Decarbonisation Through Public Ownership: Transforming the Energy Sector in the Global South

The energy sector, responsible for 75.7% of global greenhouse gas emissions, is a critical focus of decarbonisation efforts. However, research and policy to date have largely centred on the role of the private sector. This project addresses a significant research gap by exploring how the public sector can deliver energy decarbonisation in a just, equitable, and efficient manner.

PSIRU has been at the forefront of research demonstrating the transformative potential of public ownership in driving energy transitions (Hall et al., 2013; Hall and Nguyen 2017; Weghmann, 2019). For instance, Hall et al. (2013) emphasize that ‘investment in low-carbon generation has been driven by government programmes and integrated state-owned companies, not by markets.’ Similarly, the Trade Union for Energy Democracy (TUED), established in 2012, has argued in their studies that a ‘comprehensive reclaiming’ of the energy system into public ownership is essential to address the energy trilemma: energy security, energy affordability, and renewable energy (Vachon and Sweeney 2018).These finding has been echoed by wider academic debates, with scholars such as Mazzucato and Semieniuk (2018) and Steffen et al. (2022) noting that global renewable energy investments are predominantly led by public actors, as private companies often shy away from the financial risks involved. More recently, the energy crisis has prompted a shift in perspectives. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen acknowledged that the electricity market ‘is no longer fit for purpose,’ while even proponents of liberalised energy markets, such as Pollitt et al. (2022), began to recognise public ownership as a viable response to the crisis. Further amplifying this debate, Brett Christophers’ (2024) book, The Price Is Wrong, garnered widespread attention by arguing that the private sector is reluctant to invest in renewable energy because it is insufficiently profitable.

Despite these discussions, precise tools for mapping and modelling the public sector’s role in energy decarbonisation remain underdeveloped. While energy transitions are inherently shaped by the unique historical, social, and geological contexts of each country, making a one-size-fits-all approach inappropriate, there is a pressing need for methodologies that can extract actionable insights and transferable lessons for global policy interventions. To this end, this project employs an innovative, interdisciplinary mixed-method approach that integrates historical, social,  and experiential dimensions. It adopts a comparative case study framework, combining focus groups and expert interviews with econometric modelling. Central to this methodology is critical realist modelling, which grounds econometric analyses in a robust historical and ontological (qualitative) understanding of behavioural dynamics under both private and public ownership of energy utilities. This approach offers a novel way to capture the multifaceted nature of energy transitions, ensuring the generation of meaningful quantitative insights while avoiding the flawed assumptions often embedded in mainstream econometric models.

Another critical gap in the literature lies in geographic focus: while decarbonisation through de-privatisation in the Global North has been extensively studied, the institutional conditions enabling similar collective action in the Global South remain underexplored. This knowledge gap has resulted in a lack of prospective tools to assist policymakers in the Global South in modelling alternative scenarios and forecasting pathways for a just energy transition. This PhD project seeks to address these gaps by modelling the potential contributions of public ownership to accelerating decarbonisation under different scenarios in one or more countries in the Global South. Through this work, the project aims to develop actionable knowledge and tools to support equitable and effective energy transitions globally. Specifically, the research will explore:

1) What institutional, historical, and socio-economic conditions enable public ownership of energy utilities to drive decarbonisation in an equitable and efficient manner, particularly in the Global South?

2) How can critical realist modelling be applied to compare the decarbonisation potential of public versus private ownership of energy utilities across diverse regional and geological contexts?

3) What policy frameworks and tools can be developed to support just energy transitions in the Global South, and how can lessons from these contexts inform global decarbonisation strategies?

Interviews are scheduled for the week beginning Monday 31st March and will be taking place on Microsoft Teams.

Making an application:

Please read this information before making an application.

• Information on the application process is available at: Application process nearmejobs.eu Research nearmejobs.eu University of Greenwich
• The person specification can be found at: information-on-postgraduate-research-scholarship-ref-vcs-gbs-02-2024.pdf
• Applications need to be made online via this link. No other form of application will be considered.

All applications must include the following information. Applications not containing these documents will not be considered:

1. Scholarship Reference Number (VCS-GBS-02-2024)– included in the personal statement section together with your personal statement as to why you are applying
2. a CV including 2 referees *
3. Research proposal of 1500 words
4. Personal statement
5. academic qualification certificates/transcripts and IELTs/English Language certificate if you are an international applicant or if English is not your first language or you are from a country where English is not the majority spoken language as defined by the UK Border Agency *

*upload to the qualification section of the application form. Attachments must be a PDF format. Before submitting your application, you are encouraged to liaise with the Lead Supervisor on the details above.