Issue 4 of the Sciences Po Energy Review

The global energy transition is increasingly shaped by its relationship with water, a resource that is both essential to energy production and dependent on energy systems for its supply. As climate change intensifies and demand for both energy and water continues to grow, the need to better understand and manage this interconnection is becoming ever more urgent.

Sciences Po Energy Review’s fourth issue, Tides of Change: Navigating the Intersection of Energy and Water, explores these challenges from multiple perspectives. While water is gaining visibility on the international climate agenda, the links between water and energy remain insufficiently addressed. This issue brings attention to the risks of treating the two sectors separately, particularly as pressures on both systems continue to increase.

Contributions examine a range of critical topics, including the water and energy intensity of of desalination, the role of hydropower for development, and the constraints water availability places on emerging technologies such as green hydrogen. Essays also explore the growing impact of artificial intelligence on water use, as well as the challenges associated with critical mineral extraction.

By bringing together such diverse perspectives, this issue highlights the importance of more integrated thinking across energy and water systems, and offers new insights into how these connections will shape the future of the energy transition.

About the Sciences Po Energy Review

The Sciences Po Energy Review is a graduate student-led publication to advance dialogue about energy. Motivated by the pressing global need for energy transitions, the journal primarily employs a social scientific approach without being constrained by any single discipline, featuring graduate student writing and expert analyses. By placing contributors in conversation with peers and experts, the publication seeks to strengthen existing debates and research about energy at Sciences Po and beyond and welcomes submissions from all around the world. The Sciences Po Energy Review is hosted by the European Chair for Sustainable Development and Climate Transition.

Editorial team

The current editorial team comprises students enrolled in master’s programmes at the Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA) at Sciences Po. They are Clara Klint (Editor in Chief), Maxim Mouret, Laila Garcia-Ferrer, Michael Gillesberger, Sophie Schut. 

Scientific advisor

The academic rigour and intellectual integrity of the Sciences Po Energy Review is enhanced and guaranteed through the appointment of the following scientific advisor:

Marc Ringel: Chairholder at the European Chair for Sustainable Development and Climate Transition at Sciences Po