Search

Begin New Search Publishing Institution Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Publication Year within 25 Years

31. What’s Next for Oil and Gas Methane Regulations

Author:
Ben Cahill
Publication Date:
03-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Abstract:
Proposed methane regulations for the oil and gas industry are in the works in the United States and the European Union. These new rules—especially the U.S. regulations—could play a critical role in curbing emissions. This brief summarizes the next steps for methane rules on both sides of the Atlantic, including an overview of the emerging regulations in the United States and a synopsis of the EU methane legislation process. It identifies areas that require more analysis, such as how closely measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV), leak detection and repair (LDAR), and reporting requirements will align. The brief also summarizes the current EU approach to reducing methane emissions from its gas imports as well as its longer-term aspirations, outlining the implications for gas exporters to Europe.
Topic:
Climate Change, European Union, Regulation, Sustainability, Methane, and Energy
Political Geography:
Europe and United States of America

32. Managing Risk and Technology Insertion in Crewed Tactical Jet Engines

Author:
Alexander Holderness
Publication Date:
04-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Abstract:
China’s investments in its military turbofan industrial base may challenge U.S. dominance in fighter engine technology in the coming years. The question is whether the United States is making the necessary investments to ensure superiority, especially given its traditionally risk-cautious approach to military turbofan innovation and fielding. While the historic U.S. approach to innovation has been adequate to this point, policymakers may need to consider more assertive action to ensure that the capability gap between the United States and China is enduring. This brief examines four different case studies to understand the U.S. turbofan development history in the context of growing competition with China.
Topic:
Innovation and Defense Industry
Political Geography:
China and Asia

33. Managing Risk and Technology Insertion in Crewed Tactical Jet Engines

Author:
Alexander Holderness, Gregory Sanders, and Nicholas Velazquez
Publication Date:
04-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Abstract:
China’s investments in its military turbofan industrial base may challenge U.S. dominance in fighter engine technology in the coming years. The question is whether the United States is making the necessary investments to ensure superiority, especially given its traditionally risk-cautious approach to military turbofan innovation and fielding. While the historic U.S. approach to innovation has been adequate to this point, policymakers may need to consider more assertive action to ensure that the capability gap between the United States and China is enduring. This brief examines four different case studies to understand the U.S. turbofan development history in the context of growing competition with China.
Topic:
Innovation, Defense Industry, and Military Technology
Political Geography:
China and Asia

34. Voluntary Carbon Markets: A Review of Global Initiatives and Evolving Models

Author:
Allegra Dawes, Cy McGeady, and Joseph Majkut
Publication Date:
05-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Abstract:
The global voluntary carbon market, and its supporting industry ecosystem, has grown substantially from its origins in the early 1990s. Despite this growth, voluntary markets have been hampered by reputational and functional concerns about offset quality and the space remains fragmented. With no long-term regulatory obligations or pricing signals on carbon, firms are left to chart their net-zero paths with little guidance or policy vision. The question is whether organized voluntary carbon markets can help resolve these challenges by creating credible incentives for emissions reductions. This brief reviews recent initiatives aimed at creating more functional, transparent, and effective carbon marketplaces. In many cases, there is a growing intersection between government and private sector activity in voluntary markets. These novel initiatives demonstrate how market design choices imply different goals for voluntary markets. These models suggest new ways for governments to support the legitimacy and success of voluntary markets. This brief considers how these market approaches could be best suited to support U.S. policy and trade strategies.
Topic:
Climate Change, Business, Trade, Sustainability, and Carbon Markets
Political Geography:
Global Focus

35. Analyzing China’s Escalation after Taiwan President Tsai’s Transit through the United States

Author:
Bonny Lin, Brian Hart, Samantha Lu, Hannah Price, and Matthew Slade
Publication Date:
06-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Abstract:
As Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen transited through the United States in March and April 2023, China embraced significant military and diplomatic measures to coerce and punish Taiwan and, to some extent, the United States. This is reminiscent of Chinese actions after then-speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022, though there were differences between China’s behavior. While some elements of China’s actions in April 2023 appear less escalatory than those in August 2022, there was considerable continuity and even progression with respect to People’s Liberation Army (PLA) operations, tactics, and reach vis-à-vis Taiwan. This brief analyzes Chinese activities in August 2022 and April 2023 and explores the factors impacting Beijing’s decisionmaking.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, International Security, and Geopolitics
Political Geography:
China, Taiwan, and Asia

36. Understanding Hamas’s and Hezbollah’s Uses of Information Technology

Author:
Daniel Byman and Emma McCaleb
Publication Date:
07-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Abstract:
Hamas’s and Hezbollah’s information technology (IT) strategies heavily reflect their roles in governance. Terrorist organizations like al Qaeda and the Islamic State eschew nationalism in favor of a broad pan-Islamist vision and focus media operations primarily on recruitment and at times operations. In contrast, Hamas and Hezbollah are nationalist as well as Islamist in orientation and favor traditional forms of communication over social media in order to legitimize their political power—a preference reinforced by the policies of technology companies and, in general, the limited capacity of these terrorist groups to use social media without considerable risk. Because Hamas and Hezbollah govern and provide goods, services, and information to their constituents, it is harder to target their IT infrastructure without risking humanitarian consequences.
Topic:
Non State Actors, Hezbollah, Hamas, Information Technology, and Threat Assessment
Political Geography:
Middle East, Palestine, and Lebanon

37. For North American Energy Security, Go Local: Examining the Role of Natural Gas and Mexico’s Energy Sector

Author:
Ryan C. Berg, Emiliano Polo, and Henry Ziemer
Publication Date:
08-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Abstract:
Natural gas is the predominant fuel source in Mexico. However, years of reliance on the United States for cheap, plentiful gas imports has prevented Mexico from capturing the potential of its domestic gas industry. This exposes Mexico to risks in the form of geopolitical distortions and unexpected disruptions in U.S. supply. It also exacerbates inequalities between northern and southern states as high energy prices in the latter serve as deterrent for businesses and investors. This brief breaks down the intersection of energy security, natural gas, nearshoring, and migration, and outlines areas for Mexico to cooperate with the United States on bolstering its domestic energy sector.
Topic:
Business, International Development, Trade, Sustainability, Energy Security, and Natural Gas
Political Geography:
North America and Mexico

38. The Waterfall’s Shadow in the Mekong Region

Author:
Benjamin Jensen, Daniel F. Runde, and Thomas Bryja
Publication Date:
09-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Abstract:
The United States and its network of democratic partners and allies increasingly find themselves struggling to safeguard the rule of law, free markets, civil liberties, and human security in countries most at risk from climate change and its impact on water security. A network of authoritarian states led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are using infrastructure investment programs like the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) alongside gray zone campaigns to gain access and influence, often in areas most at risk of further climate shock and water insecurity, particularly in the Mekong region. As a result, continuing to develop water strategies offers a viable means of integrating development and deterrence to address core human security challenges and deny further authoritarian access and influence across the world’s most climate-stressed societies.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Climate Change, Development, Water, Food Security, Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Sustainability, and Economic Security
Political Geography:
Asia and Mekong River

39. Centering PEPFAR in U.S. Global Health Security Strategies

Author:
Katherine E. Bliss
Publication Date:
10-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Abstract:
The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), now in its 20th year, supports initiatives that train health workers, strengthen laboratory capabilities, and deliver critical treatment and prevention services to people living with and at risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Credited with having saved more than 25 million lives and enabled more than 5.5 million children to be born HIV-free, PEPFAR programs currently sustain at least 20 million people on antiretroviral therapy. They have also built local capacities that have allowed PEPFAR-supported countries to respond effectively to other health threats, such as the 2019 cholera outbreak in Mozambique, the Covid-19 pandemic, mpox, and the Ebola outbreak in Uganda in 2022. Recognizing the contributions made by PEPFAR to addressing recent health crises, the Biden administration has begun to more explicitly align HIV/AIDS and health security approaches, both in the December 2022 PEPFAR strategy as well as through the July 2023 launch of the Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy at the U.S. Department of State. In this report, the CSIS Working Group on Reinvigorating U.S. Leadership on HIV/AIDS offers concrete recommendations for advancing progress on reaching the goal of eliminating HIV as a global public health threat by 2030 while maximizing the contributions of a disease-specific health initiative to pandemic preparedness and response.
Topic:
HIV/AIDS, Health, Foreign Aid, and US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief(PEPFAR)
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

40. Eight Commonsense Actions on Biosafety and Biosecurity

Author:
J. Stephen Morrison and Michaela Simoneau
Publication Date:
11-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Abstract:
Today, there is a shared sense of vulnerability and a shared resolve across political divides to better protect the United States and the world against the accidental release of biological agents (biosafety), deliberate misuse of biological agents (biosecurity), and naturally occurring spillover of dangerous pathogens. Biosafety and biosecurity are critically important areas where individual freedom, ethics, scientific progress, and national security converge. As biological research and discovery accelerate at an unprecedented pace, they generate new risks that must be managed responsibly. The CSIS Bipartisan Alliance for Global Health Security’s Working Group on R&D Innovation advocates select, commonsense actions to strengthen U.S. and global biosafety and biosecurity: clarify U.S. policies and policy leadership within the White House; increase financial and diplomatic investments; update the rules around synthetic products and viral discovery work; and invest in research on basic lab protections and the new risks of artificial intelligence. Together, these timely, affordable steps can attract broad political support and promote a safer, more secure, and more innovative global bioeconomy.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Infectious Diseases, Biosecurity, COVID-19, and Global Health
Political Geography:
Global Focus