Climate Change

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Slowing global warming is among the most complex economic, political and diplomatic challenges of our time. Cutting greenhouse gas emissions from burning coal, petroleum, and other fossil fuels will require innovation and hard work by governments, businesses and consumers alike. While there are great challenges, there are also promising opportunities in addressing the problem, not only in industrialized nations, but also in rapidly developing countries like India and China.

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Measuring Disasters' Full Impact

Expert Q & A | Elizabeth Ferris

Measuring Disasters' Full Impact

May 1, 2013, Elizabeth Ferris

Natural disasters can be deadly and devastating but their frequency, intensity and unpredictability teach us valuable lessons. A look back at 2012 shows that, all around the world, it was a year of “recurring disasters.” From the drought in Africa’s Sahel to Pakistan’s third consecutive year of widespread flooding to Hurricane Sandy, Elizabeth Ferris examines the consequences and lessons of last year’s disasters.

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Refine by: Environment | Energy | Energy and Climate | Environmental Regulation

Interview | The Wire

Sinking Nations

May 3, 2013, Jane McAdam
In the News

When you talk to people [of the Pacific nations of Kiribati and Tuvalu] they may say 'this is a beach or this used to be a piece of land that I play on as a kid but now you can see at high tide the water is encroaching and it's effectively under water.'
April 26, 2013, Jane McAdam, SBS (Special Broadcasting Service - Australia)
In the News

There are unclear mandates for [aid] agencies to respond to cross-border displacement, since no NGO or agency has responsibility for overseeing people displaced by natural disasters.
April 17, 2013, Walter Kälin, IRIN
In the News

The State Department report will make it much harder for Obama to justify rejecting the Keystone project. Still, it has become a highly visible and emotionally charged symbol of an often diffuse issue, and it is where many leading environmental organizations have chosen to draw the line.
March 14, 2013, William A. Galston, The New Republic
Expert Q & A | Elizabeth Ferris

The Black Swan: The Big Thaw

February 6, 2013, Elizabeth Ferris
In the News

In today’s world we have many more development stakeholders, so there’s no need for a single agency to try to do everything. It’s far better to try to do some things and to try to do them really well.
January 10, 2013, Homi Kharas, Bloomberg Businessweek
In the News

But the discussion in the United States is different now, even from a month ago. [Hurricane Sandy] demonstrated to a large part of the country that we are certainly vulnerable to the kind of events we might see under climate change. People see now that it is related it to our national security.
November 28, 2012, Nathan Hultman, Los Angeles Times
In the News

If and when governments are forced to relocate people from areas made uninhabitable by the effects of climate change, [proactive work must be done to ensure that they] do so in a way that protects affected communities and upholds their rights.
August 20, 2012, Elizabeth Ferris, ClimateWire
Podcast

@ Brookings Podcast: The Arctic as an Emerging Market

June 29, 2012, Bruce Jones
In the News

In a world with a single, fungible energy market, talk of U.S. energy independence (whatever that means) is a fantasy, and grousing about imported oil is little better. But there is a non-fantastic way to reduce energy vulnerability: a multinational ban on gasoline.
June 21, 2012, Jonathan Rauch, The Atlantic