Environment & Climate Change

The authors of this article propose, summarize, and present strategic ideas as policy implications for China's decision-makers. In conclusion, they determine that China should enhance strategic planning and regulation from a life cycle viewpoint of the whole society, prioritize energy saving, continuously improve incumbent energy, and rationally develop alternative energy.

Matthew Bunn and Martin B. Malin examine the conditions needed for nuclear energy to grow on a scale large enough for it to be a significant part of the world’s response to climate change. They consider the safety, security, nonproliferation, and waste management risks associated with such growth and recommend approaches to managing these risks. Bunn and Malin argue that although technological solutions may contribute to nuclear expansion in the coming decades, in the near term, creating the conditions for large-scale nuclear energy growth will require major international institutional innovation.

"Without energy, there is no economy. Without climate, there is no environment. Without economy and environment, there is no material well-being, no civil society, no personal or national security. The overriding problem associated with these realities, of course, is that the world has long been getting most of the energy its economies need from fossil fuels whose emissions are imperiling the climate that its environment needs."

Article in The Nonproliferation Review

An interview with John P. Holdren in The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists in the magazine's Five Minutes to Midnight issue.

This paper examines the state of understanding of energy-technology innovation and its role in augmenting energy resources, enhancing the quality of energy services, and reducing the economic, environmental, or political costs associated with energy supply and use.

The problem of global climate change will be solved by meeting stringent, long-term policy targets that are much more ambitious than the short-term, greenhouse gas emissions reductions that some countries currently attempt to reach. 

This paper discusses the concept "intermediate sustainability," in which there is some substitution between natural and technical capital over the foreseeable future.

Nuclear terrorism is a realistic threat to all countries. First, this article describes the potential threats of nuclear terrorism including nuclear explosives, nuclear sabotage, and dirty bombs. Finally, this article recommends steps to secure nuclear weapons, nuclear materials, and nuclear facilities.

During the period 1995-1999, the President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) produced three major energy studies, at President Clinton's request. The PCAST energy studies demonstrate the possibility of forging consensus around key energy issues and provide a foundation on which, it is hoped, the continuing pursuit of a coherent national policy on energy innovation will be able to build.