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In RealTime posts, PIIE senior staff and colleagues discuss the fast-moving economic news, financial developments, and public policy choices confronting the United States and the world.
At the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen in 2009, the United States committed to cut greenhouse gas emissions 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020—a target included in cap-and-trade legislation that had passed the House of Representatives earlier that year. With the death of cap-and-trade in the Senate and the Republican takeover of [...]
With average US gasoline prices approaching $4 per gallon, markets are trying to gauge the impact of high oil costs on a fragile US economic recovery. Some analysts have argued that surging unconventional oil production in North America will make this price spike less harmful than those in the past. But for the political class, [...]
Washington and Brussels are trying to curb Iranian oil revenue in a bid to convince Tehran to abandon its nuclear weapons program. But it appears financial sanctions imposed by the West are having a more immediate impact on what Iran buys from abroad rather than what it sells. Reports this week suggest Iranian companies are [...]
Reactions to the results of the annual UN climate change conference that wrapped up last week in South Africa have been all over the map. The AP heralded the outcome as a “landmark deal,” The New York Times and Reuters called it “modest.” And the always astute Michael Levi at the Council on Foreign Relations [...]
The term “energy poverty” is used to describe the 1.6 billion people in the developing world who lack access to electricity or the more than 2 billion who still rely on biomass as their primary source of energy. This phenomenon presents a significant barrier to economic growth in poor countries. But data released last week [...]
The diplomats who gathered in Mexico for the annual UN climate change negotiations in early December surprised everyone, including themselves, when they announced at the end of their session that a deal had been reached. Expectations going into the summit were at rock bottom following the chaos and discord of the Copenhagen meeting one year [...]
In the wake of the Gulf oil spill, Senate Democrats are gearing up to bring an energy bill to the floor next week in the hopes of improving the safety of offshore oil production and beginning to wean the country off fossil fuels. The biggest outstanding question surrounding the draft legislation is whether it will [...]
Adapted from a June 15 posting on the Council on Foreign Relations website. A couple weeks ago, Michael Levi wrote about the Chamber of Commerce’s new Energy Security Risk Index and raised the question of “how various energy and climate bills being debated in Congress score” on the index. We have now done that analysis [...]
On May 5, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released an issue brief titled “How Policies to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions Could Affect Employment” [pdf]. With unemployment hovering stubbornly around 10 percent, the report could shape the Senate’s appetite for taking up the energy and climate change bill being drafted by Senators Kerry, Graham, and Lieberman. [...]
Now that the dust has settled from the climate change conference in Copenhagen last December, it’s a good time to step back and take stock. Policymakers and the public had high expectations for the summit and its conclusion left many confused and disappointed. But while the meeting did not reach consensus among all 192 countries [...]