News & Analysis Archive
China’s Environment: An Economic Death SentenceJanuary 28, 2013 / Minxin PeiFortune.com
Given decades of environmental neglect and China's heavy reliance on coal, it would be difficult to produce a dramatic improvement quickly.Poland’s Flame of HopeFebruary 09, 2012 / Tim Boersma, Corey JohnsonEuropean Energy ReviewPoland has pinned its energy hopes for the future on a shale gas miracle. But Poland would be wise to make its shale gas ambitions part of a ‘grand strategy’ towards a low-carbon economy.
Shale StormDecember 14, 2011 / Andrew A. MichtaThe American InterestAn earthquake is winding up under the crust of European soil with the potential to transform the Continent’s energy market and alter the strategic parameters of Russian-European relations.
UN Climate Talks and Power Politics: It’s Not about the TemperatureMay 25, 2011 / Daniel TwiningMust U.S. climate diplomacy be a wedge rather than a bridge between the United States and key international partners? GMF Senior Fellow for Asia, Daniel Twining's testimony before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on climate diplomacy.
How biofuels contribute to the food crisisFebruary 11, 2011 / Daniel TwiningWashington PostGMF is sending a contingent of climate change experts to the COP16 United Nations Climate Change Conference this week. A brief Q&A with one of our program associates outlines expectations, incentives, and the key players at the conference.
In the Russian wildfires, will Putin get burned?August 15, 2010 / Lilia Shevtsova
The joint declaration of the ministers of foreign affairs of Turkey, Iran and Brazil signed on Monday came as a surprise to the international community. But the United States' reaction to the uranium swap agreement, and the Turkish interpretation of this reaction, once more highlighted the gap between the U.S. and Turkey in their approaches to what is one of the most important issues on the transatlantic agenda.The New Superpower: ‘The Chinese Are Unready by Their Own Admission’ for Global LeadershipJanuary 29, 2010 / Andrew SmallSpiegel Online
The United States and China have grown so powerful that people around the world speak reverentially of a "G-2." But there are cracks in the alliance, as the German Marshall Fund's Andrew Small explains in a Spiegel Online interview. Frustration is growing in the United States over Beijing's lack of cooperation on economic issues.Farming Should Protect Europe’s Environmental Resources, not Use Them UpJanuary 29, 2010 / Jack ThurstonLe MondeIt will be discussed for some time whether the Copenhagen accord represents an unsatisfactory compromise or an unmitigated failure. Whatever the ultimate answer, there are some preliminary lessons that can be drawn from a memorably chaotic global gathering.
They Don’t Come any Greener than ObamaDecember 07, 2009 / Thomas Kleine-BrockhoffSpiegel OnlineAs the curtains open at the global summit in Copenhagen, critics in Europe are calling US President Barack Obama a liar and a traitor in the fight to slow global warming. In truth, though, he's the greenest president America has ever seen.Taking the HeatDecember 01, 2009 / Dhruva JaishankarPragati - The Indian National Interest Review

Nobody said climate change negotiations would be easy. On both the WTO’s Doha Round and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, India found itself at the vanguard of opposition to the West, with damaging but fortunately not disastrous political consequences. It appeared that a similar outcome was inevitable on climate negotiations.
Crunching the numbers on bioenergy rulesNovember 23, 2009 / Dhruva JaishankarThe Boston GlobeAlthough the very term “accounting rules’’ may cause most people to turn the page, the financial crisis has shown that when rules allow businesses to claim profits from what are actually losses, they distort economic incentives at our peril. The importance of sound accounting rules applies equally to how we count emissions of carbon dioxide as part of any law to reduce global warming.Fixing a Critical Climate Accounting ErrorOctober 23, 2009 / Dhruva JaishankarScienceThe burning of bioenergy and fossil energy releases comparable amounts of carbon dioxide from tailpipes or smokestacks, but the greenhouse gas consequences of using bioenergy vary greatly depending on its source. However, current errors in climate accounting standards makes bioenergy from any source -- even that generated by clearing the world’s forests -- a potentially cheap, yet false, way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The EU is in urgent need of a foreign energy policyNovember 11, 2008 / Jörg HimmelreichNeue Zürcher ZeitungThe EU is in urgent need of a Foreign Energy Policy. Without closer coordination within the EU, Moscow has more pull.Principles in the pipeline: Managing transatlantic values and interests in Central AsiaOctober 01, 2008 / Alexander CooleyInternational AffairsAfter 9/11 the Central Asian states hosted coalition military bases and became important security partners for operations in Afghanistan. The rising price of oil and gas, coupled with a renewed western concern about its energy security, made the development and export of Central Asian production a much more pressing commercial and strategic priority for Brussels and Washington than it was in the 1990s. A region that was effectively ignored for over a decade has now become a vital area of transatlantic interest.
Climate Change and GeopoliticsOctober 01, 2008 / Michael WerzHeinrich Böll StiftungOne of the consequences of climate change is the dearth or excess of water. Both do not only present imminent danger to many human beings but also present a major threat to the global military balance. Global warming, for example, is of concern to the U.S. Navy at all coasts.Dispatch from BaliDecember 12, 2007 / Thomas Kleine-BrockhoffWill the negotiations fall apart over the idea of "climate justice"? An on-the-ground report from the UN Climate Change ConferenceIn Favour of a Selective PartnershipJuly 01, 2007 / Jörg HimmelreichDie Berliner RepublikGermany plays a specific role for Russia and vice versa. It is apparently no coincidence that the German chancellor and the Russian President communicate in Russian and German - after all German-Russian relations have always been complex and changeable. Mutual fear and admiration, phobic defensiveness and empathetic fondness have characterized the situation on both sides - not merely in recent times, but always.
Switching to Biofuels Could Cost a Lot of GreenJune 08, 2007 / Dan MorganWashington PostAs President Bush and congressional leaders rally support for their ambitious biofuel proposals, one ingredient is often left unstated: the cost. This article was cowritten with Steven MufsonThe Ultimate Answer: Fusion Power’s Long TakeoffMay 01, 2007 / Marty RosenbergEnergyBiz MagazineWhile there is some lingering skepticism about the viability of fusion power generation, the scientific community has convinced government officials that the remaining technical hurdles, while complex and significant, can be cleared. But it will require an unprecedented degree of global cooperation.The Ruler of the PipelineMarch 01, 2007 / Jörg HimmelreichInternationale PolitikIt used to be tanks and missiles but now it is oil and gas that matter. The Kremlin is deliberately using its energy resources and the dependency of the importing countries as a tool of a new great power policy. The EU can no longer allow itself to be treated in this manner. It should use its power of demand to create a new foundation for future cooperation. The lost leader of BelarusFebruary 09, 2007 / Robin ShepherdUnited Press InternationalIf the gods first make mad those whom they wish to destroy, then Alexander Lukashenko, the brutal autocrat in charge of Belarus, may be heading for problems. Since losing his last remaining ally in Europe in an acrimonious oil and gas dispute with Russia at the beginning of January, his behavior has become so erratic that many in the domestic opposition have begun to speculate he is losing control of his faculties. Europe in the Era of GazpromJanuary 12, 2007 / Jörg HimmelreichDer TagesspiegelThe EU-Commission's "Strategic Energy Report" contains many feasible suggestions for improving competition conditions within the European energy market, promoting environmental protection, as well as developing renewable energy. These objectives provide, without a doubt, indispensable elements of a common European energy policy considered essential in order to protect the survival of the human race on our planet.
A Question of Destiny in the 21st CenturyJuly 14, 2006 / Jörg HimmelreichDie WeltThe main topic of the G8 summit in St. Petersburg will be the question of energy security. How can the peaceful worldwide distribution of nonrenewable energy resources, such as oil and natural gas, be secured? The answer to this question will decisively shape the global order of the 21st century. (In original German and English translation)The reform of the IMF: the tree which hides the forestMay 09, 2006 / Benoît ChervalierThe International Monetary Fund (IMF) faces an identity crisis. Many member governments feel that the IMF is not responsive to their needs and that they lack the voice and vote, in other words, the influence, to bring about the institution.



