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Lukas Slothuus

@lslothuus.bsky.social
5.5K followers 570 following 130 posts

Climate and energy politics | Postdoc at the University of Sussex researching fossil fuel phaseouts @suspol.bsky.social | Visiting Fellow at LSE | PhD in Politics from the University of Edinburgh | www.lukasslothuus.com

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Reposted by Lukas Slothuus
SUS-POL @suspol.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
New on the SUS-POL blog 💡 You might expect supply-side climate policies that favour some fossil fuel producers over others to split the industry. But research by @nikolaidrahos.bsky.social on US methane regulation finds firms often stick together. Why? 🧵
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
What's one text (book or journal article) that you consider absolutely essential reading for someone working on energy transitions and climate politics?
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Albert Pinto @70sbachchan.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
NEW @phenomenalworld.bsky.social @katemac.bsky.social From Morocco’s leveraging trade access for battery factories to Guinea’s strong-arming China with bauxite bans for aluminum smelters, to solar manufacturing, what we call “strategic green industrial diplomacy” has become supercharged in Africa.
phenomenalworld.org
Kate Mackenzie & Tim Sahay | Green Strategy in Africa
On the continent’s industrial development agenda for the twenty-first century
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Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
The release of the latest Statistical Review of World Energy is a reality check on the climate transition. While we debate whether 'net zero' costs or create jobs, we need to come back to why we need to reduce emissions. We're on track for 3C tinyurl.com/5d4wymfy
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Jakob @jakobjuhola.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
"In other words, if the fossil fuel industry does not fight tooth and nail against a phaseout policy, it might well be because it is already defanged from the outset. Ironically, perhaps the saving grace of fossil fuelled leadership is to sharpen the contradictions inherent in the fossil fuel...
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
NEW ARTICLE: Denmark is often celebrated as a template for phasing out fossil fuels. Yet in this new article, I coin the term “fossil-fuelled leadership” to conceptualise a phenomenon where climate leadership on fossil fuels is twinned with continued extraction. link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
Fossil fuel leadership or fossil-fuelled leadership? The limits of Denmark’s oil and gas production phaseout - International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics
Understanding the limits of existing fossil fuel phaseout policies is key for clarifying the challenges of phasing out fossil fuels. In this article, I focus on Denmark as a prominent example of the t...
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SUS-POL @suspol.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Why would a country leave billions of dollars of oil & gas in the ground? On a narrow economic view it looks irrational: walking away from profit, jobs and geopolitical leverage, and picking a fight with one of the most powerful industries on earth. And yet it's happening🧵
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
How and why do some countries restrict their fossil fuel production? We explore this in @ripejournal.bsky.social, based on fieldwork in 🇩🇰Denmark, 🇬🇧the UK, 🇨🇴Colombia & 🇨🇷Costa Rica. tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... Co-authored with @peternewell.bsky.social, @freddiedaley.bsky.social, and Dani Soto.
tandfonline.com
Why do countries adopt supply-side policies? The international political economy of fossil fuel phaseouts
Ambitious goals to limit global heating cannot be achieved without significant efforts to cut fossil fuel production. Yet, comparative analysis of the international political economy dynamics that ...
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Last year, a municipality in Denmark made bus travel free for everyone. What happened? Passenger numbers nearly doubled! The new government is now making all public transport (including trains) in the whole country will be made free for under 22 year olds: bit.ly/4vrkUtS
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Peter Newell @peternewell.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Why do countries adopt supply-side climate policies? Our latest paper on the political economy of fossil fuel phase outs @freddiedaley.bsky.social @lslothuus.bsky.social & Daniela Soto Hernández in @ripejournal.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com
Why do countries adopt supply-side policies? The international political economy of fossil fuel phaseouts
Ambitious goals to limit global heating cannot be achieved without significant efforts to cut fossil fuel production. Yet, comparative analysis of the international political economy dynamics that ...
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
I wrote a piece for @tribunemagazine.bsky.social on the historic Santa Marta conference that addressed how, not if, to phase out fossil fuels. It named the problem, forged new alliances and drew attention to the legal and financial architectures that block phaseouts tribunemag.co.uk/2026/05/lett...
tribunemag.co.uk
Letter From Santa Marta
Last month, representatives from dozens of countries gathered in Colombia to chart a path beyond fossil fuels. The event reflects a new climate politics taking shape across the Global South.
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
My impression is not that taxes are the main reason for declining production
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
I wrote a short piece for @theconversation.com explaining my research on Sweden's fossil fuel exploration+extraction ban, and how other non-producers can learn from it – and how this connects to the Santa Marta conference on the transition away from fossil fuels: theconversation.com/why-swedens-...
theconversation.com
Why Sweden’s ban on fossil fuel production matters, despite not producing any itself – new research
The ban prevents future fossil fuel production in Sweden – but that’s just the start.
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Miriam Matthiessen @miriammthsn.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
In recent months there’s been a lot of talk about the ‘dark’ fleet, the ‘shadow’ or the ‘ghost’ fleet. For a while now I have felt that people use these terms without really examining their origins nor the assumptions that come with invoking them, so I wrote about why I think this is a problem:
open.substack.com
Four Questions About the So-Called ‘Shadow’ Fleet
In recent months there’s been a lot of talk about the ‘dark’ fleet, or the ‘shadow’ or the ‘ghost’ fleet.
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Sort of!
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Thank you for reading! Yes I would say that's an accurate assessment. In another article (currently under review) I actually explore this exact question (on a more conceptual level, not specific to Sweden) in more detail. I distinguish two views of political capital, finite vs. accumulative.
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Thank you, curious to hear what you think!
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
🇨🇴Ahead of Colombia hosting the world’s first international conference for the transition away from fossil fuels in a few weeks, all levers need to be pulled, all opportunities explored. @suspol.bsky.social @sussex.ac.uk @peternewell.bsky.social Read and share: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Symbolic wins as stepping stones toward material gains: Lessons from Sweden’s fossil fuel production ban
How and why do some countries without ongoing fossil fuel exploration and extraction decide to unilaterally ban such activities? As part of a global m…
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Using a power analysis framework, I trace the: - ✳️ symbolic - 🛢️ material - 🌎 international dimensions of the ban. I argue that it serves as an important tool for non-producing countries to contribute to global efforts against fossil fuels on both the supply and demand side.
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
⚡️...Yet even symbolic politics can be powerful: as a stepping stone to more material gains in the transition away from fossil fuels. A ban is preventative of future production, sends market signals, and helps build momentum against fossil fuel production globally.
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
🌱🌹Despite Sweden having no commercial fossil fuel production, the left-of-centre government decided to cancel all existing exploration licenses and ban new exploration and production. 🪧Opponents dismissed this as empty symbolic politics...
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
NEW ARTICLE: How can fossil fuel non-producer contribute to the transition away from fossil fuels? 🇸🇪🛑Drawing on extensive interview data from my fieldwork in Sweden, I trace the political dynamics of Sweden’s 2022 fossil fuel exploration and extraction ban: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Symbolic wins as stepping stones toward material gains: Lessons from Sweden’s fossil fuel production ban
How and why do some countries without ongoing fossil fuel exploration and extraction decide to unilaterally ban such activities? As part of a global m…
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
I was interviewed by @theguardian.com on the right-wing backlash against solar power in Denmark: www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m... This came off the back of my article on this for @lseeuroppblog.bsky.social: blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2...
Opponents of solar farms say the photovoltaic panels are ugly, destroy nature and deflate property prices in neglected hinterlands. As drone shots of' encircled farmhouses have become a symbol of urban overreach, the campaign has led even some established parties to soften their support of
solar. The backlash had been brewing locally, but Lukas Slothuus, a climate politics researcher at the University of Sussex who grew up in a rural town near the Danish-German border, said the Denmark Democrats had provided a "clear vector to articulate that discontent politically" across the nation. "The far right have realised - and decided - that climate is a potent electoral
battleground," he said. "It's just about finding one issue to centre it around."
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
🇬🇧English: klimamonitor-dk.translate.goog/nyheder/deba...
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
Has the Danish government quietly abandoned its commitment to the Paris Agreement? 🇩🇰 In this piece for @klimamonitor.dk, Jens Friis Lund, @jptilsted.bsky.social, and I call on the government to reiterate their support for the Paris goals. (English in the replies) klimamonitor.dk/nyheder/deba...
klimamonitor.dk
Forskere: Er regeringen ved at underminere Parisaftalen uden at fortælle os det?
Klimaministeren har med sine udtalelser sået tvivl om Danmarks engagement til ambitiøs klimahandling. Danmarks klimapolitik halter også efter, skriver tre forskere.
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Great thread and the same flawed arguments are being peddled in Denmark
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Ewan Gibbs @ewangibbs.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Following the price surge, the British right are pedalling a fantasy of self-sufficiency through North Sea oil. This has no serious basis in reality. Britain has been a net energy importer for 20 years. It has nothing to do with net zero and everything to do with decades of declining production🧵
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Ewan Gibbs @ewangibbs.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
The key players in North Sea oil and gas production decline and job losses haven't been government ministers or regulators. It's private companies who closed down fields and refineries as majors like BP and Shell exited and passed them on to smaller firms.
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Isabella M. Weber @isabellamweber.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Fossil fuel stocks are exploding in response to the war on Iran. Who stands to benefit? The richest of the rich. Who stands to lose? All of us who have to pay higher prices for energy and a new round of sellers' inflation.
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
The "Overflowing Bucket" framework by @fergusgreen.bsky.social is really useful to challenge new oil and gas fields. I used it in my public hearing response against INEOS' application for oil and gas extraction from the controversial Hejre field in the Danish North Sea. www.ucl.ac.uk/social-histo...
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
Check out our new article "Power in Fossil Fuel Supply-Side Policy: Closing Down and Opening Up Opportunities to Phase Out Fossil Fuel Production" co-authored with @peternewell.bsky.social @freddiedaley.bsky.social and Daniela Soto Hernandez in @gepjournal.bsky.social direct.mit.edu/glep/article...
direct.mit.edu
Power in Fossil Fuel Supply-Side Policy: Closing Down and Opening Up Opportunities to Phase Out Fossil Fuel Production
Abstract. Supply-side climate policy initiatives that restrict fossil fuel production are gathering momentum. A growing body of academic scholarship seeks to understand this new frontier in global cli...
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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
From an actual expert bsky.app/profile/lslo...
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Tarik Abou-Chadi @tabouchadi.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
Nominally serious media outlets produce so much nonsense about Danish politics. They are full of factual errors. “Denmark” in the political discourse of other countries has become a phantasm to justify their rightwing policy demands. It has very little to do with empirical reality in the country.
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
H, O and Æ
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
Only 10% of DPP voters switched to Soc Dem between 2015 and 2019 elections. In recent poll, the far right has total of 17.7%. 2015 was a freak election, the far right has *not* been pacified. If it had, how does Cowley explain the far right vote share has increased between 2022 election and now?
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
Just a few examples: 1. Cowley thinks Denmark has a ‘left-wing government‘. It doesn’t. It has a grand coalition comprising centre-left, centre, and centre-right. 2. He claims Soc Dems captured far right votes to pacify DPP, but reason for poor DPP result in 2022 is two new far right parties emerged
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
As an academic born and raised in Denmark who researches and writes about Danish politics, I can confidently say that Cowley has no idea what he’s talking about. The piece is full of factual errors and falsehoods
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LSE Blogs @lseblogs.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
Opposition to solar power has become a key electoral battleground in Denmark. Policymakers must return to the community-led ownership models that defined Denmark’s success with wind power – @lslothuus.bsky.social @suspol.bsky.social @lsegovernment.bsky.social for @lseeuroppblog.bsky.social
blogs.lse.ac.uk
Home - LSE European Politics
Read the latest research and academic commentary on the key issues affecting Europe, covering economics, politics, elections, climate change and business.
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LSE European Politics @lseeuroppblog.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
Denmark is often seen as a green frontrunner, but a recent backlash against solar power has thrown this into question. ✍ @lslothuus.bsky.social @lsegovernment.bsky.social @sussex.ac.uk blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2...
blogs.lse.ac.uk
How a solar energy backlash engulfed Danish politics
Faced with a solar backlash led by the Denmark Democrats, Denmark must return to the community-led ownership models that defined its success with wind power.
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
How do right-wing/far-right politicians politicise opposition to solar power and obstruct climate action? For @lseeuroppblog.bsky.social I explain the Denmark Democrats' success and how learning from community-owned wind power might reverse the backlash against solar blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2...
blogs.lse.ac.uk
How a solar energy backlash engulfed Danish politics
Faced with a solar backlash led by the Denmark Democrats, Denmark must return to the community-led ownership models that defined its success with wind power.
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Adrienne Buller @adriennebuller.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
This week for @the-breakdown.bsky.social I spoke to the excellent @annpettifor.bsky.social about finance and the climate crisis—we covered everything from bond vigilantes to Keynes's legacy and bringing back usury as a sin 😉 Give it a listen below: www.youtube.com/watch?v=psMM...
youtube.com
Ann Pettifor on how Wall Street gambles with your future
YouTube video by The BREAK—DOWN
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
Now also in German 🇩🇪:
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
I wrote it before, but glad to have been vindicated!
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Jacobin republished my article on Greenland:
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
🇲🇽 My article on Greenland's natural resources was translated into Spanish and published by Forbes México: forbes.com.mx/por-que-los-...
forbes.com.mx
Por qué los vastos recursos naturales de Groenlandia no necesariamente se traducirán en enormes beneficios
El valor de estos recursos es difícil de estimar, ya que los precios del petróleo y de las materias primas críticas fluctúan enormemente.
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
This looks great and very useful for my own research. Congrats!
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Peder Østring @pederoe.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
Like in Venezuela, the immense investments in fixed capital needed to extract a lot of Greenland's resources makes short term profit very difficult. Rather, it's about imperial ambitions. Interesting piece by @lslothuus.bsky.social
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
Thank you for reading and sharing!
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Lukas Slothuus @lslothuus.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
My article on Greenland's natural resources was translated and published in Danish by @videnskab.dk: videnskab.dk/kultur-samfu...
videnskab.dk
Grønlands enorme naturressourcer fører ikke nødvendigvis til økonomisk gevinst
Grønlands rige undergrund frister stormagterne, men vilkår og risici gør udvindingen usikker og meget vanskelig.
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Ashok Kumar 🇵🇸 @comrade-kumar.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Spoke to The Independent on Trump’s threat of 25% tariffs on any country trading with Iran. It is economic warfare. This kind of erratic trade coercion raises the risk of doing business with the US, accelerates its isolation, and fuels global de-dollarisation www.independent.co.uk/news/world/m...
independent.co.uk
Why Trump’s sweeping 25% Iran tariffs have revived fears of global trade war
Experts have warned of global economic and political ramifications if the policy is implemented
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