Foreign Policy Blogs

Climate Change

On most things we can muddle through, for climate change that just won’t do

On most things we can muddle through, for climate change that just won’t do

When Congress makes a mistake in determining important economic policy like setting the tax rate or implementing a new trade policy, the results can be pretty awful. Unexpected inflation might take place, jobs might be lost, and personal savings might crumble. In the most severe cases, these disruptions might result in economic recession, or worse, […]

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America’s Need for Clean and Resilient Energy Infrastructure can make its Global Climate Leadership Smart Again

America’s Need for Clean and Resilient Energy Infrastructure can make its Global Climate Leadership Smart Again

With a new president-elect in the White House, it is now time for America to move forward with bipartisan efforts to resuscitate its global leadership. However, this return to normalcy depends on the liberal epicenter’s techno-industrial quest for energy infrastructure modernization and innovation (especially in adaptive energy management systems). Confronted with the inevitable 21st-century thrust […]

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Cape Town Awaits “Day Zero”

Cape Town Awaits “Day Zero”

Picture from City of Cape Town. (Source: Alberton Record) Cape Town, South Africa (a city of four million people) is at a dangerous inflection point. National Public Radio (NPR) reports that South Africa’s second main economic driver and Africa’s third main economic hub city could be the first major city in the developed world to […]

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Who Will Lead on Climate in the Age of Trump?

Who Will Lead on Climate in the Age of Trump?

Last year, the world celebrated the Paris climate deal. Less than a year later, elation has turned into depression. Who will assume leadership now?

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Climate Change: What Would Hillary Clinton Do?

Climate Change: What Would Hillary Clinton Do?

Hillary Clinton has put out an enormous number of climate change policy proposals. She may not be able to implement very many of them.

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What We Get Wrong about Climate Change Solutions

What We Get Wrong about Climate Change Solutions

Politics matter. Climate change policies, such as carbon levies and emissions trading, need to reflect political conditions on the ground.

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Time for Public-Private Partnership Innovations in Natural Disaster Insurance?

Time for Public-Private Partnership Innovations in Natural Disaster Insurance?

Global warming has heightened the probability of catastrophic natural disasters, challenging the risk management capability of governments.

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Dammed If You Do, Damned If You Don’t: Cooperation in the Nile Basin

Dammed If You Do, Damned If You Don’t: Cooperation in the Nile Basin

Issues like water governance and cross-border coordination of energy supply are likely to become much more thorny diplomatic exercises to deal with.

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Paris Climate Agreement: Mixed Reviews

Paris Climate Agreement: Mixed Reviews

When delegates from nearly 200 countries convened in Paris in late November 2015, many were hopeful about the COP21. It could be a watershed moment when the world would unite and finally put forth a plan to combat climate change.

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US and UK Team Up to Power African Clean Energy

US and UK Team Up to Power African Clean Energy

A landmark collaboration between the UK’s Energy Africa initiative and America’s Power Africa campaign has been launched to bring clean electricity to millions of people across the African continent.

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COP21 Conference in Paris

COP21 Conference in Paris

As the 21st Conference of Parties begins this week in Paris, for the first time in years, the prospect for serious, substantive international progress on climate issues is not bleak.

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Is Fear of People Power Turning the Chinese Communist Party from Red to Green?

Is Fear of People Power Turning the Chinese Communist Party from Red to Green?

The move to a green-based economy would require massive restructuring and the tackling of vested interests that profit from the current set up. But it is no more radical than the break-neck development China pursued over the last two decades.

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Industry Must Be Part Of The Solution At COP21

Industry Must Be Part Of The Solution At COP21

In the U.S., any discussion involving climate change tends to deteriorate into an argument between two factions—those who feel that climate change is a very real threat to the planet, and those who say it is nothing but a scare tactic.

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The new Chinese Century? Can a Green China with no Mideast Entanglements Surpass the U.S.?

The new Chinese Century? Can a Green China with no Mideast Entanglements Surpass the U.S.?

China may be on its way to being a hybrid leader that can avoid overseas adventurism as it tries to rapidly abandon fossil fuels and modernize its unstable neighbors’ economies.

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Europe Debates its Future Climate Targets

Europe Debates its Future Climate Targets

The countries of the European Union tend to be viewed as the main advocates at the national level for developing a more comprehensive and binding global plan to tackle climate change. As the EU pushes forward, other nations have been stuck in neutral or have been retrenching. With the European economy continuously struggling to pick […]

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