Maxwell School News and Commentary

“The control of oil and gas resources has been a key factor in many conflicts and geopolitical imperialism, either by providing part of the motivation for an invasion or by helping countries fund their militaries,” says Farhana Sultana, professor of geography and the environment. “Conflict, in turn, feeds production by driving up oil and gas prices,” she adds.

While there is an unavoidable conflict in a petrostate hosting a climate summit, it may also be fitting: The country that was home to the oil industry’s beginnings may also host negotiations that could one day bring the petroleum era to an end. “It is possible to frame it as something of a closure,” says Natalie Koch, professor of geography and the environment.

Jay S. Golden, Pontarelli Professor of Environmental Sustainability and Finance at the Maxwell School, has written “Dynamic Sustainability: Implications for Policy, Markets and National Security” (Cambridge University Press, 2023). 

Women in Bangladesh suffer disproportionately during floods, as Farhana Sultana, professor of geography and the environment, has documented in a study, in part because they bear the brunt of responsibility for managing water and food for their household, as well as taking care of their children.

"One of the challenges that's coming out of the COP is a focus on language rather than actual politics," says Farhana Sultana, professor of geography and the environment. "So we can talk about abated/unabated [fossil fuels], whether there's possibilities for different forms of use, which source it's coming from. But I think what we really need to focus on is the overall production."

“What is the path to market for these technologies?” asks David Popp, professor of public administration and international affairs. He attributes the collapse of startups in cleantech 1.0 largely to the lack of demand for green products in highly competitive commodity markets.

"President Biden promised a 'whole of government' approach to the climate crisis after taking office. But his absence at the COP28 meeting signals a lack of interest in the dangers of the ongoing climate crisis. Given that the United States is the world's largest emitter, this should be an international scandal," says Matthew Huber, professor of geography and the environment.

“Carbon inequality is effectively a colonisation of the atmosphere by the capitalist elite of the planet through hyper-consumption and pollution, while the cost of that climate coloniality is borne disproportionately by the marginalised and vulnerable communities in developing countries,” says Farhana Sultana, professor of geography and the environment.

California, the world’s fifth largest economy, “just leapfrogged over everyone” through legislation that became law last month that requires companies to start reporting carbon emissions from the energy used for operations and outputs beginning in 2026, says Jay Golden, Pontarelli Professor of Environmental Sustainability and Finance.

David Popp, professor of public administration and international affairs, notes that while new factories will be needed to build electric vehicle batteries, the vehicles will require fewer suppliers producing parts. Many assembly workers will also need to be retrained. “We may also need fewer workers,” Popp says. But, he says, “there doesn’t seem to be a consensus yet on whether that is the case.”