February 7, 2008

Vegetable Oil Based Biofuels in India

By Nicholas Kukrika

This paper addresses two key questions: What is the economic potential of biofuel development in India? And what are the obstacles to this development? It traces the economics at each stage in the production chain – from harvesting to processing to transportation; provides an overview of the industry’s economics and details the requirements at each stage of the value chain for the industry to reach its potential; and shows how the vegetable oil biofuels sector can provide substantial benefits to the rural poor in India while addressing the risks and threats of the biofuel industry development.

December 11, 2007

"Celebrities, scientists and polar bears, oh my"

Chicago Tribune

By Cristine Russell, Senior Fellow, Environment and Natural Resources Program

What a difference a year makes. In 2006, global warming stories were still struggling for front-page attention. By 2007, climate change was the issue du jour and "going green" a daily staple in news stories about everything from home building to Wall Street banking. Much of the credit for this dramatic transformation certainly goes to former Vice President Al Gore and the UN panel of climate change scientists who received the Nobel Peace Prize on Monday.

Summer 2007

"Policy Options for Reducing Oil Consumption and Greenhouse-Gas Emissions from the U.S. Transportation Sector"

By Kelly Sims Gallagher, Director, Energy Technology Innovation Policy, Gustavo Collantes, Research Fellow, Energy Technology Innovation Policy, John P. Holdren, Director and Faculty Chair, Science, Technology and Public Policy Program, Henry Lee, Director, Environment and Natural Resources Program and Robert Frosch, Senior Associate, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program

The goal of this paper is to contribute to the current policy debate about how to effectively limit or reduce oil consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from the U.S. transportation sector.

January 2007

"Searching for Oil: China's Oil Initiatives in the Middle East"

By Henry Lee, Director, Environment and Natural Resources Program and Dan Shalmon

Explores China’s relationships with oil-producing countries in the Middle East and the possible geopolitical implications of its widening market reach.

June 5, 2007

Implications of a Future Global Biofuels Market for Economic Development and International Trade

By Henry Lee, Director, Environment and Natural Resources Program, William Clark, Harvey Brooks Professor of International Science, Public Policy, and Human Development; Co-director, Sustainability Science Program; Faculty Chair, ENRP;, Robert Lawrence, Albert L. Williams Professor of International Trade and Investment and Gloria Visconti, Affiliate, Energy Technology Innovation Policy; Fellow, Center for International Development

Summary report from a joint ENRP/Sustainablity Science Program workshop convening experts from academia, international institutions, government, and the private sector to explore possible implications of emerging global biofuels markets for economic development and international trade.

June, 2006

Taxes and Charges to Manage Oil Demand in Australia: Policy Recommendations for the Australian Government

Assesses the options available to the Australian federal government to reduce demand for gasoline and diesel through taxation and charges

13 April 2006

Tame Oil's Wild Price Ride with a Tax

The Christian Science Monitor

By Henry Lee, Director, Environment and Natural Resources Program

Volatile oil prices keep energy companies from investing in alternatives. With the onslaught of high oil prices, war in the Middle East, an increasingly bellicose Iran, and the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, energy security has reemerged as a major public policy priority.

May 2006

"An International Policy Architecture for the Post-Kyoto Era"

American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings, issue 2, volume 96

By Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board and Sheila M. Olmstead

We describe the basic features of a post-Kyoto international global climate agreement, which addresses three crucial questions: who, when, and how. The respective elements are: first, a means to ensure that key nations-- industrialized and developing-- are involved; second, an emphasis on an extended time path of action (employing a cost-effective pattern over time); and third, inclusion of market-based policy instruments.

Engaging Voices: Stakeholders and the Development of National Environmental Indicators

Discusses the possible strategies and mechanisms that might effectively engage stakeholders in the process of creating consensus and instituting a national system of environmental indicators