Research Library

This report explores Houston's substantial comparative advantage in finding and developing low-carbon solutions and creating opportunities to efficiently and effectively deploy the region’s vast resources to produce and deliver cleaner, greener fuels to the nation and the world.

This report traces the winding road of Mexico’s renewable energy policies and their uncertain future.

This policy report explains how specific tools of economic statecraft can be applied to reduce risks caused by dependence on People’s Republic of China-dominated supply chains for critical goods. It offers foundational building blocks for the formulation and implementation of a larger strategy to reduce American vulnerabilities to China.

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.

Using a framework based on vulnerability, risk and offsets provides valuable insights for evaluating the security of an energy system in transition, writes energy fellow Mark Finley.

Given the growing problems associated with plastics, what policy approaches are best equipped to manage global plastic pollution? Policies invoking a modified version of the precautionary principle might be a useful approach, writes energy fellow Rachel A. Meidl.

This report outlines U.S. policy options in Syria for the Trump administration, based on deliberations and proposals that emerged from the Baker Institute event “Syria: Policy Options for the Trump Administration.”

In the current absence of direct negotiations, the Obama administration has an opportunity to reshape the Israeli-Palestinian negotiating framework, according to a report by the Conflict Resolution Program at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. The report recommends that the administration continue to demonstrate strong U.S. support for the two-state model, test the willingness of the parties to compromise and adopt a more comprehensive approach to resolving the conflict with the support of the international community.

This report suggests the contours of a more comprehensive policy for the United States in the broader Middle East, one that pursues not only important tactical approaches to counter Islamic extremism and terrorism, but also shapes the larger strategic landscape to secure and promote U.S. interests. After defining the challenge for the United States and the international community, the report provides a brief narrative on the rise of ISIS before presenting key policy recommendations for a more strategic approach.

The changing regional geopolitics of the Middle East have created new opportunities for the Gulf states to engage in Arab-Israeli conflict resolution after the Arab Spring. This policy report examines the potential role that the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — might play in Israeli-Palestinian conflict resolution. It presents policy recommendations on how the Gulf states can engage with regional and international partners and build upon the greater space for action as the shifting parameters of Middle East politics create new regional pathways for action and cooperation.