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41. Proposed Liability Framework for Geological Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide

Author:
Wendy B. Jacobs
Publication Date:
10-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
Harvard Law School's Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic* supports immediate large-scale carbon capture and sequestration ("CCS") demonstration projects as part of a larger national and global effort to address climate change. Large-scale CCS projects (those that sequester at least 1.5 million tons of captured carbon dioxide ("CO2") annually) must be demonstrated soon to confirm CCS as a viable strategy to combat climate change and to show the commitment of the United States to achieving meaningful reductions in domestic CO2 emissions.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
United States

42. Investment incentives and the global competition for capital

Author:
Kenneth P. Thomas
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Abstract:
Investment incentives (subsidies designed to affect the location of investment) are a pervasive feature of global competition for foreign direct investment (FDI). They are used by the vast majority of countries, at multiple levels of government, in a broad range of industries. They take a variety of forms, including tax holidays, grants and free land. Politicians, at least in the United States, may have good electoral incentives to use them.
Topic:
Development, Environment, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, Foreign Aid, and Foreign Direct Investment
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

43. Needing to Have A Voice: Linguistic Grouping in the Digital Networked Environment

Author:
Han-Teng Liao
Publication Date:
07-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
Abstract:
“[T]here isn't an economic internet and a social internet and a political internet; there's just the Internet,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said about the U.S.'s Internet freedom agenda, claiming that there should not be “walls that divide the Internet.”
Topic:
Environment, Globalization, Science and Technology, Communications, and Governance
Political Geography:
United States

44. Primary Energy and Transportation Fuels and the Energy and Water Nexus: Ten Challenges

Author:
Blythe Lyons
Publication Date:
11-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Atlantic Council
Abstract:
A substantive dialogue has emerged in the United States under the rubric of "the energy and water nexus," representing the deepening understanding of the circular relationship between water and energy. Both are essential building blocks of US economic and physical security, and interface with efforts to improve health and prosperity. On a national level, the criticality of this relationship to economic and public prosperity is often ignored, as energy and water impacts are largely specific to a watershed or a local surface water source. The United States today needs new policies and significant infrastructure investment in order to meet the increasing demand for water and energy, while dealing with the constraints of growing water scarcity and potential threats to water quality.
Topic:
Energy Policy, Environment, Oil, Natural Resources, Water, and Biofuels
Political Geography:
United States

45. AB 32 and Climate Change: The National Context of State Policies for a Global Commons Problem

Author:
Robert N. Stavins
Publication Date:
02-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
Why should anyone be interested in the national context of a state policy? In the case of California's Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32), the answer flows directly from the very nature of the problem— global climate change, the ultimate global commons problem. Greenhouse gases (GHGs) uniformly mix in the atmosphere. Therefore, any jurisdiction taking action—whether a nation, a state, or a city—will incur the costs of its actions, but the benefits of its actions (reduced risk of climate-change damages) will be distributed globally. Hence, for virtually any jurisdiction, the benefits it reaps from its climate-policy actions will be less than the cost it incurs. This is despite the fact that the global benefits of action may well be greater—possibly much greater—than global costs.
Topic:
Climate Change and Environment
Political Geography:
United States and California

46. From the Think Tanks

Publication Date:
01-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Americas Quarterly
Institution:
Council of the Americas
Abstract:
No abstract is available.
Topic:
Environment
Political Geography:
United States and Latin America

47. Changing Currents: Turbulence for the Electricity Industry?

Author:
Phil Sharp
Publication Date:
10-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
The question is never whether the United States has an energy policy. It has dozens. They come with various decision-makers at overlapping levels of authority, ample numbers of stakeholders, and generally lots of confusing and often contradictory signals.
Topic:
Climate Change, Economics, Energy Policy, and Environment
Political Geography:
United States

48. Global Energy Markets in a Time of Political Change

Author:
Bill White
Publication Date:
10-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
A shift in relative energy consumption among regions and the development of new, unconventional supplies will be the most significant changes over the next twenty years. The dominant fuels in the world energy market until 2030 will continue to be hydrocarbons — oil, coal, and natural gas. Major shifts will occur, however, among the three fuels, among regions and in their supply. Globally, oil will continue to be the most widely used fuel as it supplies more than 90 percent of the energy for transportation. Coal, now the dominant fuel used for electric power generation, will lose ground to natural gas, a less carbon-intensive hydrocarbon. Natural gas will become the second largest overall supplier and well positioned to replace coal as the leading supplier for electric power. Developing countries will lead the way in overall energy growth, with Chinese and Indian energy demand growing fastest. Energy demand in developed countries will remain flat. For the United States, growth in gas shale and oil shale are likely to be “game changers,” altering the supply picture dramatically.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, Markets, Political Economy, and Natural Resources
Political Geography:
United States, China, and India

49. Where was united Africa in the climate change negotiations?

Author:
Jean-Christophe Hoste
Publication Date:
02-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
EGMONT - The Royal Institute for International Relations
Abstract:
A political commitment was reached in Copenhagen between five countries: US, China, India Brazil and South Africa. The rest of the conference simply “took note of it”, most with resignation, many with anger. This policy brief will have a closer look at the climate change negotiations from an African perspective. It will try to answer three questions to see whether the outcome of the negotiations was as unacceptable as South Africa said it was. First, what was the African Common Position and what were some of their demands? Second, how did the negotiating strategy to defend the African Common Position on climate change evolve? Third, why did South Africa call the agreement it negotiated with the US, China and India unacceptable but did it not decline to be part of that deal?
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Globalization, International Cooperation, Politics, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
United States, China, India, South Africa, and Brazil

50. The Road to Climate Change Agreement Runs Through Montreal

Author:
Richard J. Smith
Publication Date:
08-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
The 1987 Montreal Protocol to the Vienna Convention on the Protection of the Ozone Layer was a pivotal agreement in the history of global environmental negotiations. It established a process that remains an important precedent for dealing with global environmental problems, including global warming. What made the negotiation of that agreement such an iconic event, and what useful lessons does it hold for climate change negotiators?
Topic:
Climate Change and Environment
Political Geography:
United States