Energy & Environment

Ukraine’s dangerous Winter Olympic obsession

By Nicholas Bell, Lukas Straumann

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has declared his intention to bring the Winter Olympics to the country, but environmentalists fear the initiative will cause irreparable damage to some of the most valuable mountain ecosystems in Europe.

The net-zero kingdom: A third way

By Andrea Clabough

Released to great fanfare, Saudi Arabia's new green pledges represent an attempt to build a clean future on the bedrock of fossil fuels. The viability of that approach is far from certain.

Experts react: Can COP26 negotiators sustain the momentum?

Atlantic Council experts deliver insightful analysis on the COP26 developments that will matter most in the fight against climate change.

A field of her own

By Megan Goyette and Emily Carll

Governments must re-examine their climate finance policies to ensure that funds are directed to and advised by those who know the on-the-ground truth, rather than others who will be drawn to invest in climate buzzwords such as renewables and technological saviors.

Gas price caps would be a disaster for the Ukrainian economy

By Willem Buiter

Ukraine's proposed price cap on private company natural gas sales is symptomatic of what is wrong with the country’s broader approach to the market economy and must be avoided at all costs, writes Willem Buiter.

Europe must defend itself against Vladimir Putin’s energy weapon

By Diane Francis

Moscow’s role in Europe’s escalating gas crisis should be a wake-up call for European policymakers who prefer to downplay the threat posed by weaponized Russian energy supplies and Vladimir Putin’s revisionist regime.

Ukraine seeks role in German certification of Putin’s pipeline

By Myron Wasylyk

Ukraine's Naftogaz has applied to the German authorities to participate in the certification process of Vladimir Putin's Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which is viewed in Kyiv as a geopolitical weapon aimed at Ukrainian statehood.

Deploying distributed renewable energy to reduce the impacts of extreme heat on the urban poor

By Jorge Barrigh and Owen Gow

Increased urbanization and related demographic shifts, combined with the growing threat of heat stress, extreme heat events, and other climate change–related impacts, are set to continue to strain urban centers in the coming decades.