Energy & Development

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

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.

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Planning, Policies, and Governance: The Importance of Strategy When it Comes to Climate Finance for Small Island Developing States 10/13/2025

Planning, Policies, and Governance: The Importance of Strategy When it Comes to Climate Finance for Small Island Developing States

Daniel Flores, Julia Eichhorn, Payne Institute Fellow Jamal Saghir, and Ede Jorge Ijjasz-Vasquez write about how ramping up climate finance flows for adaptation is critical to addressing the irreversible impacts of climate change, but this alone will not be enough to protect (SIDS).  This commentary presents an overview of the status of strategic adaptation document submissions across SIDS and the overall level of environments for adaptation investments.  October 13, 2025.

Small Costs for Large Gains: Climate Resilience in Small Island Developing States 10/13/2025

Small Costs for Large Gains: Climate Resilience in Small Island Developing States

Payne Institute Fellow Jamal Saghir and Ede Jorge Ijjasz-Vasquez write about how Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are increasingly affected by the growing impacts of climate hazards, including tropical cyclones, storm surges, increases in temperature, heatwaves, droughts, coastal and riverine flooding, changing precipitation patterns, and sea level rise among others. Until now, international adaptation and mitigation efforts have paid insufficient attention to these vulnerable island nations. October 13, 2025.

Shifting Centers of Power: Toward a Post-Westphalian World Order 8/2/2025

Shifting Centers of Power: Toward a Post-Westphalian World Order

Payne Institute Fellow Griffin Thompson and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how as the Russian-Ukraine war stretches into prolonged conflict and the Israeli-Hamas war viciously spirals into cross-border conflicts, a Manichean narrative of good vs. evil is used to explain their politics.  August 2, 2025.

How Artificial Intelligence Is Rewriting the Energy Playbook 7/16/2025

How Artificial Intelligence Is Rewriting the Energy Playbook

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian writes about how in our new artificial intelligence era, power isn’t just about computing abilities—it’s about who controls the energy grid.  Once engineered for steel mills and suburbs, the grid is now being reshaped by data centers—vast, humming fortresses of compute that guzzle electricity at levels reminiscent of heavy industry.  July 16, 2025. 

Bridging the Energy Access Divide: A Policy Gap Analysis of 12 African National Energy Compacts Under Mission 300 7/9/2025

Bridging the Energy Access Divide: A Policy Gap Analysis of 12 African National Energy Compacts Under Mission 300

Payne Institute Communications Associate Macdonald Amoah writes about how Africa stands at a pivotal juncture in its energy trajectory, where bold aspirations for universal electrification by 2030 confront entrenched structural and institutional barriers.  In response to this pressing challenge, twelve African governments have aligned themselves with the World Bank’s Mission 300 Energy Compacts, committing to universal access through a suite of reform-oriented and infrastructure-driven strategies.  July 9, 2025.

Fostering Effective Energy Transition 2025 6/18/25

Fostering Effective Energy Transition 2025

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian contributes on this report about how after several years of slow momentum, energy transition progress has accelerated, according to the World Economic Forum’s Fostering Effective Energy Transition 2025 report.  The Energy Transition Index (ETI), which benchmarks 118 countries on their current energy system performance and on the readiness of their enabling environment, finds improvements in energy equity and sustainability driven by easing energy prices, subsidy reforms, lower energy and emission intensity and increased share of clean energy. June 18, 2025.

Europe’s Bet on Saving Industry 5/22/25

Europe’s bet on saving industry

Payne Institute Fellow Noé van Hulst writes about a blog he published a year ago,  “Anatomy of a Fall: Europe’s deindustrialisation”. Since then so much has happened that I feel the urge to come back to this topic. The bad news is that despite passionate speeches and statements from policy makers about the key importance of the manufacturing industry for the economic and security future of Europe, the bleeding hasn’t stopped. May 22, 2025

Trump’s Chaotic Agenda Has a Critical Through Line 2/26/25

Trump’s Chaotic Agenda Has a Critical Through Line

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian contributes to this article about the whirlwind that has been U.S. President Donald Trump’s first month back in the Oval Office, analysts, officials, and diplomats have scrambled to understand the returning U.S. leader’s scattered—and often outlandish—foreign-policy fixations. February 26, 2025.

The Troubled Energy Transition 2/25/25

The Troubled Energy Transition

Payne Institute Advisory Board member Atul Arya wrote this article with Daniel Yergin and Peter Orzag about how in 2024 global production of wind and solar energy reached record levels—levels that would have seemed unthinkable not long before. Over the past 15 years, wind and solar have grown from virtually zero to 15 percent of the world’s electricity generation, and solar panel prices have fallen by as much as 90 percent. February 25, 2025.

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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.