Council on Foreign Relations

The Senate leadership's decision to shelve a cap-and-trade bill will weaken the U.S. bargaining position in world climate diplomacy, says CFR's Michael Levi.

President Obama's address on the oil spill rightly focused on the immediate challenge in the Gulf, but was a missed opportunity to set a new bar for oil policy, says CFR's Michael Levi.

What is energy security? On April 12-13, the Council on Foreign Relations convened academics, policymakers, and industry experts to assess the security implications of the way the world produces and consumes oil and natural gas. The workshop aimed to explore important issues at the intersection of oil, gas, and national security, and identify areas for future research. The first day focused on assessing the state of knowledge on energy and security, while the second explored U.S. policy options going forward. This summary report presents a broad agenda for energy security research that emerged from the meeting.

The worst oil spill in U.S. history, still growing in the Gulf of Mexico, has intensified debate about alternative fuel options. Here, four experts discuss how to reduce U.S. oil consumption.

The nuclear fuel-swap agreement announced in Tehran put the United States in a bind. Contrary to its sponsors' intentions, it will not improve confidence between the United States and Iran, writes CFR's Michael Levi.

The Obama administration's Nuclear Posture Review charts new positions on potential targets of U.S. atomic weapons, preventing proliferation, and developing new weapons, says CFR's Michael Levi.

President Barack Obama's move to expand oil and gas drilling in U.S. coastal waters aims mainly to build political support for his energy agenda, but will have limited impact on oil markets, writes CFR's Michael Levi.

Most discussions about using international institutions to address climate change focus narrowly on the work of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. However, many other international institutions also have a significant role to play in mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change. This paper examines the existing climate-related efforts and capabilities, as well as the future potential, of a variety of international institutions, including those that deal with environment, energy, and economics. While there are still major shortfalls, the paper argues that there is significant existing institutional capacity to draw from in addressing climate change.

With some findings of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in question, four experts debate how much the premier climate science review panel may need to make changes.

The UN nuclear agency's new concerns about Iranian nuclear weaponization bolster the move toward sanctions but may do little to halt Tehran's activities, writes CFR's Michael Levi.