The Great Simplification #84–Jean-Marc Jancovici: “Our Global Energy Predicament”

| August 22, 2023 | Leave a Comment

The Great Simplification

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Date of Publication: August 16

Year of Publication: 2023

Publisher: The Great Simplification

Author(s): Nate Hagens

In this episode, Nate is joined by well-known French educator Jean-Marc Jancovici to discuss the critical importance of energy to modern economies. Together, Nate and Jean-Marc break down the fundamentals of our complex, growth-dependent global economic system. How much of the stereotypical Western lifestyle is centered around access to cheap, surplus fossil energy? What would it mean for societies to lose this stable, cheap, and abundant supply – and how would the people who have become used to it react? Will a shift in society’s institutions and expectations need to be forced upon us in a time of urgent change or is it possible for nations and societies to anticipate declining energy availability – to actively simplify before we are forced to by circumstances?

About Jean-Marc Jancovici

Jean-Marc Jancovici is a founding partner of Carbone 4, a Paris-based consultancy and data provider specializing in the low-carbon transition, biodiversity impacts, and physical risks of climate change (www.carbone4.com). He is the founder and president of The Shift Project, a Paris-based think tank advocating for a low-carbon economy (www.theshiftproject.org). Jean-Marc Jancovici is also an associate professor at Mines ParisTech, a member of the French High Council for the Climate, and (co-)author of 8 books and the website jancovici.com on energy and climate change issues. Jean-Marc Jancovici is a graduate of École Polytechnique and Télécom ParisTech.

Listen to the podcast here.

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