Energy & Environment

Intelligence community continues to see threat from climate change

By Ellen Scholl and David Livingston

While continued identification of climate change as part of the threat landscape is certainly important, incorporating climate concerns into foreign, defense, development, and national security policy in a comprehensive way is still a work in progress.

Our take on Donald Trump’s first State of the Union

US President Donald J. Trump delivered his first State of the Union in Washington on January 30, 2018. Read the address here. Trump touched on a diverse set of topics. We asked our analysts their thoughts on what the president had to say. Here is their take: ON THE SPEECH Trump said: “As we rebuild […]

Baghdad and KRG locked in a standoff

By Dr. Nussaibah Younis

Both Iran and the United States have been pushing Iraq and the KRG to normalize their relationship, but Baghdad’s maximalist approach means the KRG is likely to hold out until after the May 2018 elections to make a deal. Baghdad is demanding the return of Khurmala oil field from the Kurdistan Regional Government, and is […]

Offshore drilling in an era of energy abundance

By Ellen Scholl

In just under one hundred days in office, Trump signed Executive Order 13795: Implementing an America-First Offshore Energy Strategy.

Trump gave global warming the cold shoulder

By David Livingston

What has changed? Nothing yet. Despite the fanfare surrounding the president’s Rose Garden announcement, there is a drawn-out legal process for withdrawing from the Paris Agreement that puts the earliest date for withdrawal at November 4, 2020—one day after the 2020 US presidential election.

Asian energy transition: Moving the oil market one step closer to peak demand

By Robert J. Johnston and Lily Ghebrai

While the United States and Europe are considered the pioneers of renewable energy, Asia is emerging as a major player in the renewable energy transition.

Asian energy transition: Moving the oil market one step closer to peak demand

By Robert “RJ” Johnston

While the United States and Europe are considered the pioneers of renewable energy, Asia is emerging as a major player in the renewable energy transition.

Renewable energy in the Middle East

By Jean-François Seznec

Across the Middle East and North Africa, population growth is driving demand for air conditioning, water, and infrastructure, which has in turn led to more demand for electricity. While oil and gas technologies are notably developed across the Middle East and North Africa, renewable deployment and the development of a renewable technology sector, is a relatively new—and rapid—development.

Shaping Iraq’s oil and gas future

By Ellen Scholl

Oil production already provides much-needed revenue and economic development and underwrites the Iraqi federal budget. Meanwhile, gas development could also play a key role in Iraq’s future by fostering broad based economic development, improving electric service provision, and fostering value-added industries.