December 2020 Media Brief

The Energy in COVID-19 monthly media briefs collect the latest news read by our working group members. Each month, a different working group member takes the lead in writing up summaries and the brief’s framing, always in conversation with the full working group. The overall aim of the briefs is to showcase how disasters instigate policy changes, particularly around economic crises.

Summary

Previous media briefs have traced the ways in which COVID-19 is shaping energy policy on local, national, and global scales. In the December Media Brief we continue to discuss COVID-19 energy relief policy, along with national energy policy regarding energy security and energy efficiency. Discussions of green energy transitions have also been present in previous media briefs, and in this brief we focus more narrowly on the topic of energy storage for renewable energy sources. Finally, articles in this month’s brief analyze energy governance that is short-sighted in face of a shifting energy terrain, and is reflective of colonial logics of extraction, exploitation, and sacrifice that is rationalized by white supremacist, capitalist, and individualist ideologies. 

Leah Millis/Reuters: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/07/first-thing-insurrection...

Cite as: Morgan Sarao, James Adams, Briana Leone, Andrew Rosenthal, and Ali Kenner. "Media Brief - December 2020." Energy in COVID-19. The Energy Rights Project. Platform for Experimental and Collaborative Ethnography.

The Energy in COVID-19 monthly media briefs collect the latest news read by the Energy in COVID-19 working group members. The overall aim of the briefs is to showcase how disasters can shore up policy changes, particularly around economic crises. All media briefs can be found in this timeline essay.

Visit the Energy in COVID-19 main page for more information about the working group.