energy policy – from emissions, to affordability, to reliability, to national security and geopolitics. In fact, for almost two decades, the U.S. has been a global energy leader, even as power has shifted back and forth between the two major political parties. December 4, 2024.

Small and Medium Infrastructure Development Projects – Policy Implications

Payne Institute Senior Fellow Jamal Saghir writes about how the many years of observations in developing countries make it very clear that no country can achieve sustained increases in GDP without spending on infrastructure, whether for energy services, water treatment plants, roads, railways, ports and airports, telecommunications, digital transformation, urban services, rural facilities, or environmental protection. November 26, 2024.

Moving in the wrong direction

Payne Institute’s Earth Observation Group provided the satellite data in this article about flaring emissions from global upstream oil and gas production activity increased by 7% from 2022 to 2023, according to latest Rystad Energy research. Upstream activities emit about 1 gigatonne per year of carbon dioxide (CO2) in total, with flaring contributing around 30% of those emissions in 2023 assuming 98% flaring efficiency on average. October 15, 2024.

Payne Institute for Public Policy 2024 State of Critical Minerals Report highlights potential of mining tailings and steep nickel cost curve 10/10/2024

Payne Institute for Public Policy 2024 State of Critical Minerals Report highlights potential of mining tailings and steep nickel cost curve

A new critical minerals report from The Payne Institute for Public Policy at Colorado School of Mines highlights the vast potential from mining tailings, the steep cost curve for Nickel, new legislation focused on increasing the domestic mining of critical minerals and the U.S. government’s recent $4.9 billion of investments in mining and processing. October 10, 2024.

ELECTRICITY ACCESS IN THE NAVAJO NATION 10/10/2024

ELECTRICITY ACCESS IN THE NAVAJO NATION

Payne Institute Communications Associate Kristin Ziv, Daniel Cardenas, Fellow Richard Luarkie, and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how many Navajo Tribal members, some 13,000 households, living on the Nation’s reservation still lack access to electricity services. These Navajo households make up most of the 17,000 native American tribal homes without electricity, according to the US Department of Energy’s Office of Indian Affairs. Want of electricity harms public health, education, and economic development outcomes. October 10, 2024.

Community Benefit Agreements are key to mining battery minerals on public lands 9/20/2024

Community Benefit Agreements are key to mining battery minerals on public lands

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Elizabeth Holley writes this article about meeting energy transition goals for decarbonization and how it will require huge increases in the production of battery minerals such as copper, cobalt, nickel, manganese, lithium and graphite. The USA is almost entirely dependent on imports for most of these minerals, and the potential for geopolitical supply chain disruption has led to new federal policies that prioritize domestic mining. September 20, 2024.

Deployment of Climate Change Adaptation Technologies 9/20/2024

DEPLOYMENT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION TECHNOLOGIES

Payne Institute Fellow Jamal Saghir writes about how developing countries are seriously impacted by climate change, and achieving the long-term goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement to tackle climate change adaptation would require both new and emerging technologies as well as innovative business models and markets for their successful deployment at scale in developing countries. September 20, 2024.

Colorado’s quantum hub will revolutionize technology, with Colorado School of Mines helping lead the way 9/16/2024

Colorado’s quantum hub will revolutionize technology, with Colorado School of Mines helping lead the way

Payne Institute Fellow Lincoln Carr contributes to an article about Zhexuan Gong and other Mines researchers on how they turned to a quantum simulator made of a particular experimental device that uses electrodes and lasers to trap charged atoms. By controlling the interactions among the trapped ions, Gong and his collaborators were able to create a brand-new synthetic quantum material—the world’s first 1D magnet, made of just 23 atoms. September 16, 2024.

Standardizing “green” extractivism: Chinese & Western environmental, social, and governance instruments in the critical mineral sector 8/24/24

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Raphael Deberdt writes as societies attempt to transition to low-carbon energy and reduce fossil fuel dependencies, mineral extractivism is reaching new heights globally. This trend is accompanied by a surge of Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) standards used to justify a perceived just transition. August 24, 2024.

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For more information about the Energy & Development Research Area at the Payne Institute for Public Policy, please contact our Deputy Director, Gregory Clough, at gclough@mines.edu.