Environment

Blog Posts

An ipe (lapacho) tree is seen in this aerial view of the Amazon rainforest near the city of Novo Progresso, Para State, September 24, 2013. The Amazon rainforest is being eaten away at by deforestation, much of which takes place as areas are burnt by large fires to clear land for agriculture. Initial data from Brazil's space agency suggests that destruction of the vast rainforest - the largest in the world - spiked by more than a third over the past year, wiping out an area more than twice the size of the city of Los Angeles. If the figures are borne out by follow-up data, they would confirm fears of scientists and environmental activists who warn that farming, mining and Amazon infrastructure projects, coupled with changes to Brazil's long-standing environmental policies, are reversing progress made against deforestation. Environmental issues will be under the spotlight as a United Nations Climate Change Conference opens in Warsaw, Poland, on November 11. Picture taken on September 24, 2013. REUTERS/Nacho Doce (BRAZIL - Tags: ENVIRONMENT POLITICS AGRICULTURE)ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 10 OF 55 FOR PACKAGE 'AMAZON - FROM PARDISE TO INFERNO' TO FIND ALL IMAGES SEARCH 'AMAZON INFERNO'

Future Development

Protecting forests: Are early warning systems effective?

Eiji Yamada, Hiroaki Okonogi, and Takahiro Morita

Friday, July 2, 2021

A general view of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., on Monday, April 6, 2020, amid the coronavirus pandemic. More than a million people world wide have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, and in the U.S. more than 300,000 people have tested positive as the Trump administration struggles to get a handle on the outbreak. (Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA)No Use UK. No Use Germany.

FixGov

When climate policy works: HFCs and the case of short-lived climate pollutants

Barry G. Rabe

Thursday, June 24, 2021

Brown Center Chalkboard

Now is the time to invest in school infrastructure

Claudia Persico

Wednesday, May 19, 2021

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Events

What role should the SEC play in ESG investing?

2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT

Prospects for US-South Korea cooperation in an era of US-China strategic competition

9:00 AM - 11:40 AM EST

Brookings-Jinan China microeconomic policy forum 2020

9:00 AM - Saturday Oct 17, 2020 4:00 PM CST

Online only

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Related Books

Ways to Achieve Green Asia

Edited by Bihong Huang and Eden Yu

2019

Smart Country—Connected. Intelligent. Digital.

Edited by Bertelsmann Stiftung

2018

The Water Problem

Edited by Pat Mulroy

2017

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Experts

Sanjay Patnaik

Director - Center on Regulation and Markets

Bernard L. Schwartz Chair in Economic Policy Development

Fellow - Economic Studies

sanjay_patnaik

Samantha Gross

Director - Energy Security and Climate Initiative

Fellow - Foreign Policy, Energy Security and Climate Initiative

samanthaenergy

Barry G. Rabe

Nonresident Senior Fellow - Governance Studies

BarryRabe

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Multimedia

A supply depot servicing the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline lies idle in Oyen, Alberta, Canada February 1, 2021. REUTERS/Todd Korol

Podcast Episode

What does the end of the Keystone pipeline mean for US energy?

Samantha Gross and Adrianna Pita

Friday, June 11, 2021

This visible image captured by the NASA's GOES-13 satellite at 2:31 p.m. EST (1931 GMT) and released to Reuters on February 1, 2011 shows the low pressure area stretching from the Colorado Rockies and Texas east to New England. A colossal winter storm stretching from New Mexico to Maine hit the heartland of the United States with snow, high winds and freezing rain on Tuesday, and experts said the worst was still to come as the monster event moved northeast and temperatures plunged. REUTERS/NASA/Handout (UNITED STATES - Tags: ENVIRONMENT) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Podcast Episode

Proposals for US climate leadership and managing built environment risks and costs

Nathan Hultman, Joseph W. Kane, and Fred Dews

Friday, March 12, 2021

firefighter putting off fire while surrounded by a forest fire

Up Front

Understanding and mitigating climate change risks

Sanjay Patnaik and Dante Disparte

Thursday, March 4, 2021

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More on Environment

Africa in the news: Wildlife, Horn of Africa, and infrastructure updates

Christina Golubski, Leo Holtz, and Tamara White

Saturday, May 15, 2021

Floodwaters rise hours after the worst of Tropical Storm Isaias passed Crisfield, Maryland, on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2020. Some officials on scene said the city saw serious flooding but nothing like Hurricane Sandy in 2012.M4r 9390

We’re not ready for the next big climate disasters

David G. Victor, Sadie Frank, and Eric Gesick

Friday, May 14, 2021

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on his American Jobs Plan near the Calcasieu River Bridge in Lake Charles, Louisiana, U.S., May 6, 2021. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Barriers to achieving US climate goals are more political than technical

Samantha Gross

Monday, May 10, 2021

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 20: Senate Appropriations Committee member Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) questions members of the Biden administration during a hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on April 20, 2021 in Washington, DC. Biden cabinet members, including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, testified about the American Jobs Plan, the administration's $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan that has yet to win over a single Republican in Congress. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Pool/Sipa USA)No Use Germany.

Republicans in Congress are out of step with the American public on climate

Samantha Gross

Monday, May 10, 2021

A Mexican Navy vessel is seen next to masked men on skiffs fishing illegally inside the Vaquita Refuge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Mexico’s Upper Gulf of California, off San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico March 3, 2020 in this picture released by the Sea Shepherd. Sea Shepherd/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT SEA SHEPHERD.

Restore US-Mexico seafood trade and save the vaquita

Vanda Felbab-Brown and Alejandro Castillo López

Mexico Today Friday, May 7, 2021

A engineer walks past the solar panels at the Benadir Electricity Company (BECO) solar project in Mogadishu, Somalia May 21, 2020. Picture taken May 21, 2020. REUTERS/Feisal Omar

Figures of the week: Africa’s renewable energy potential

Leo Holtz and Christina Golubski

Wednesday, May 5, 2021

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Reports

What role should the SEC play in ESG investing?

Prospects for US-South Korea cooperation in an era of US-China strategic competition

Brookings-Jinan China microeconomic policy forum 2020

Director - Center on Regulation and Markets

Bernard L. Schwartz Chair in Economic Policy Development

Fellow - Economic Studies

Director - Energy Security and Climate Initiative

Fellow - Foreign Policy, Energy Security and Climate Initiative

Nonresident Senior Fellow - Governance Studies