It has been impossible to attend any serious climate change conference over the past decade that hasn’t included a significant, and ever-increasing, focus on the topic of private capital mobilization—institutional capital, more specifically. Why? There are two main reasons, one driven by the enormity and immediacy of the challenge, the other by the scale of the opportunity.

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• Global Energy Center
• Energy
• Global Energy
• John E. Morton
• Renewable Energy

Last month, the third Summit of the Three Seas Initiative (3SI) came to a successful close in Bucharest. The gathering, hosted by Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, brought together leaders from Europe and the United States to present regional government-approved projects and concrete progress in the integration of 3SI’s framework, which aims to improve interconnectivity in transportation, digitalization, and energy.

The goal of the initiative is to create greater cohesion within the Union through regional development and economic interconnectivity and growth.

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• Global Energy Center
• Energy
• Global Energy
• Fanni Virag

At 11:59 p.m. ET on November 4, the remaining sanctions on Iran’s energy, ship building, shipping, and banking sectors that had been lifted or waived under the JCPOA came back into full effect. Iran’s oil exports and revenue are a major part of the administration’s strategy to spur change in Iran on the part of the regime. Speaking during a briefing on November 2, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed sanctions on Iran, declaring that, so far, the reduction in Iranian oil exports since the US withdrew from the JCPOA in May has far exceeded expectations because “maximum pressure means maximum pressure.”

What effects will the official end of the 180-day wind-down period have on global markets? As sanctions against Iran come into full effect, Global Energy Center experts weigh in on the market context and what to expect.

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• Global Energy Center
• Energy
• Brenda Shaffer
• Global Energy
• David Mortlock
• Randolph Bell
• Ellen Wald

In May, the US government announced it would unilaterally withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and re-impose the sanctions previously lifted or waived. While the re-imposition of sanctions is certainly not welcomed by Iran, it is also nothing new. Iran has long struggled with various economic sanctions and the Iranian economy has suffered under international sanctions for decades. As a result, Iran has looked east for economic cooperation. Over time, the country has also formed multiple mechanisms to bypass sanctions, including oil payments in gold and Asian currencies.

As a result, Russia and China have become the two most important allies of the Islamic Republic.

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• Global Energy Center
• Energy
• Global Energy

Uncertainties about the global oil market, apprehensions concerning Europe’s reliance on Russian natural gas, and an evolving geopolitical situation in Eurasia call for renewed focus on the Caspian Basin. Engaging the region, however, will be different than in the years following the Soviet Union’s collapse. At the time, the idea in Washington and other capitals was moving oil and later natural gas west out of countries in the region, preferably without crossing Russia or Iran. Today, China looks at the region’s hydrocarbons as part of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Moreover, Russian and Iranian ambitions—and the way the United States and the West address them—have direct impacts, including on how readily the region’s hydrocarbons can be made available to world markets.

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• Global Energy Center
• Energy
• Global Energy

The following is the third installment in a three-part series on the proposed Energy Bridge project, an energy development and regional energy interconnection initiative for Ukraine and its neighbors. In Part 1 of this series, we described the Energy Bridge project and why it is an important initiative for Ukraine. In Part 2 of the series, we discuss the implications of Energy Bridge for the EU and other international parties. In this Part 3 of the series, we focus on Poland’s role.

Poland’s concerns about Russian military and hybrid threats has induced Europe’s 9th largest economy to increase its defense spending as a bulwark against further regional interference by Moscow.

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• Global Energy Center
• Energy
• Global Energy

Oil market dynamics can make for strange bedfellows, as overlapping economic interests can often trump entrenched regional rivalries or bilateral strife. That is not to say that oil markets are not vulnerable to geopolitical events—they are. Probably the most well-known and often cited example of a geopolitical issue to effect oil markets was the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, in which Arab oil producers claimed to have embargoed oil supplies to the United States in retribution for US military assistance to the Israelis during the conflict.

However, while the link between oil and geopolitics has certainly been demonstrated on several occasions, not every geopolitical issue bleeds over into the oil market.

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• Global Energy Center
• Energy
• Global Energy
• Ellen Wald

The following is the second installment in a three-part series on the proposed Energy Bridge project, an energy development and regional energy interconnection initiative for Ukraine and its neighbors. In Part 1 of this series, we described the Energy Bridge project and why it is an important initiative for Ukraine. In this Part 2, we discuss the implications of Energy Bridge for the European Union (EU) and other international parties.

Given the importance of Ukraine’s energy and national security for US national interests, the US and its European partners should take a closer look at the merits and risks of Kyiv’s Energy Bridge proposal.

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• Global Energy Center
• Energy
• Global Energy

The following is the first installment in a three-part series on the proposed Energy Bridge project, an energy development and regional energy interconnection initiative for Ukraine and its neighbors. The series covers issues and opportunities related to Energy Bridge from three viewpoints: Ukraine, the European Union (EU) and other international parties (e.g., the US), and Poland.

Energy insecurity in Ukraine has the potential to be even more destabilizing in the long-term than the conflict in the Donbass region.

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• Global Energy Center
• Energy
• Global Energy