April 22nd, 2010

PESD releases new Working Paper titled "Adapting to Shifting Government Priorities: An Assessment of the Performance and Strategy of India's ONGC

In PESD's Working Paper #91 titled "Adapting to Shifting Government Priorities: An Assessment of the Performance and Strategy of India's ONGC," research fellow Varun Rai attempts to unpack the dynamic between India and its largest state-owned company Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) devoted to exploration and production.

• » Adapting to Shifting Government Priorities: An Assessment of the Performance and Strategy of India's ONGC

November 18th, 2009

PESD research fellow Varun Rai is featured in the Harvard International Review

In a new article in the Fall 2009 issue of the Harvard International Review PESD research fellow Varun Rai discusses the critical elements of effective international carbon offsets markets. The article argues that fundamental problems of perverse incentives and huge transaction costs render the clean development mechanism (CDM) unfit as the backbone of international carbon offsets markets post-2012. Instead, the article emphasizes the need for multilateral deals around large sectors that leverage synergies between climate change benefits and the core interests of developing countries.

• » Promoting Clean Development Competing Market Mechanisms Post-2012

September 8th, 2009

The Boston Review releases Victor and Morse's "Living With Coal"

David Victor and Richard Morse explain why coal, the world's fastest growing fossil fuel and leading source of greenhouse gas emissions, is here to stay and how climate policy can tackle this problem. Their piece is also featured in Engineering World's October/November 2009 issue.

• » Living With Coal: Climate Policy's Most Inconvenient Truth

October 13th, 2008

Nobel laureate outlines strategy to reduce nuclear proliferation risk

In Issues in Science and Technology this month, PESD senior fellow and Nobel laureate in physics, Burton Richter, discusses how the international political community might address proliferation risk inherent in the expansion of nuclear energy.
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January 11th, 2008

Gazprom case study released

Russia's Gazprom is among the largest companies in the world, and by far the world's largest producer of natural gas, with close to a 20% share. Driven by its political masters, it continues to consolidate control over Russia's vast oil and (especially) gas resources, and many Western observers are worried by its international expansion into downstream assets. In a new study of the energy giant, Nadejda Victor details the ways in which Gazprom's actions are distorted by political demands and by the inefficiency of the Russian economy, suggesting that it is headed for a production crisis if business and investment considerations don't start to take a higher priority. Read more »

September 17th, 2007

China gas model shows regional air quality concerns one means to mitigate GHGs

PESD researcher BinBin Jiang, working with collaborators in three coastal provinces, releases a new paper that estimates demand for natural gas in China. The study shows that gas competes mainly in niche markets but can't unseat coal for power generation unless very tight regulations on local air pollution are applied. If local pollution is regulated, however, the study suggests that China would also make a substantial dent in its CO2 emissions.
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July 5th, 2006

Natural Gas and Geopolitics: From 1970 to 2040 book released

The anticipated title from Cambridge University Press has been released in hard-cover and is available for purchase. Edited by PESD director, David Victor, Rice professor Amy Jaffe, and PESD fellow Mark Hayes, the book sheds light on the political challenges which may accompany a shift to a natural gas-fed world.
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