The UAE has been considered a hot bed for solar energy projects and potentially solar panel manufacturing thanks to domestic and international efforts led by Abu Dhabi-based Masdar, an international renewable energy initiative and specialist in silicon-based thin-film PV module projects. But in a sudden turn of events, Masdar’s decision  to postpone its construction of a solar panel factory, have revealed a new set of objectives for domestic projects and heavy subsidization models.

This presentation examines some of Europe’s critical energy security challenges and EU efforts to coordinate a common European energy strategy in light of its potential geopolitical impact. Particular attention will be paid to the energy needs of Eastern Europe and discuss whether more strategic cooperation is warranted with Russia to improve overall continental energy flows. It also reviews the often fractious energy policies pursued by different member states and debate its effect on broader European efforts to promote energy security.

Justin Dargin, Dubai Initiative Research Fellow, presented at a renewable energy conference in Casablanca, Morocco, and Tunis, Tunisia, November 2010.

Dubai Initiative Research Fellow Justin Dargin gives an interview to Russia Today Arabic on the situation of the global energy sector and its impact on the global energy market, as well as the relations between exporting and industrialized nations.

By introducing a carbon-management strategy, GCC countries could reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, and conserve their oil and gas resource for future generations.

To be published late 2011, this study offers a vital reappraisal of the trade relationship between north-east Asia and the Gulf. Writing from a non-western standpoint, Dargin and Lim make a compelling case for how these regions became economically integrated in the wake of the oil crisis. The historical role of India in connecting these regions is examined in-depth, whilst the economic modernization of China and Japan is also stressed.

With its emphasis on strategy, this book provides important information that can be used in policy-making for the future, whilst the expert analysis of twentieth-century economic history makes it an essential research tool for scholars working in this area.

Dubai Initiative Fellow Justin Dargin featured in an article concerning the signficance of carbon trading as an energy policy for the GCC.

A harmonized pan-Gulf carbon trading platform to make cost-efficient decisions about greenhouse gas (GHG) abatement will bring immense economic, environmental and geopolitical benefits to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, which currently have some of the highest per capita carbon emission rates in the world, according to Justin Dargin, Research Fellow at the Dubai Initiative and Fulbright scholar of the Middle East. Click here to watch the video.

When the UAE breaks ground on its first nuclear power plant, independent regulators will be there every step of the way, with the clout to halt work, approve construction materials, and decide whether it is ever switched on.

Dubai Initiative Fellow Justin Dargin speaks to Nuclear Energy Insider about Saudi Arabia's nuclear energy initiative.