This report explores the motives underlying Mexico’s contradictory climate change policies. Given the fossil fuel-centered actions of the López Obrador administration, the author argues that Mexico’s recent clean energy turn is merely an attempt to lower tensions with the U.S. — not a true commitment to combatting climate change.
Abu Dhabi has shown increasing discomfort with OPEC’s actions in recent years. Do diverging interests spell departure? Fellows Jim Krane, Kristian Coates Ulrichsen and Mark Finley weigh the risks and opportunities of an OPEC exit by the UAE.
Jim Krane, Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Mark FinleyJune 1, 2023
How durable is the Saudi-Russian relationship, and what are its implications for the longstanding energy-for-security arrangement between Saudi Arabia and the U.S.?
Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Mark Finley, Jim KraneOctober 18, 2022
This paper reviews the attempts of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to push for reforms in the electricity sector that would strengthen the Comisión Federal de Electricidad, Mexico’s state-owned electric utility, while limiting the involvement of privately owned power companies.
Mexico's complex land governance regime does not generate certainty for foreign investors, writes nonresident scholar Miriam Grunstein. In this paper, she explores land classifications in Mexico and the challenges investors may face when attempting to acquire acreage.
More than a decade after G20 representatives pledged to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, significant barriers to a full retraction remain. This paper examines the political and social rationale behind fossil fuel subsidies, the factors that make them so difficult to retract, and offers policy recommendations aimed at easing the path to subsidy reform.
Understanding the strategic and tactical considerations of Saudi Arabia will be the key factor for the success of U.S. policy in the wake of the oil price crash and Covid-19 outbreak.
Mark Finley, Jim Krane, Kenneth B. Medlock IIIApril 5, 2020
Recent developments in the oil kingdoms of the Middle East demonstrate that rentier governments are engaging their citizens with energy policymaking in ways that do not follow rentier state theory, writes fellow Jim Krane.
A newly released study from the Project on Middle East Political Science at George Washington University includes a contribution from fellow Jim Krane on subsidy reform and tax increases in the Middle East.