2012 World Energy Report (WEO),  International Energy Agency  Nov. 12, 2012Sustainable Development: A Case for Education. Allison Anderson and Morgan Strecker, Environment, Nov/Dec 2012, var. pages. "Therefore, the challenge facing humanity is to sustain the process of poverty eradication and development while shifting gears so as to avoid greater damage to our environment, including from climate change. Developed countries must preserve development achievements while focusing more on sustainable development and shrinking environmental impacts. Developing countries must continue to raise their people's living standards and eradicate poverty while containing increases in their ecological footprints. Both must adapt to the impacts of the damage already done. This is a shared challenge with a goal of shared prosperity and sustainable development. There is a clear education agenda in this process in terms of providing a foundation for the shift in the global demand away from resource- and energy-intensive commodities and toward green products, the production of such commodities, and in sustainable lifestyles." READ MORE Distributional Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading: Alternative Allocation and Recycling Strategies in California. Adam Rose, Dan Wei and Fynnwin Prager, Contemporary Economic Policy, October 2012, pp. 603–617.  "Cap and trade remains attractive to many state governments because it provides a much-needed source of additional revenue when greenhouse gas emission allowances are auctioned to the highest bidder. We analyze the income distribution impacts of the California Global Warming Solutions Act under alternative policy designs. These include the free allocation of emission allowances versus recycling of auction revenues through proportional income tax relief and a per capita dividend. The analysis is undertaken under conditions where significant economic gains, rather than losses, are projected for the policy, and in the context of the new electricity pricing regulatory environment in which passing along the opportunity costs of using free allowances may not be approved. We adapt and enhance the Regional Economic Models, Inc. Policy Insight Plus Model and apply it for the first time to estimate the income distribution impacts of cap and trade. The analysis illustrates the importance of considering macroeconomic impacts and identifies important efficiency equity tradeoffs. The method and results are generalizable to the dozens of states and regions still formulating or revising climate action plans in the United States and to many regions and nations around the world." READ MORE Coastal Planning, Federal Consistency, and Climate Change: A Recent Divergence of Federal and State Interests. Chad J. McGuire, Natural Resources & Environment, Summer 2012, pp. 41-46. "Since the 1970s, the U.S. Government has advanced a policy for the rational development and protection of coastal resources. A divergence between federal and state interests begins to occur when coastal states update management plans to internalize the costs of climate change, including taking actions today that will protect against sea-level rise occurring in the future; meanwhile, the federal government adopts policy directions aimed at ramping up offshore energy development, especially projects geared toward oil and natural gas production." READ MORE Putin’s Petroleum Problem. Thane Gustafson, Foreign Affairs, Nov/Dec 2012, var. pages. "Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia has become increasingly addicted to oil, which has underwritten bad policies and allowed Putin to buy off key constituencies and the masses. But petroleum could also hold the key to Russia’s salvation. The supply of cheap oil is running out, and Russia’s best hope of responding to the coming crunch is making the sort of changes liberal reformers have been pushing for years."
 READ MORE Decisionmaking, Risk, and Uncertainty: An Analysis of Climate Change Policy. Kruti Dholakia-Lehenbauer and Euel W. Elliott, Cato Journal, Fall 2012, pp. 539 -556. This article explores four questions. First, what theoretical frameworks help describe policy failure and success? Second, how might the decision that leads to failure or success be understood in terms of differing concepts of rationality and decisionmaking? Third, how does the discussion of risk and uncertainty as originally proposed by Frank Knight (1921) apply to a better understanding of both the first and second questions? Fourth, what is the relationship between serial and parallel processing and how are these administrative systems related to important aspects of the prior questions? Our chief contribution in this article is to show the ways in which these questions and their respective theoretical frameworks are interrelated as applied to one important contemporary policy question—climate change. We think our proposed integration of the various literatures offers important insights into the challenges policymakers face in deciding whether or not to adopt a particular policy. READ MOREThe Environmentalist’s Dilemma. Steve Stein, Policy Review, August 1, 2012, var. pages. "Making the perfect the enemy of the good. Environmental advocates of renewable and sustainable energy can find their colleagues’ objections nettlesome and embarrassing. Preservationists see science and industry as threats; but conservationists see progress as the environment’s eventual savior." READ MORESoft Geoengineering: A Gentler Approach to Addressing Climate Change. Robert L. Olson, Environment, Sep/Oct 2012, pp. 29-39. "A generation ago, the idea of engineering the climate to counteract global warming was almost universally dismissed as misguided. Climate scientist David Keith recalls that when he became interested in climate geoengineering as a graduate student, the topic could hardly be discussed in polite scientific company and was verboten in environmental circles. In the past few years, however, several leading members of the scientific community have changed their minds and decided that climate geoengineering deserves a second look." READ MORE Overcoming the Global Injustices of Energy Poverty. Benjamin K. Sovacool and Michael Dworkin, Environment, Sep/Oct 2012, pp. 14-28. "For some of us, lack of access to energy services is a mere inconvenience; for others, it is a matter of life or death." READ MOREHow is energy remaking the world? Daniel Yergin, Foreign Policy, Jul/Aug 2012, pp. 60-61,8. "The outlook for the US energy supply is very different from what it was just four years ago, the last time oil prices were going up -- and the last time Americans were electing a president. Back then, it seemed the only questions were how fast oil imports would continue to rise and whether the US was destined to import increasing amounts of natural gas. But the years since have seen an astonishing revival in US oil and gas production, and with it a change in the national conversation about energy. The FP Survey on energy, which sounded the views of 57 experts, demonstrates just how much the debate is already changing. Even without energy independence, the growth in the North American supply will have enormous geopolitical ramifications. The FP Survey demonstrates that a transition in energy thinking is certainly at hand." READ MOREThe Shale Gas Revolution: U.S. and EU Policy and Research Agendas. Tim Boersma, Corey Johnson, Review of Policy Research, July 2012, pp. 570-576. "The 'shale gas revolution' raises a host of questions for policy makers and researchers on both sides of the Atlantic. We provide a brief overview of the regulatory environment as it relates to hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in the United States and the European Union. We then pose a set of open questions, which we believe should shape policy and research agendas surrounding shale gas wherever the development of this resource is being pursued or considered."  READ MORECleaning Up Coal: From Climate Culprit to Solution. Richard K Morse. Foreign Affairs, Jul/Aug 2012. var. pp. Coal, the rock that fueled the industrial age, is once again remaking the global energy landscape. Over the past decade, while most of the world stood transfixed by the gyrations of the oil markets, the promise of alternative energy, and the boom in cheap natural gas, coal left all other forms of energy in its dust, contributing nearly as much total energy to the global economy as every other source combined. But just as coal is remaking energy markets, it is also remaking the climate. Coal combustion is the world's largest source of carbon dioxide emissions, responsible for almost 13 billion tons per year. Given how dominant coal is, one of the most promising ways to fight global warming is to make it emit less carbon dioxide, a solution that is less elusive than commonly thought. As demand for coal climbs to new heights and as global temperatures keep rising, the world cannot afford to pass up the opportunity to make the fuel cleaner. READ MORE U.S. Oil Dependence. Is independence from foreign oil possible? Jennifer Weeks, CQ Researcher, June 22, 2012, var. pp. The United States is producing more oil today than it has since 1998, but gasoline prices are still high, averaging more than $3.50 per gallon nationally in early June. New technology is making it possible to extract oil from tar sands and shale rock, but that oil is expensive, and its production causes major environmental impacts. President Obama advocates expanding production of all energy sources, including oil, gas, nuclear power, wind and solar, while warning that the United States can never pump enough oil to sway world prices. Republicans counter that the Obama administration has restricted oil production and that drilling should expand in Western states, the Arctic and coastal waters. Environmentalists want more support for technologies to replace oil, such as electric cars and biofuels. But until those sources become economically competitive with oil, the United States will be subject to price swings in a world oil market that it cannot control. READ MORE Environmental Alarmism, Then and Now: The Club of Rome's Problem-and Ours. Bjørn Lomborg, Foreign Affairs, Jul/Aug 2012. var. pp. Forty years ago, humanity was warned: by chasing ever-greater economic growth, it was sentencing itself to catastrophe. The Club of Rome, a blue-ribbon multinational collection of business leaders, scholars, and government officials brought together by the Italian tycoon Aurelio Peccei, made the case in a slim 1972 volume called The Limits to Growth. In the standard scenario, the authors projected the most likely future that would play out for humanity. The authors concluded that the basic behavior mode of the world system is exponential growth of population and capital followed by collapse. And when you introduce technological developments that successfully lift some restraint to growth or avoid some collapse, the system simply grows to another limit, temporarily surpasses it, and falls back. The authors of The Limits to Growth named five drivers of the world system, but they left out the most important one of all: people, and their ability to discover and innovate. READ MORECrude Oil Is Not Fungible, Where It Comes from Does Matter, and Global Markets Are More Fragmented Than Many Think. Jonathan Chanis, American Foreign Policy Interests, June 2012, pp. 144-148. In studying petroleum issues, some analysts tend to overestimate the role of markets in promoting U.S. energy security. In particular, these analysts assume that crude oil moves internationally as if it were traded in a “free market.” They often repeat phrases such as “oil always moves to the highest bidder,” or “oil is fungible and where it comes from does not matter.” But global petroleum markets are not “free.” They are severely constrained by many factors, including logistical limitations, increasingly non-interchangeable types of crude oil, and limitations on where companies can produce oil and to whom they can sell it. Most important, the markets for petroleum are distorted by the practices of Saudi Arabia and the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). A misunderstanding of the above factors can lead to, among other misconceptions, an underestimation of the role of Canada in promoting U.S. energy security and an exaggeration of the ability of markets to protect consumer or U.S. national interests, both before and after supply disruptions. A more realistic understanding would recognize the imperfect hold markets have on global crude oil allocation and would stop confusing the theory of “free markets” with the reality of international politics and oligopoly.  READ MOREThink Again: The American Energy Boom. Michael Levi, Foreign Affairs, July/August 2012, var. pages. "Yes, oil and gas made in the USA is surging. But does that really liberate us from the Middle East? READ MOREUnderstanding the Paradoxes of Multilevel Governing: Climate Change Policy in the European Union. Andrew Jordan, Harro van Asselt, Frans Berkhout, Dave Huitema, Tim Rayner, Global Environmental Politics, May 2012, pp. 43-66. "The European Union (EU) has a well-known aspiration to lead the rest of the world in the governance of climate change. While the precise expressions and consequences of its 'lead by example' approach have been widely discussed, not least in the period since the 2009 Copenhagen summit, few doubt its desire (as distinct from its ability) to function as an 'international agenda setter' in this policy area. In one of the most comprehensive article-length accounts of the evolution of EU climate policy, Miranda Schreurs and Yves Tiberghien drew attention to the various ways in which the EU has sought to lead by example.Writing in the pages of this journal, they documented how it has continually backed targets and goals that are more ambitious than those of other large emitters, such as its commitment to limit warming to 2°C. Internally, it has adopted innovative policy instruments to attain these targets, chieºy the world’s largest greenhouse gas emissions trading system (the EU ETS), as well as a range of other policies and measures that go signiªcantly beyond what some Member States had adopted at the domestic level.6 Prior to the Copenhagen conference, the EU adopted a complex package of climate and energy measures, which aimed, among others things, at: reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent from their 1990 levels by 2020; centralizing and toughening the ETS; and boosting the use of renewable energy.7 Had some of the other major emitters tabled similar packages at Copenhagen or at Durban in 2011, the EU would probably have adopted a 30 percent reduction target." READ MORE   The Climate Fixers. Is there a technological solution to global warming? Michael Specter, The New Yorker, May 14, 2012, var. pp. "The heavy industrial activity of the previous hundred years had caused the earth’s climate to warm by roughly three-quarters of a degree Celsius, helping to make the twentieth century the hottest in at least a thousand years. The eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, however, reduced global temperatures by nearly that much in a single year. It also disrupted patterns of precipitation throughout the planet. It is believed to have influenced events as varied as floods along the Mississippi River in 1993 and, later that year, the drought that devastated the African Sahel. Most people considered the eruption a calamity. For geophysical scientists, though, Mt. Pinatubo provided the best model in at least a century to help us understand what might happen if humans attempted to ameliorate global warming by deliberately altering the climate of the earth. For years, even to entertain the possibility of human intervention on such a scale—geoengineering, as the practice is known—has been denounced as hubris. Predicting long-term climatic behavior by using computer models has proved difficult, and the notion of fiddling with the planet’s climate based on the results generated by those models worries even scientists who are fully engaged in the research." READ MORE  EU Climate and Energy Policy: A Hesitant Supranational Turn? Jørgen Wettestad, Per Ove Eikeland, Måns Nilsson, Global Environmental Politics, May 2012, pp. 67-86. "Since 2009, the European Union has a new and more vigorous climate and energy policy, including a specific climate and energy policy package and a revised policy package aimed at completing the realization of the internal energy market. In March 2007, the European Council prompted adoption of these packages to reduce total EU greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent. The Council also signaled that restructuring of energy supply and demand should be an important part of the new climate policy, adopting a binding target of 20 percent renewables in total energy consumption and a non-binding target of 20 percent energy efficiency compared to business-as-usual by the year 2020. The Council cited improving the security of energy supply as an important goal and endorsed the need for speed in finalizing the internal market to ensure efficient implementation of the new policy targets." READ MORE  Climate Challenges, Ecological Modernization, and Technological Forcing: Policy Lessons from a Comparative US-EU Analysis, Joseph Szarka, Global Environmental Politics, May 2012, pp. 87-109. "The international policy regime initiated by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992 has yet to prove its effectiveness. During negotiation of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol greenhouse gas emission (GHG) targets of around 8 percent were discussed for regions such as the European Union and the United States of America. These goals have offered scant global climate protection, given that global CO2 emissions alone increased by 40 percent between 1990 and 2009.1 Indeed, the regime’s effectiveness was diluted by defections, notably the United States. In the late 2000s, negotiations for a successor treaty raised hopes of a stronger regime, but the 2009 Copenhagen Accord produced little progress. Nevertheless, recognition grew of the need for stronger measures, with countries such as the United Kingdom and France inserting the aim of 75–80 percent GHG cuts by 2050 into national legislation." READ MORE  Moving Forward in the Climate Negotiations: Multilateralism or Minilateralism? Robyn Eckersley, Global Environmental Politics, May 2012, pp. 24-42. "The failure of the Copenhagen, Cancún and Durban conferences to produce a new, legally binding climate treaty (as distinct from a promise to negotiate a treaty) has generated increasing concern over the capacity of the multilateral climate negotiations to respond to the challenge of climate change in a timely and effective manner. Critics of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiation process have argued that it has become fatally cumbersome because it requires the impossible: consensus decisionmaking by 194 parties on every line of a complex and lengthy treaty. The negotiations have produced diminishing returns over time as a result of the development of deeply entrenched positions by increasingly defensive negotiating blocs. The sixteenth Conference of the Parties (COP16) at Cancún put the negotiations back on track after the derailment at Copenhagen, but the Cancún agreement was secured by determined chairing by the Mexican host, which included departing from a strict adherence to the consensus rule in the final session to avoid a repetition of Copenhagen. COP17 at Durban has been celebrated for starting a fresh round of negotiations for a new legal agreement that will include all major emitters, and for throwing another lifeline to the Kyoto Protocol. Yet Durban was also a case of déjà vu, since the Bali conference in 2007 had launched a roadmap for a legally binding treaty including all major emitters to be signed at Copenhagen in 2009." READ MORE  Europe's Energy Security: Options and Challenges to Natural Gas Supply Diversification. Michael Ratner, Paul Belkin, et. al. Congressional Research Service,  March 13, 2012, var. pp. "Europe as a major energy consumer faces a number of challenges when addressing future energy needs. Among these challenges are a rapidly rising global demand and competition for energy resources from emerging economies such as China and India, persistent instability in energy producing regions such as the Middle East, a fragmented internal European energy market, and a growing need to shift fuels in order to address climate change policy. As a result, energy supply security has become a key concern for European nations and the European Union (EU). A key element of the EU's energy supply strategy has been to shift to a greater use of natural gas. Europe as a whole is a major importer of natural gas. Russia is Europe's most important natural gas supplier, accounting for 34% of Europe's natural gas imports. Europe's natural gas consumption is projected to grow while its own domestic natural gas production continues to decline. If trends continue as projected, Europe's dependence on Russia as a supplier is likely to grow. And, while it could be in Europe's interest to explore alternative sources for its natural gas needs, it is uncertain whether Europe as a whole can, or is willing to, replace a significant level of imports of Russian natural gas. Some European countries that feel vulnerable to potential Russian energy supply manipulation may work harder to achieve diversification than others." READ MORE  Aviation and the European Union's Emission Trading Scheme. Jane A. Leggett, Bart Elias, et.al. Congressional Research Service, March 07, 2012, var. pp. Beginning January 1, 2012, most carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from commercial flights to, from, and within the European Union (EU) are covered by the EU Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS). Flights are covered regardless of whether the airline or operator is based in the EU region. The EU ETS caps aviation emissions of CO2 in 2012 at 97% of the average in 2004-2006 and at 95% in each year from 2013 to 2020. Each April, beginning 2013, covered aircraft operators must turn in emission "allowances" (permits) equal to the previous year's emissions from their flights arriving at or departing from EU airports. Airline operators will receive free allowances for 82%-85% of their 2010 emissions. Airlines that have more allowances than they need may sell them to others or save them for future use. Airlines that need more allowances may buy them from EU auctions, other carriers, other emission sources in the EU ETS, brokers, or international emission trading mechanisms. A small reserve of free allowances will be available for new or rapidly expanding airlines. The entry into force of an EU law covering international aviation emissions is a significant move in a two-decade process concerning whether and how aviation emissions of CO2 may be abated." READ MORE  Is Shale Gas Good for Climate Change? Daniel P. Schrag, Daedalus, Spring 2012, pp. 72-80. "Shale gas is a new energy resource that has shifted the dominant paradigm on U.S. hydrocarbon resources. Some have argued that shale gas will play an important role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions by displacing coal used for electricity, serving as a moderate-carbon “bridge fuel.” Others have questioned whether methane emissions from shale gas extraction lead to higher greenhouse gas emissions overall. I argue that the main impact of shale gas on climate change is neither the reduced emissions from fuel substitution nor the greenhouse gas footprint of natural gas itself, but rather the competition between abundant, low-cost gas and low-carbon technologies, including renewables and carbon capture and storage. This might be remedied if the gas industry joins forces with environmental groups, providing a counterbalance to the coal lobby, and ultimately eliminating the conventional use of coal in the United States." READ MORE  Policies for Financing the Energy Transition. Kassia Yanosek, Daedalus, Spring 2012, pp. 94-104. "Historically, energy transitions have occurred gradually over the span of several decades, marked by incremental improvements in technologies. In recent years, public interest in accelerating the next energy transition has fueled a clean-energy policy agenda intended to underpin the development of a decarbonized energy economy. However, policies to date have encouraged investors to fund renewable energy projects utilizing proven technologies that are not competitive without the help of government subsidies. A true transition of the energy mix requires innovations that can compete with conventional energy over the long term. Investments in innovative technology projects are scarce because of the “commercialization gap,” which affects projects that are too capital-intensive for venture capital yet too risky for private equity, project, or corporate debt ½nancing. Accelerating innovation through the commercialization gap will require governments to allocate public dollars to, and encourage private investment in, these riskier projects. Policy-makers will face a trade-off between prioritizing policies for accelerating the energy transition and accounting for the risks associated with innovation funding in a tight budgetary environment." READ MOREThe Climate Threat We Can Beat. David G. Victor, Charles F. Kennel, Veerabhadran Ramanathan, Foreign Affairs, May/June 2012, var. pages. "For too long, climate diplomacy has focused on carbon dioxide. But at least 40 percent of global warming can be blamed on shorter-lived pollutants, which also cause disease and damage crops in developing states. Reining in pollution would thus accomplish two goals, while finally getting countries such as China and India into the climate-change business. READ MORE Tough Love for Renewable Energy. Jeffrey Ball, Foreign Affairs, May/June 2012, var. pages. "Proponents of renewable energy have had a hard time lately, thanks to the recession, competition from natural gas, and embarrassments such as Solyndra. But it’s too early to give up, since recent advances have made wind and solar power more competitive than ever. Still, governments must redesign their policies and help renewables slash costs." READ MORE National Policies to Promote Renewable Energy. Mohamed T. El-Ashry, Daedalus, Spring 2012. var. pages. "The world is entering a new energy era marked by concerns over energy security, climate change, and access by the poor to modern energy services. Yet the current energy path is not compatible with sustainable development objectives. Global demand for energy will continue to grow; so will CO2 emissions. Achieving a low-carbon energy world will require an unprecedented technological transformation in the way energy is produced and used. That transformation has begun, as renewables capacity continues to grow, prices continue to fall, and shares of global energy from renewables continue to increase. Government policies are the main driver behind renewable energy’s meteoric growth. Still, the world is tapping only a small amount of the vast supply of renewable energy resources. There is broad consensus that the role of these resources should be expanded signi½cantly in order to meaningfully address energy security, energy access, and climate change.  READ MOREUnderstanding the Paradoxes of Multilevel Governing: Climate Change Policy in the European Union. Andrew Jordan, Harro van Asselt, Frans Berkhout, Dave Huitema, Tim Rayner, Global Environmental Politics, May 2012, pp. 43-66. "The European Union (EU) has a well-known aspiration to lead the rest of the world in the governance of climate change. While the precise expressions and consequences of its 'lead by example' approach have been widely discussed, not least in the period since the 2009 Copenhagen summit, few doubt its desire (as distinct from its ability) to function as an 'international agenda setter' in this policy area. In one of the most comprehensive article-length accounts of the evolution of EU climate policy, Miranda Schreurs and Yves Tiberghien drew attention to the various ways in which the EU has sought to lead by example.Writing in the pages of this journal, they documented how it has continually backed targets and goals that are more ambitious than those of other large emitters, such as its commitment to limit warming to 2°C. Internally, it has adopted innovative policy instruments to attain these targets, chieºy the world’s largest greenhouse gas emissions trading system (the EU ETS), as well as a range of other policies and measures that go signiªcantly beyond what some Member States had adopted at the domestic level.6 Prior to the Copenhagen conference, the EU adopted a complex package of climate and energy measures, which aimed, among others things, at: reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent from their 1990 levels by 2020; centralizing and toughening the ETS; and boosting the use of renewable energy.7 Had some of the other major emitters tabled similar packages at Copenhagen or at Durban in 2011, the EU would probably have adopted a 30 percent reduction target." READ MORE   The Climate Fixers. Is there a technological solution to global warming? Michael Specter, The New Yorker, May 14, 2012, var. pp. "The heavy industrial activity of the previous hundred years had caused the earth’s climate to warm by roughly three-quarters of a degree Celsius, helping to make the twentieth century the hottest in at least a thousand years. The eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, however, reduced global temperatures by nearly that much in a single year. It also disrupted patterns of precipitation throughout the planet. It is believed to have influenced events as varied as floods along the Mississippi River in 1993 and, later that year, the drought that devastated the African Sahel. Most people considered the eruption a calamity. For geophysical scientists, though, Mt. Pinatubo provided the best model in at least a century to help us understand what might happen if humans attempted to ameliorate global warming by deliberately altering the climate of the earth. For years, even to entertain the possibility of human intervention on such a scale—geoengineering, as the practice is known—has been denounced as hubris. Predicting long-term climatic behavior by using computer models has proved difficult, and the notion of fiddling with the planet’s climate based on the results generated by those models worries even scientists who are fully engaged in the research." READ MORE  EU Climate and Energy Policy: A Hesitant Supranational Turn? Jørgen Wettestad, Per Ove Eikeland, Måns Nilsson, Global Environmental Politics, May 2012, pp. 67-86. "Since 2009, the European Union has a new and more vigorous climate and energy policy, including a specific climate and energy policy package and a revised policy package aimed at completing the realization of the internal energy market. In March 2007, the European Council prompted adoption of these packages to reduce total EU greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent. The Council also signaled that restructuring of energy supply and demand should be an important part of the new climate policy, adopting a binding target of 20 percent renewables in total energy consumption and a non-binding target of 20 percent energy efficiency compared to business-as-usual by the year 2020. The Council cited improving the security of energy supply as an important goal and endorsed the need for speed in finalizing the internal market to ensure efficient implementation of the new policy targets." READ MORE  Climate Challenges, Ecological Modernization, and Technological Forcing: Policy Lessons from a Comparative US-EU Analysis, Joseph Szarka, Global Environmental Politics, May 2012, pp. 87-109. "The international policy regime initiated by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992 has yet to prove its effectiveness. During negotiation of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol greenhouse gas emission (GHG) targets of around 8 percent were discussed for regions such as the European Union and the United States of America. These goals have offered scant global climate protection, given that global CO2 emissions alone increased by 40 percent between 1990 and 2009.1 Indeed, the regime’s effectiveness was diluted by defections, notably the United States. In the late 2000s, negotiations for a successor treaty raised hopes of a stronger regime, but the 2009 Copenhagen Accord produced little progress. Nevertheless, recognition grew of the need for stronger measures, with countries such as the United Kingdom and France inserting the aim of 75–80 percent GHG cuts by 2050 into national legislation." READ MORE  Moving Forward in the Climate Negotiations: Multilateralism or Minilateralism? Robyn Eckersley, Global Environmental Politics, May 2012, pp. 24-42. "The failure of the Copenhagen, Cancún and Durban conferences to produce a new, legally binding climate treaty (as distinct from a promise to negotiate a treaty) has generated increasing concern over the capacity of the multilateral climate negotiations to respond to the challenge of climate change in a timely and effective manner. Critics of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiation process have argued that it has become fatally cumbersome because it requires the impossible: consensus decisionmaking by 194 parties on every line of a complex and lengthy treaty. The negotiations have produced diminishing returns over time as a result of the development of deeply entrenched positions by increasingly defensive negotiating blocs. The sixteenth Conference of the Parties (COP16) at Cancún put the negotiations back on track after the derailment at Copenhagen, but the Cancún agreement was secured by determined chairing by the Mexican host, which included departing from a strict adherence to the consensus rule in the final session to avoid a repetition of Copenhagen. COP17 at Durban has been celebrated for starting a fresh round of negotiations for a new legal agreement that will include all major emitters, and for throwing another lifeline to the Kyoto Protocol. Yet Durban was also a case of déjà vu, since the Bali conference in 2007 had launched a roadmap for a legally binding treaty including all major emitters to be signed at Copenhagen in 2009." READ MORE  Europe's Energy Security: Options and Challenges to Natural Gas Supply Diversification. Michael Ratner, Paul Belkin, et. al. Congressional Research Service,  March 13, 2012, var. pp. "Europe as a major energy consumer faces a number of challenges when addressing future energy needs. Among these challenges are a rapidly rising global demand and competition for energy resources from emerging economies such as China and India, persistent instability in energy producing regions such as the Middle East, a fragmented internal European energy market, and a growing need to shift fuels in order to address climate change policy. As a result, energy supply security has become a key concern for European nations and the European Union (EU). A key element of the EU's energy supply strategy has been to shift to a greater use of natural gas. Europe as a whole is a major importer of natural gas. Russia is Europe's most important natural gas supplier, accounting for 34% of Europe's natural gas imports. Europe's natural gas consumption is projected to grow while its own domestic natural gas production continues to decline. If trends continue as projected, Europe's dependence on Russia as a supplier is likely to grow. And, while it could be in Europe's interest to explore alternative sources for its natural gas needs, it is uncertain whether Europe as a whole can, or is willing to, replace a significant level of imports of Russian natural gas. Some European countries that feel vulnerable to potential Russian energy supply manipulation may work harder to achieve diversification than others." READ MORE  Aviation and the European Union's Emission Trading Scheme. Jane A. Leggett, Bart Elias, et.al. Congressional Research Service, March 07, 2012, var. pp. Beginning January 1, 2012, most carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from commercial flights to, from, and within the European Union (EU) are covered by the EU Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS). Flights are covered regardless of whether the airline or operator is based in the EU region. The EU ETS caps aviation emissions of CO2 in 2012 at 97% of the average in 2004-2006 and at 95% in each year from 2013 to 2020. Each April, beginning 2013, covered aircraft operators must turn in emission "allowances" (permits) equal to the previous year's emissions from their flights arriving at or departing from EU airports. Airline operators will receive free allowances for 82%-85% of their 2010 emissions. Airlines that have more allowances than they need may sell them to others or save them for future use. Airlines that need more allowances may buy them from EU auctions, other carriers, other emission sources in the EU ETS, brokers, or international emission trading mechanisms. A small reserve of free allowances will be available for new or rapidly expanding airlines. The entry into force of an EU law covering international aviation emissions is a significant move in a two-decade process concerning whether and how aviation emissions of CO2 may be abated." READ MORE  Is Shale Gas Good for Climate Change? Daniel P. Schrag, Daedalus, Spring 2012, pp. 72-80. "Shale gas is a new energy resource that has shifted the dominant paradigm on U.S. hydrocarbon resources. Some have argued that shale gas will play an important role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions by displacing coal used for electricity, serving as a moderate-carbon “bridge fuel.” Others have questioned whether methane emissions from shale gas extraction lead to higher greenhouse gas emissions overall. I argue that the main impact of shale gas on climate change is neither the reduced emissions from fuel substitution nor the greenhouse gas footprint of natural gas itself, but rather the competition between abundant, low-cost gas and low-carbon technologies, including renewables and carbon capture and storage. This might be remedied if the gas industry joins forces with environmental groups, providing a counterbalance to the coal lobby, and ultimately eliminating the conventional use of coal in the United States." READ MORE  Policies for Financing the Energy Transition. Kassia Yanosek, Daedalus, Spring 2012, pp. 94-104. "Historically, energy transitions have occurred gradually over the span of several decades, marked by incremental improvements in technologies. In recent years, public interest in accelerating the next energy transition has fueled a clean-energy policy agenda intended to underpin the development of a decarbonized energy economy. However, policies to date have encouraged investors to fund renewable energy projects utilizing proven technologies that are not competitive without the help of government subsidies. A true transition of the energy mix requires innovations that can compete with conventional energy over the long term. Investments in innovative technology projects are scarce because of the “commercialization gap,” which affects projects that are too capital-intensive for venture capital yet too risky for private equity, project, or corporate debt ½nancing. Accelerating innovation through the commercialization gap will require governments to allocate public dollars to, and encourage private investment in, these riskier projects. Policy-makers will face a trade-off between prioritizing policies for accelerating the energy transition and accounting for the risks associated with innovation funding in a tight budgetary environment." READ MOREThe Return of Energy Insecurity in the Developed Democracies. John S. Duffield, Contemporary Security Policy, April 2012, pp. 1-26. "During the past decade, concerns about energy security have reached levels not witnessed in the developed democracies since the 1970s and early 1980s. In good part because of such concerns, each of the largest of these countries – Britain, France, Germany, Japan, and the United States – has conducted a major review of energy policy, initiated significant policy changes, or both. Also like the 1970s, recent years have seen a variety of proposals for international cooperation to promote energy security. This is where the similarities with the past largely end, however. In contrast to the earlier period, when the principal sources of concern in these countries were high oil prices and uncertain oil supplies, recent worries about energy security have been much more diverse. This paper describes these differences and explores their implications. It argues that the disparities in today's energy security concerns and policy preferences in the major developed democracies are due in part to the divergent policies pursued in response to the oil shocks of the 1970s. It also argues that the present differences will make meaningful cooperation by these countries to promote energy security, which was never easy in the past, yet more difficult." READ MORE   Emerging powers, North–South relations and global climate politics. Andrew Hurrell and Sandeep Sengupta, International Affairs, May 2012, pp. 463–484. "There is a widespread perception that power is shifting in global politics and that emerging powers are assuming a more prominent, active and important role. This article examines the role of emerging powers such as China, India, Brazil and South Africa (BASIC) in climate change politics and the extent to which their rise makes the already difficult problem of climate change still more intractable—due to their rapid economic development, growing power-political ambitions, rising greenhouse gas emissions and apparent unwillingness to accept global environmental ‘responsibility’. By reviewing the developments in global climate politics between the 1992 Rio Earth Summit and Rio+20, this article unsettles the image of a clear shift in power, stressing instead the complexity of the changes that have taken place at the level of international bargaining as well as at the domestic and transnational levels. Within this picture, it is important not to overestimate the shifts in power that have taken place, or to underplay the continued relevance of understanding climate change within the North–South frame. Emerging powers will certainly remain at the top table of climate change negotiations, but their capacity actively to shape the agenda has been limited and has, in some respects, declined. Even though emerging powers have initiated and offered greater action on climate change, both internationally and domestically, they have been unable to compel the industrialized world to take more serious action on this issue, or to stop them from unpicking several of the key elements and understandings of the original Rio deal. At the same time, developing world coalitions on climate change have also fragmented, raising questions about the continued potency of the ‘global South’ in future climate politics. READ MORE   Paying Too Much for Energy? The True Costs of Our Energy Choices. Michael Greenstone, Adam Looney, Daedalus, Spring 2012, pp. 10–30. “Energy consumption is critical to economic growth and quality of life. America's energy system, however, is malfunctioning. The status quo is characterized by a tilted playing field, where energy choices are based on the visible costs that appear on utility bills and at gas pumps. This system masks the ‘external’ costs arising from those energy choices, including shorter lives, higher health care expenses, a changing climate, and weakened national security. As a result, we pay unnecessarily high costs for energy. New ‘rules of the road’ could level the energy playing field. Drawing from our work for The Hamilton Project, this paper offers four principles for reforming U.S. energy policies in order to increase Americans' well-being.” READ MOREEnergy Policy: Past or Prologue? Michael J. Graetz, Daedalus, Spring 2012, pp. 31-44. “The United States was remarkably complacent about energy policy until the Arab oil embargo of 1973. Since then, we have relied on unnecessarily costly regulations and poorly designed subsidies to mandate or encourage particular forms of energy production and use. Our presidents have quested after an elusive technological “silver bullet.” Congress has elevated parochial interests and short-term political advantages over national needs. Despite the thousands of pages of energy legislation enacted over the past four decades, Congress has never demanded that Americans pay a price that reflects the full costs of the energy they consume. Given our nation's economic fragility, our difficult fiscal situation, and the daunting challenges of achieving energy security and limiting climate change, we can no longer afford second- and third-best policies. This essay discusses the failures of the past and how we might avoid repeating them.” READ MOREU.S. Petroleum Security and Energy Independence. Jonathan Chanis, American Foreign Policy Interests, February 2012, pp. 20-26. “Over the last few years, technological advances have vastly increased the ability of the United States to produce petroleum on its own territory. This startling turnaround in U.S. petroleum prospects has caused some to believe that the United States can become energy “independent.” After examining the production data and the concepts of “independence” and “energy security,” the conclusion is reached that while U.S. petroleum security is dramatically improving, energy “independence,” as conventionally understood, is not realistic. The ultimate degree to which U.S. petroleum security improves is highly dependent on (1) the outcome of numerous political disputes within the United States between petroleum and environmental interest groups and (2) the future investment policies of the international oil companies and Saudi Arabia.” READ MORE  The Arctic Is Now: Economic and National Security in the Last Frontier. Melissa Bert, American Foreign Policy Interests, January 2012, pp. 5-19. “With an estimated 30 billion barrels of oil, 220 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, rare earth minerals, and massive renewable wind, tidal, and geothermal energy resources, the economic potential of the Alaskan Arctic can be measured in the trillions of dollars. Although the other Arctic nations are parties to the Law of the Sea Convention and are already developing their nations’ Arctic resources, the United States has failed to ratify the convention or develop a plan for the region. Now is the time for the Obama administration to advance a comprehensive Arctic strategy that addresses both governance and acquisition requirements, or it risks further harm to the nation's economic and national security.” READ MORE Geopolitics and the Northern Sea Route. Margaret Blunden, International Affairs, January 2012, pp. 115-129. “Experimental transit voyages along the Northern Sea Route to the north of Russia are breaking new ground each year and the route is already significant for the export of raw materials from Russian ports. National and corporate interests are now driving Russia's Arctic policy, rather than, as formerly, an exclusive focus on security, and the Russian government has ambitious plans for the development of the route. Future regular transit of the Northern Sea Route between Europe and Asia, at present facing serious obstacles, could be accelerated not only by climate change, but by overload on, or interruptions to, the existing route through the Suez Canal, which passes through some of the world's most volatile regions. Despite the formidable impediments to regular year round transit of the Northern Sea Route, governments of the non-Arctic states with most at stake, particularly Germany and China, appear to be taking no chances, and to be jockeying for influence in the Arctic region. The interests of the non-Arctic trading states, and of the European Union, more inclined to view the Arctic Ocean as part of the ‘common heritage of mankind’, are however potentially different from those of Russia, and indeed of Canada in respect of the North East passage, both determined to maintain their exclusive national jurisdiction over emerging sea lanes through their territorial waters. Great issues are at stake here. The emergence of new sea lanes has historically impacted heavily on the international balance of power. Where the merchant fleets go, navies will shortly follow.”  READ MORE Power paradox: Clean might not be green forever. Anil Ananthaswamy and Michael Le Page, New Scientist, 30 January 2012, var. pp.  “As energy demand grows, even alternative energy sources such as wind, solar and nuclear fusion could begin to affect the climate Editorial: "Taking the long view on the world's energy supplies" "A better, richer and happier life for all our citizens." That's the American dream. In practice, it means living in a spacious, air-conditioned house, owning a car or three and maybe a boat or a holiday home, not to mention flying off to exotic destinations. The trouble with this lifestyle is that it consumes a lot of power. If everyone in the world started living like wealthy Americans, we'd need to generate more than 10 times as much energy each year. And if, in a century or three, we all expect to be looked after by an army of robots and zoom up into space on holidays, we are going to need a vast amount more. Where are we going to get so much power from? It is clear that continuing to rely on fossil fuels will have catastrophic results, because of the dramatic warming effect of carbon dioxide. But alternative power sources will affect the climate too. For now, the climatic effects of "clean energy" sources are trivial compared with those that spew out greenhouse gases, but if we keep on using ever more power over the coming centuries, they will become ever more significant. While this kind of work is still at an early stage, some startling conclusions are already beginning to emerge. Nuclear power - including fusion - is not the long-term answer to our energy problems. Even renewable energies such as wind power will have to be used with caution, because large-scale extraction could have both local and global effects. These effects are not necessarily a bad thing, though. We might be able to exploit them to geoengineer the climate and combat global warming.” READ MOREFracking Controversy. Are new natural gas drilling methods safe? Daniel McGlynn, CQ Researcher, December 2011, var. pp. "Environmental groups and the Obama administration have long promoted natural gas as a domestic energy source that is cleaner and cheaper than oil and offers a way for the United States to break its dependence on foreign energy suppliers. But a drilling method being used to unlock gas deposits deep inside the Earth has led to widespread protests. Hydraulic fracturing, or 'fracking,' involves injecting massive amounts of water, chemicals, sand and other material under high pressure into shale formations to break the rock and release the gas trapped inside. Critics say fracking fouls drinking water, pollutes the atmosphere with toxic methane gas and turns rural communities into ugly industrial zones. Energy executives say, however, that the technique is safe and efficient and is creating thousands of jobs. In Congress, lawmakers have introduced bills to tighten environmental regulation of fracking, and some states have banned the procedure while they study its impact." READ MORE The Resource Curse. Does energy and mineral wealth hinder development? Jennifer Weeks , CQ Global Researcher, December 20, 2011, var. pp. "Ever since dozens of countries gained independence after World War II, scholars have been trying to understand why some new countries were able to grow and prosper while others stagnated. One prominent theory, known as the 'resource curse' or the 'paradox of plenty,' holds that developing nations with valuable oil, gas or mineral reserves are less likely to thrive than their resource-poor neighbors. Proponents say revenues from extractable resources can distort economies, promote corruption and shore up autocratic leaders who waste or steal public money. The resource curse concept is hotly debated, and many analysts see no direct link between mineral wealth and economic growth. But anti-poverty advocates and citizens' groups widely support it and say extractive industries and governments should disclose the amount of money a government receives for its nation's natural resources. That's the best way for citizens to ensure their leaders are sharing the wealth and spending it wisely, they say." READ MORE Heads in the Sand. Coral Davenport, The National Journal, December 2011, var. pp. "As climate-change science moves in one direction, Republicans in Congress are moving in another. Why? [...] Democrats in the same position, such as Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, have long been open about this conundrum—the need to address the crisis that climate science says is coming while somehow saving the jobs that could be lost in the fossil-fuel industry. Coal-state Democrats don’t necessarily have a solution; plenty of them clam up when asked about controversial proposals such as cap-and-trade and pollution regulations. But it’s rare to find a Democrat who denies outright the overwhelming scientific consensus that carbon emissions from oil, coal, and gas—also known as greenhouse gases—are causing the world’s climate to warm."  READ MORE   The Crisis in Clean Energy. David G. Victor and Kassia Yanosek, Foreign Affairs, July/August 2011, var. pp. Clean energy was supposed to create jobs while reducing energy insecurity, global warming, and the U.S. trade deficit. But Washington's policies have encouraged quick and easy projects that cannot compete with conventional carbon-based sources. READ MORE Climate of Denial. Can science and the truth withstand the merchants of poison? Al Gore, Rolling Stone Magazine, June 22, 2011, var. pp. [...] Throughout American history, we relied on the vibrancy of our public square — and the quality of our democratic discourse — to make better decisions than most nations in the history of the world. But we are now routinely making really bad decisions that completely ignore the best available evidence of what is true and what is false. When the distinction between truth and falsehood is systematically attacked without shame or consequence — when a great nation makes crucially important decisions on the basis of completely false information that is no longer adequately filtered through the fact-checking function of a healthy and honest public discussion — the public interest is severely damaged.  That is exactly what is happening with U.S. decisions regarding the climate crisis. The best available evidence demonstrates beyond any reasonable doubt that the reckless spewing of global-warming pollution in obscene quantities into the atmospheric commons is having exactly the consequences long predicted by scientists who have analyzed the known facts according to the laws of physics. READ MORE The Climate Wars Myth. Bruno Tertrais, The Washington Quarterly, August 2011, pp. 17 - 29. The first decade of the 21st century was the hottest since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Global warming is real and, if present trends continue, its possible effects worry publics and governments around the world. Could it foster armed conflict for resources such as food and water? Will Western armies be increasingly called upon to mitigate the effects of natural catastrophes, humanitarian disasters, and floods of refugees? Think tanks have enthusiastically embraced this new field of research, and militaries around the world are now actively studying the possible impact of a warming planet on global security. Books with titles such as Climate Wars predict a bleak future.1 A well-known French consultant claims that a five degree Celsius increase in average global temperature would generate no less than a ‘‘bloodbath.’’ Former World Bank economist Lord Nicholas Stern the author of the 2006 ‘‘Stern Report’’ on the possible economic impact of climate change even declares that failing to deal with climate change decisively would lead to ‘‘an extended world war.’’However, there is every reason to be more than circumspect regarding such dire predictions. History shows that ‘‘warm’’ periods are more peaceful than ‘‘cold’’ ones. In the modern era, the evolution of the climate is not an essential factor to explain collective violence. Nothing indicates that ‘‘water wars’’ or floods of ‘‘climate refugees’’ are on the horizon. And to claim that climate change may have an impact on security is to state the obvious but it does not make it meaningful for defense planning. READ MORE Climate Change and Security at the Third Pole. Katherine Morton, Survival, February-March , 2011, pp. 121 - 132. The Tibetan Plateau is the largest high-altitude landmass on Earth, with more than 45,000 glaciers that feed the major river systems in Asia, which in turn support 40% of the world's population. As global warming continues, temperatures in the region are rising twice as fast as the global average, posing serious risks to hydrological systems, agriculture and critical infrastructure. Placing an ecological security lens on regional cooperation raises an important question about the extent to which the threat of large-scale climate-related disaster could trigger new forms of cooperative action. Current responses fall far short of ensuring a mutually secure future. READ MOREThe Era of State Energy Policy Innovation: A Review of Policy Instruments. Sanya Carley, Review of Policy Research, May 2011, pp. 265–294. U.S. energy and climate policy has evolved from the bottom-up, led by state governments, and internationally recognized for the use of unconventional and innovative policy instruments. This study focuses on policy instruments adopted throughout the era of state energy policy innovation that aim to diversify, decentralize, and decarbonize the electricity sector. Specific attention is devoted to the renewable portfolio standard, net metering, interconnection standards, tax incentives, public benefit funds, and energy efficiency resource standards. This analysis synthesizes the findings from the energy policy literature and provides a summary of the current state of understanding about the effects of various state energy policy instruments, and concludes with a discussion of broader trends that have emerged from the use of policy instruments in the state energy policy innovation era. READ MORE Climate Change Regionalism in North America. Henrik Selin and Stacy D. VanDeveer. Review of Policy Research, May 2011, pp. 295-304. This viewpoint article intends to stimulate both scholars and practitioners to engage in more serious reflection and critical debate about opportunities for further coordinated North American responses to climate change. It draws attention to expected intellectual, economic, political, and environmental advantages of expanded continental climate change and energy governance for all three North American societies. First, we briefly address the notion of climate change regionalism and highlight ways to think about multilevel governance arrangements already developing in North America. This is followed by a discussion of four broad areas of potential benefits of expanded continental climate change policy making: gaining from policy learning, capturing economic efficiency gains, meeting adaptation challenges, and exercising global leadership. The article ends with some remarks on the future of North American climate change governance, calling for more regionally focused empirical research and analysis. READ MORETransatlantic Relations in a Multipolar Europe. Riccardo Alcaro, European Security and the Future of Transatlantic Relations, April 2011, pp. 15-39. For decades European security was at the core of the transatlantic relationship. During the first half of the 20th Century the traditional reluctance of the United States to get involved in the highly competitive European security system gave way to the recognition that it was in the country’s national interest to avoid the emergence of an hegemonic power in Europe. The US felt compelled to intervene with massive military, economic, and human resources in two epoch-making world wars resulting from the collapse of the precarious European balance of power. READ MOREThe Green Lantern. Coral Davenport and Yochi J. Dreazen , National Journal, May 27, 2011, var. pp. The Pentagon hopes that by powering the military on renewable energy, it will light the way for an American revolution in clean tech. For American drivers, $4-a-gallon gasoline is painful: It bites deeply into household incomes at a time when millions of people are stretched to a breaking point. But for the U.S. military, the cost of fuel is a magnitude greater—and a matter of life or death. Fuel shipments account for the majority of the supplies trucked through Afghanistan, and militants attack the convoys almost daily. At least one member of the armed forces is killed for every 24 fuel convoys that snake their way along Afghanistan’s dangerous roads; hundreds of troops and contractors have died protecting the trucks. READ MOREBlack Swan over Fukushima. Bruno Tertrais, Survival, June-July 2011, pp. 91-100. The March 2011 Fukushima event was the perfect catastrophe: multiple, simultaneous and grave accidents at several facilities within a large nuclear plant, in a country undergoing extreme stress and facing competing demands for emergency services as a result of the major earthquake and massive tsunami that led to those accidents. This led to an extraordinary outburst of anxiety around the world. In mid-April, an online search for ‘Fukushima’ and ‘apocalypse’ elicited 3.5 million returns. Following the accident, nuclear programmes are being reviewed all around the world, but the catastrophe will not, nor should it, radically alter the future nuclear landscape.   READ MOREGlobal Energy: The Latest Infatuations. Vaclav Smil, American Scientist, 2011, var. pp.In energy matters, what goes around, comes around—but perhaps should go away. To follow global energy affairs is to have a never-ending encounter with new infatuations. Fifty years ago media ignored crude oil (a barrel went for little more than a dollar). Instead the western utilities were preoccupied with the annual double-digit growth of electricity demand that was to last indefinitely, and many of them decided that only large-scale development of nuclear fission, to be eventually transformed into a widespread adoption of fast breeder reactors, could secure electricity’s future. Two decades later, in the midst of the second energy “crisis” (1979–1981, precipitated by Khomeini’s takeover of Iran), rising crude oil prices became the world’s prime existential concern, growth of electricity demand had slumped to low single digits, France was the only nation that was seriously pursuing a nuclear future, and small cars were in vogue. READ MOREGlobalizing the Energy Revolution How to Really Win the Clean-Energy Race By Michael Levi, Elizabeth C. Economy, Shannon O'Neil, and Adam Segal. Foreign Affairs, Nov/Dec 2010, var. pages. "Clean-energy technology is expensive and the United States is spending far too little on developing it. The U.S. government must do more to promote cross-border innovation and protect intellectual property rights." READ MOREEnergy, Environment, and Security: Critical Links in a Post-Peak World. Shane Mulligan, Global Environmental Politics, November 2010, pp. 79-100. "Energy supplies are central to human ecology and key to the sustainability of human communities, but the decline of fossil fuel resources is largely ignored in global environmental politics. Most political analysis of energy focuses on state-centered "energy security" while largely overlooking discourses of environmental or ecological security. Yet energy and the environment are intimately connected; in the 1970s and 1980s, energy resources were seen as very much a part of the environment to be secured, while today fossil energy is seen as an evident threat to the environment, especially through the medium of climate change. This article surveys the changing relationships among energy, the environment, and security, and suggests a framework for examining the discursive forces that have affected such changes. This framework offers guidance toward developing a more ecologically informed approach to energy and (state, global, and human) security under conditions of scarce and declining global fossil fuel supplies." READ MOREFixing the EU Emissions Trading System? Understanding the Post-2012 Changes. Jon Birger Skjærseth and Jørgen Wettestad. Global Environmental Politics, November 2010, pp. 101-123. "This article explains why the significant changes in the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) for the 2013–2020 phase were adopted in 2008. The combination of a more stringent EU-wide cap, allocation of emission allowances for payment, and limits on imports of credits from third countries have strengthened the system for the post-2012 period. This will promote reduction in greenhouse gases compared to the old system. The main reasons for these changes are, first, changes in the positions of the member states due to unsatisfactory experience with performance of the EU ETS so far. Second, a 'package approach' where the EU ETS reform was integrated into wider energy and climate policy facilitated agreement on the changes. Third, changes in the position of nonstate actors and a desire to affect the international climate negotiations contributed to the reform." READ MOREA High-Risk Energy Boom Sweeps Across North America. Keith Schneider, Yale Environment 360, September 30, 2010, var. pp. The author, a contributor to the New York Times, writes that energy companies are pouring huge sums of money into developing new sources of fossil fuels across the Western U.S. and Canada. This so-called unconventional oil and gas are locked in shale or tar sands formations, and are inaccessible by normal drilling methods. Development of unconventional energy carries high environmental risks, including open-pit mining in the case of the Alberta tar sands and hydraulic fracturing fluids for shale gas. It is more energy-intensive, generating far more CO2 emissions than conventional drilling, and requires 3-5 times as much water in a region that does not receive much rainfall. Schneider writes that the explosion in unconventional energy extraction “raises a troubling question – at a time when the country should be embracing a renewable energy revolution, it is hurtling in the opposite direction.” READ MORE  Balance of Power. How the shifting dynamic between the United States and China could doom the Cancun climate talks. Coral Davenport, The National Journal, November 18, 2010, var. pp. Land of contrasts: China is the world's biggest carbon polluter, but it has also done more than any other nation to promote the use of clean energy. Annie Petsonk, international counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund, has been involved in the United Nations effort to forge a global treaty on climate change since the endeavor began with a 1992 summit in Rio de Janeiro. In those 18 years, she has attended countless conferences, global meetings, and all-night negotiating sessions—all with the goal of creating a legally binding document that unites the planet in a mission to tackle global warming. But as she looks toward the U.N. climate summit in Cancun, Mexico, which opens on November 29, Petsonk, like so many others, questions whether her dream of a climate-change treaty has become a fantasy. “The original concept—190 countries, all in international agreement, bridging the very deep divide between industrialized and developing countries—that international process is riven with divisions,” she said. “There’s so much uncertainty. They’ve tried for so many years to reach international agreement. There’s a new landscape now, and it’s very challenging.” READ MOREA Convenient Truth About Clean Energy. Carl E Schoder, The Futurist, Jan/Feb 2011, var. pp.  The convenient truth is that the world does not have an energy shortage; it simply lacks an energy infrastructure capable of using the abundant source of solar energy received from the sun every day. The current worldwide demand of about 363 terawatt-hours per day could be met by covering just 0.5% of the world's land area with silicon solar panels. Doing so, and building out other necessary infrastructure requirements, could meet energy needs and eliminate dependency on nonrenewable petroleum. A significant contribution to the current world energy situation is the consumption creed that has been pushed upon by the marketing geniuses of the global corporations. The public has been enticed by those corporations to buy more and save less. A long-range solution in the form of carbon-free energy is feasible and doable if one plans now, spend for the future instead of the present, and conserve more while spending less. READ MORE