ENERGY
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March 4, 2013
"From BP to Boeing, Supplier Safety Is the CEO's Problem"
Op-Ed, Harvard Business Review
By Ben Heineman, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
The current front-page sub-contractor controversies surrounding BP's liability for the gulf explosion and Boeing's grounding of its 787 Dreamliner should not obscure an ultimate take-away for corporate leaders: companies must take operational responsibility for ensuring that products and services provided to them by third party suppliers are safe, effective and of high quality.
March 2013
Sustainability Certification in the Biofuel Sector
Discussion Paper
This paper assesses how certification programs adopted by EU countries have affected biofuel development in Brazil, and identifies some of the lessons learned in designing future certification programs. The paper challenges the idea of the central importance of market benefits as the driving force behind private regimes for environmental and social governance.
February 22, 2013
Drivers of the Nuclear Power Option in Oil Exporting Countries
News
An audio recording of Dr. Adnan Shihab-Eldin's lecture at the Middle East Initiative on February 6, 2013. Dr. Shihab-Eldin, Director General of the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences, was formerly Acting Secretary General & Director of Research of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
www.trade.gov
August 2012
"Natural Gas Development in Kurdistan: A Financial Assessment"
Paper
By Stephen A. Elliott and Louis B. Beryl
This report summarizes the context of natural gas development in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan), assesses the major risk factors and opportunities, and presents a financial model for natural gas development projects.
February 21, 2013
More than One Way to Skin a Policy
News
By Andrew Facini, Communications Assistant
Washington Post national environment reporter Juliet Eilperin spoke on the political difficulties of pursuing environmental policy in a seminar titled "Covering Environmental Controversies in a Political Environment" at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Wikipedia Commons
February 14, 2013
"'Energy Independence' Alone Won't Boost U.S. Power"
Op-Ed, Bloomberg View
By Meghan L. O'Sullivan, Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School
“We are finally poised to control our own energy future,” said President Barack Obama in his State of the Union message, noting the drastic increase in American energy production from unconventional oil and gas resources.
Controlling our energy future means more than just producing a greater amount of our own energy. It also means harnessing this energy renaissance to meet our global geopolitical needs. We’ve begun to reap the many economic benefits this boom brings—such as easing the trade deficit and lowering carbon emissions. But we have only started to appreciate how this energy renaissance affects our larger strategic environment. And, not surprisingly, many readers of the tea leaves have confused reality with desire, by hoping more energy at home will mean keeping out of the volatile politics and economics of the Middle East.
January 2013
"Treaty Design and Duration: Effects on R&D, Participation, and Compliance"
Policy Brief
By Bard Harstad
Climate policy is complicated. For a treaty to be beneficial, one must think through carefully how it will work, once it is implemented. Crucial questions include the following: How should an international treaty be designed? Should one negotiate commitments for a five-year period, or for much longer? Assuming that the treaty specifies aggregate or country-specific emission caps, what should these caps be and how should they change over time? How should the agreement be updated once policymakers, scholars, and the public learn more about the severity of the climate-change problem, or about the effects of the policy? Can the treaty be designed to encourage investments in "green" abatement technology or renewable energy sources? Finally, how can one motivate countries to participate and comply with such an agreement?
February 4, 2013
"Engineers Square up to Meet Grand Challenges"
Op-Ed, Times
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa
"We the undersigned will be among more than 400 engineers, scientists, industrialists and thought-leaders from around the world who will meet for this summit in March, with the goal of realising our technological dreams and using what we learn to improve global sustainability, resilience, health, education, economic growth and overall quality of life. The summit will be disruptive, forward-looking and internationally collaborative. It starts with the premise that the most valuable global commodity today is not oil, gold or grain: it is ideas."
February 1, 2013
New Book by Graham Allison and Robert Blackwill Explores Global Insights of “Grand Master” Lee Kuan Yew
News
By Sharon Wilke, Associate Director of Communications
When Lee Kuan Yew speaks, who listens? Presidents, prime ministers, chief executives, and all who care about global strategy.
Graham Allison and Robert D. Blackwill, two leading strategic thinkers, asked Lee Kuan Yew the toughest questions that matter most to thoughtful Americans weighing the challenges of the next quarter century. The result is their new book, Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master’s Insights on China, the United States, and the World – published today by MIT Press.
January 10, 2013
"Shell's Arctic Troubles Only Buy Time"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Juliette Kayyem, Lecturer in Public Policy
"...[T]o believe that the market will maintain its current risk assessment forever is to believe in the power of magical thinking. The economic and political stakes are overwhelmingly in favor of drilling. The White House is pushing for domestic sources of energy. Alaska's elected and tribal leadership will gain much from taxes on new economic activity. And our foreign competitors near the Arctic circle — including Russia, which sent an oil tanker through the Arctic during in December — are ready to plunge into the cold."
