Dr. Kirsten Westphal

Dr. Kirsten Westphal


Research Division: Global Issues
Senior Associate

kirsten.westphal(at)swp-berlin.org

Since 2020 Member of the National Hydrogen Council

2018 - 2020 Head of the Project "Geopolitics of Energy Transformation"

2018/2019 Member of the Expert Council of the Global Commission on the Geopolitics of Energy Transition (2018/2019)

Since 2020 Member of the Scientific Council of the Royal Institute Elcano, Madrid

Since 2017 Member of the Advisory Board, Regional Centre for Energy Policy Research (REKK) Foundation, Budapest

Since 2017 Member of the Editorial Board, "European Energy Journal"

Since 2016 Head of the project "Germany-Poland Energy Dialogue"

2016 Head of the project "Energy Security in the OSCE"

Since 2015 Head of the project "Germany-Russia Energy Dialogue"

2003-2008 Assistant Professor at JLU Gießen for International Relations and Foreign Policy

1999-2002 Researcher at the JLU Gießen, Guest researcher at IRELA Madrid and Center for International Development and Environmental Relations (CIDER) JLU Gießen

1999,2000 Guest Researcher at the Instituto de Relaciones Europeo-Latinoamericanas (IRELA), Madrid

1996-1998 Preussen Elektra AG; Guest Researcher at the The Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF)

Areas of Expertise:

Energy policy, EU energy policy

Geopolitics of the Energy Transformation, Global Energy Issues and Security, International Energy-Governance, Energy and Connectivity,  EU Foreign Energy Relations, Energy Developments in the Neighbourhood (Eastern Europe/Eurasia, the Mediterranean and the MENA region.


SWP Publications (selection):

Kirsten Westphal

Strategic Sovereignty in Energy Affairs

Reflections on Germany and the EU’s Ability to Act

SWP Comment 2021/C 07, January 2021, 8 Pages

doi:10.18449/2021C07

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Kirsten Westphal, Susanne Dröge, Oliver Geden

The International Dimensions of Germany’s Hydrogen Policy

SWP Comment 2020/C 32, June 2020, 8 Pages

doi:10.18449/2020C32

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Maria Pastukhova, Jacopo Maria Pepe, Kirsten Westphal

Beyond the Green Deal: Upgrading the EU’s Energy Diplomacy for a New Era

SWP Comment 2020/C 31, June 2020, 8 Pages

doi:10.18449/2020C31

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 | 2.7 MB
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Andreas Goldthau, Martin Keim, Kirsten Westphal

The Geopolitics of Energy Transformation

Governing the Shift: Transformation Dividends, Systemic Risks and New Uncertainties

SWP Comment 2018/C 42, October 2018, 4 Pages
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Kirsten Westphal, Aurélie Bros, Tatiana Mitrova

German-Russian Gas Relations

A Special Relationship in Troubled Waters

SWP Research Paper 2017/RP 13, December 2017, 48 Pages
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 | 1.0 MB

External Publications (selection):

Kirsten Westphal

Global Energy Governance: Meeting the Challenge of the Energy Transition

in: The Geopolitics of Energy: Out with the old, in with the new?, Oxford Energy Forum, Issue 126, February 2021, page 9-12
Kirsten Westphal

Energy Politics of the European Union

in: Kathleen J. Hancock and Juliann Emmons Allison (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Energy Politics, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2020
Thijs van de Graaf, Indra Overland, Daniel Scholten, Kirsten Westphal

The new oil? The geopolitics and international governance of hydrogen

in: Energy Research & Social Science, Volume 70, December 2020

doi:10.1016/j.erss.2020.101667

Caroline Kuzemko, Michael Bradshaw, Gavin Bridge, Andreas Goldthau, Jessica Jewell, Indra Overland, Daniel Scholten, Thijs van de Graaf, Kirsten Westphal

Covid-19 and the Politics of Sustainable Energy Transitions

in: Energy Research and Social Science, July 2020 (online)

doi:10.1016/j.erss.2020.101685

Kirsten Westphal, Andreas Goldthau, Morgan Bazilian, Michael Bradshaw

How the energy transition will reshape geopolitics

Paths to a low-carbon economy will create rivalries, winners and losers

in: Nature, Vol. 569, May 2019, pp. 2-5

Working Papers of the Research Division (selection):

Sybille Röhrkasten, Kirsten Westphal

IRENA and Germany's Foreign Renewable Energy Policy

Aiming at Multilevel Governance and an Internationalization of the Energiewende?

Working Paper FG 8, 2013/ 01, September 2013, 17 Pages
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In the Media/ »Point of View« (selection):

Kirsten Westphal

"The global order isn't keeping pace with real developments"

Interview by Hans-Joachim Ziegler, Energy Debate, 02.02.2021, online
Kirsten Westphal

The Emergence of a Hydrogen Economy

Interview in: BRINK, 21.12.2020 (online)
Kirsten Westphal, Maria Pastukhova, Jacopo Maria Pepe

Nord Stream 2: Leverage Against Russia?

The future of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is in the spotlight following the poisoning of Alexei Navalny. Tough political decisions are on the table. Kirsten Westphal, Maria Pastukhova and Jacopo Maria Pepe identify four aspects that need to be considered.

Point of View, 14.09.2020

News

Kirsten Westphal, Andreas Goldthau, Morgan D. Bazilian
Actorless Threats
The age of actorless threats has arrived. Democracies need to re-imagine and re-tool their responses.
in: Duck of Minerva, 26.02.21, online

Kirsten Westphal
"The global order isn't keeping pace with real developments"
Interview by Hans-Joachim Ziegler, Energy Debate, 02.02.2021, online

Kirsten Westphal
The Emergence of a Hydrogen Economy
Interview in: BRINK, December 2020

Kirsten Westphal
German-Russian gas relations in the face of the energy transition
in: Russian Journal of Economics Vol. 6(4), December 2020, page 406-423

Maria Pastukhova, Kirsten Westphal
Governing the Global Energy Transformation
in: Manfred Hafner/Simone Tagliapietra (eds.) The Geopolitics of the Global Energy Transition, Cham: Springer Nature, 2020, pp. 341-364 (online)

Kirsten Westphal
Russian-EU Relations and the Energy Transition
in: Susanne Nies (Hg.): The European Energy Transition: Agenda for the Twenties, Deventer: Claeys and Casteels Law Publishers, 2020, p. 379-395

Morgan Bazilian, Michael Bradshaw, Johannes Gabriel, Andreas Goldthau, Kirsten Westphal
Four scenarios for energy transition: Drivers, consequences and implications for geopolitics
In: WIREs Climate Change, Wiley Periodicals, 2019, 7 pages

Indra Overland, Morgan Bazilian, Roman Vakulchuk, Talgat Ilimbek Uulu, Kirsten Westphal
The GeGaLo index: Geopolitical Gains and Losses after Energy Transition
in: Energy Strategy Reviews, Volume 26, November 2019, 16 pages

Dirk Buschle, Kirsten Westphal
A Challenge to Governance in the EU: Decarbonization and Energy Security
in: European Energy Journal, Volume 8 Issue 3/4, July 2019, pp. 53-64

Andreas Goldthau, Kirsten Westphal
Why the global energy transition does not mean the end of the petrostate
in: Global Policy, Vol. 10, Issue 2, May 2019, pp. 279-278

Kirsten Westphal, Andreas Goldthau
How the energy transition will reshape geopolitics
Paths to a low-carbon economy will create rivalries, winners and losers
in: Nature, Vol. 569, May 2019, pp. 2-5

Kirsten Westphal
Germany’s Energiewende: Climate Change in Focus—Competitiveness and Energy Security Sidelined?
in: Godzimirski, Jakub M. (ed.), New Political Economy of Energy in Europe: Power to Project, Power to Adapt, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, pp. 165-194

SWP Research Papers

Daniel Voelsen
Internet from Space

How New Satellite Connections Could Affect Global Internet Governance

Susanne Dröge
Addressing the Risks of Climate Change

What Role for the UN Security Council?