Research Library

Climate change, conflict, and displacement in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region present overlapping challenges to policymakers. This new joint report from the Edward P. Djerejian Center for the Middle East and United States Institute of Peace examines four key components — natural resources, urban fragility, gendered impacts, and international financing — and makes specific recommendations to address these complex issues.

COP28 brought together world leaders, climate experts, and other key stakeholders to discuss progress on global climate goals. As a member of the Turkish delegation, Rice faculty scholar Gökçe Günel offers her take on the summit’s outcomes.

Almost all of the progress the U.S. has made toward its Paris Agreement target for 2025 has come from falling CO2 emissions from energy use. But greater declines in other greenhouse gas emissions are needed to reach our goal, writes fellow Mark Finley.

This report explains Europe's failure to secure long-term liquefied natural gas supplies, the likely implications, and provides ideas for better ensuring energy security moving forward.

This report evaluates the pandemic’s effect on the religious lives, mental health and views of government of Muslims across five predominantly Muslim countries.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine unleashed the use of energy resources as geopolitical “weapons.” But oil and natural gas have followed markedly different paths over the past year, with unexpected results. Why? And what lessons can policymakers learn from these experiences?

As climate change becomes an increasingly prominent driver of migration, this report investigates possible pathways to ensure that “climate refugees” receive adequate legal protection.

This report explores the current situation in Palestinian-Israeli dynamics and concludes that the only real solution is a return to the two-state paradigm. Peace and security — for both Israelis and Palestinians — will come through mutual recognition of statehood and clearly defined and respected international borders, the author writes.

Gabriel Collins, the Baker Botts Fellow in Energy and Environmental Regulatory Affairs, explains why Section 625 of the CLEAN Future Act — which aims to classify oilfield-produced water as a hazardous waste — would likely induce multi-system disruptions severe enough to prevent the act from achieving its climate, energy, environmental, and social objectives.

The authors examine the varied approaches used by the U.S. and Iran during the ongoing nuclear negotiations, with particular emphasis on how each side approaches the Israeli-Palestinian arena and Iran’s entrenchment in Syria and Lebanon.