Background Material - Transatlantic Relations
Missed Chances on Energy Security
By: American Institute for German Contemporary studies, Sascha Müller Kraenner
2007
The EU-U.S. Summit on 30 April 2007 passed a statement on energy security, efficiency, and climate change that is strong on rhetoric but weak on substance. Sascha Müller-Kraenner, Director of the Europe program at the Nature Conservancy and Senior Policy Advisor to Ecologic, provides some critical commentary on the substance of the summit. Müller-Kraenner argues that the summit's statement on energy security and climate change was a wasted opportunity for progress and that the summit declaration contains few concrete policy initiatives.
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President Bush Attends Washington International Renewable Energy Conference 2008
When President Bush addressed delegates of more than 100 nations on March 4, he picked up the theme, saying. “The United States is committed, and we’re firm in our commitments, to deal with energy problem and to deal with global climate change,” he said, after enumerating renewable technologies being funded by the U.S. government and businesses. Besides federal funding, “There’s a lot of smart money heading into the private sector to help develop these new technologies,” Bush said. The president said he aims “to reduce our dependence on oil by investing in technologies that will produce abundant supplies of clean and renewable energy and at the same time show the world we are good stewards of the environment.”
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The Transatlantic Economy 2008
By: Center for Transatlantic Relations
2007
The most up to date survey of jobs, trade and investment between the EU and each of America’s 50 states, which will be available in January through Brookings Institution Press. An executive summary was released in Brussels November 28.
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The Transatlantic Climate Change Challenge
By: Julianne Smith and Derek Mix
2007
Europe is often portrayed as the global leader that has placed its faith in national and international regulation. By contrast, the United States has assumed the image of the global laggard unwilling to make sacrifices and much more interested in supporting technological solutions than regulatory ones. Although elements of these stereotypes ring true, the transatlantic landscape on this issue is changing, with an increasing recognition on both sides of the Atlantic that cooperation in this area is possible and critical. The question is, can it come together quickly enough to help forge a framework to replace the Kyoto Protocol before the agreement expires in 2012?
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Towards a Transatlantic Consensus on Climate Change
By:National Commission on Energy Policy
May 2004
The SWP and the Brookings Institution convened this informal, high-level policy dialogue to bring together public and private sector leaders from both sides of the Atlantic, in an attempt to bridge the transatlantic divide in an issue area which may prove to be one the biggest environmental, economic and energy security policy challenges of the 21st century. Participants included political leaders, policy-makers, business executives and leading experts on climate and energy policy as well as transatlantic relations.
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The Santa Barbara Consensus on Climate Change
By: Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management
Nov 2007
A brief but bold document supporting a “truly new” energy system that includes decentralized energy production and storage, and a phased system of per capita equal emission rights for the world emerged from a recent climate conference hosted by the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara, with specific recommendations for addressing global climate change.
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Towards a New Global Framework on Cutting Greenhouse Gases
Jan 2008
Keynote Speech by Kurt Volker, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, U.S. Department of State
View Speech here
U.S. and German Approaches to the Energy Challenge
By: American Institute for contemporary German studies
2007
Energy policy debates have become increasingly driven by expanding concerns of multiple actors and interests. Energy will be a central issue of concern and opportunity across the entire globe in the twenty-first century. How to approach the challenges we face in balancing growth and energy efficiency, along with facing the risks of our current energy supplies and the search for alternatives, is the charge of the two papers in this volume.
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