Newsletter 2025Q2

 

RECENT ACTIVITIES

• The 2025 International Conference on Climate and Energy Finance (ICEF2025) Successfully Held

• The 10th Forum on Carbon Neutrality and Climate Finance Successfully Held

On May 10, 2025, the 10th Forum on Carbon Neutrality and Climate Finance, themed “Climate Risk and Low-Carbon Transition,” was successfully held at China University of Mining and Technology. The forum was jointly hosted by the Energy Finance Committee of the International Society for Energy Transition Studies (ISETS) and the Climate Finance Research Branch of the Chinese Society of Optimization, Overall Planning, and Economic Mathematics. It was organized by the School of Economics and Management of China University of Mining and Technology and co-organized by the university’s Green Finance Research Center.

Professor Li Xinchun, Party Secretary of the School of Economics and Management at China University of Mining and Technology, delivered a welcome speech on behalf of the host institution. Professor Zhang Dayong, Chair of the Climate Finance Research Branch and a professor at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, delivered remarks on behalf of the organizing committee. The opening ceremony of the forum was chaired by Professor Wang Deru, Vice Dean of the School of Economics and Management at China University of Mining and Technology.

 

• The 16th ISETS Energy Transition Forum was successfully held at Hubei University of Economics
  

On May 23, the 16th ISETS Energy Transition Forum was successfully held at Hubei University of Economics. Co-organized by Hubei University of Economics and the International Society for Energy Transition Studies (ISETS), the event was jointly hosted by the Provincial-Ministerial Joint Innovation Center for Carbon Emission Trading and the Journal of Environmental Economic Research. The China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) Resource and Environmental Economics Research Center served as the supporting institution.

Themed “Sustainable Critical Minerals: The Cornerstone of Energy Transition and Climate Action,” the forum featured a formal opening ceremony with keynote addresses, thematic presentations.  The academic gathering attracted nearly a hundred participants. This interdisciplinary platform facilitated knowledge exchange among leading institutions, reflecting the global significance of critical mineral sustainability in advancing climate action agendas.

NEWS AND OPINIONS

• Seeking professors teaching energy transition in disadvantaged countries

Energy Transition Show podcast is seeking to share our catalog of over 250 deeply-researched shows with professors teaching energy transition topics. Dozens of major universities around the world already use our show as coursework. Their libraries typically pay around $3000 for an annual license to our show, just as they do for the regular academic journals, so their professors can use our show as a teaching tool.

But thanks to a generous grant from the Quadrature Climate Foundation, we can now offer a limited number of these licenses for free to universities in financially disadvantaged countries (broadly, the “Global South”).  All we need to grant a completely free one-year license to our podcast to an eligible university is one professor at that university to express interest in using our show as a teaching tool.

If you are not familiar with our show, it’s a top-ranked, subscription-based energy podcast that we’ve been publishing for almost ten years. There are over 250 shows in our complete catalog. You can get a sense of the kinds of topics we cover by having a look at our guest list. All of our shows are deeply researched and structured, and come with interactive transcripts and extensive bibliographies for listeners who want to learn more, which makes them a terrific research resource.

We are also now testing an AI engine that has been given our entire catalog of show notes (bibliographies) and transcripts, which can take questions in multiple languages about the energy transition globally and give very good responses in those languages. So whatever language the professors use to teach their courses can also be used to query our entire catalog of material.

Including the listeners to our free, abridged shows, our reach is in excess of 85,000 listeners in 47 countries. Our show is completely subscriber-supported, with no advertisers or sponsors. As a rule, we don’t even have guests from commercial companies on our show. Nearly all of our guests are university researchers. Our paying subscribers and site licensees include a broad mix of thousands of serious people working in energy transition, as well as government agencies, corporations, national labs, and dozens of universities.

 

• President Sun Xiansheng of ISETS in Dialogue with Fu Chengyu, Former Chairman of Sinopec: Key Challenges for Small and Medium-Sized Energy Enterprises Going Global
  

At the invitation of China Energy News’ special program “Hello, Future: Energy Golden Microphone High-End Dialogue,” Sun Xiansheng, President of the International Society for Energy Transition Studies (ISETS), engaged in an in-depth discussion with Fu Chengyu, former Chairman of Sinopec. Their conversation focused on current trends in Chinese enterprises’ global expansion, market challenges, and necessary strategic transformations for sustainable growth.

CNOOC and Sinopec differ fundamentally in their corporate culture and development models. CNOOC, established during China’s reform and opening-up era, possesses a market-oriented and internationalized DNA. Through innovative reforms such as “separating core and non-core businesses” and “divestment with capital allocation,” it transformed from a “three-no” enterprise (no capital, no technology, no experience) into a highly efficient market player. In contrast, Sinopec, rooted in a traditional state-owned enterprise (SOE) structure, faces greater historical burdens in its transformation.

In response to international accusations of “overcapacity,” Fu Chengyu argues that this rhetoric is a tactic by Western nations to suppress China’s leadership in new energy technologies. The current surplus is a temporary structural issue, as future global energy demand—driven by AI and other technologies—will far outstrip supply. Chinese enterprises must avoid internal competition (“involution”) in overseas markets by establishing industry-wide price floors, standardizing competitive practices, and moving away from cutthroat low-price strategies that erode profitability.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

• The Third ISETS International Conference “Geopolitics and Global Collaboration for Decarbonization”28 November- 1 December 2025   University of Tokyo (Hongo Campus), Tokyo, Japan 

The International Society for Energy Transition Studies (ISETS) will organise its third international conference on 28 November- 1 December 2025, in Tokyo, in cooperation with The Canon Institute for Global Studies.

The conference will address critical issues in sustainable energy transition and the global response to climate change. Its goal is to facilitate a comprehensive dialogue on the intersection of energy policy, climate governance, and technological innovation by bringing together leading academics, analysts, policymakers, and industry experts. This conference aims to foster collaborative approaches and innovative solutions for a sustainable and equitable energy future in the context of global climate challenges.

The ISETS International Conference is now accepting applications for “Concurrent Sessions.” Each concurrent session is approximately 100 minutes in duration and should include a minimum of 4 paper presentations. The session organizer or their team can present a maximum of 2 papers during the session. Session organizers will be responsible for promoting the workshop, selecting, and reviewing the final report papers.

Following the conclusion of the Conference, papers presented during the sessions will be considered for publication in special issues.

E-mail: events@isets.org; and isets2024@hotmail.com.

The Call For Abstracts can be downloaded at: Call for Abstracts-2nd Conference 202401

The details are available at https://isets.org/isets2025/