Research Library

Organizations across the energy ecosystem are grappling to incorporate sustainability into their long-term planning and strategic visions. The Center for Energy Studies’ new sustainability initiative focuses on ways to face these challenges. This new report examines the initiative’s five objectives and provides key takeaways to develop viable sustainability strategies.

Each year, millions of people migrate within and beyond their own countries because of rising temperatures and weather-related disasters. This new policy brief on climate-induced displacement from the Edward P. Djerejian Center for the Middle East explains the term “climate mobility,” distinguishes between voluntary and forced migration, and explores the challenges and opportunities presented by this reality of our times.

Despite a cap on Houston’s property tax collections, these taxes have outpaced population growth and inflation, writes fellow John W. Diamond. This issue brief examines the rise in property tax revenues and proposes strategies for maintaining a sustainable city budget.

As we transition to a 21st-century power grid fueled by renewable energy and controlled by electronics, ensuring the reliability and stability of power supplies will be key. In this issue brief, nonresident scholar Julie A. Cohn explores recent developments and historical analogues crucial for a successful grid transition.

Rapid urbanization and expansion of cities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has created new opportunities — along with environmental risks, lack of financial and natural resources, and social disparity. In a new issue brief, visiting research scholar Osamah Alsayegh explores how developing smart sustainable cities can bring social and economic benefits to the growing urban population.

Hoping to expand trade relations post-Brexit, the U.K. is forming nonbinding memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with individual U.S. states. Fellow David A. Gantz’s report navigates the complex political terrain and economic promises of these MOUs with a focus on the U.K.’s agreements with Texas and Washington.

The U.S. faces worsening maternal health disparities and mortality rates due to lack of access and unaddressed systemic barriers to health. In an issue brief, fellow McClain Sampson and co-author Priscilla P. Kennedy summarize the Biden-Harris Maternal Health Blueprint to achieve maternal health equity through a comprehensive approach and also describe a model of care for Medicaid recipients that is aligned with the Blueprint.

From 2020 to 2023, sales of hemp-derived cannabinoids increased by 1,283%, reaching a value of $2.78 billion last year. Although the Texas hemp industry is booming, lack of regulation poses risks to public health. A new brief from the Drug Policy Program makes specific recommendations for strengthening and enforcing current laws — ensuring consumer safety while also providing economic benefits for the state.

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.

The safety and efficacy of many stem cell treatments remain unproven by the FDA, yet state laws promote access and use of these unchecked and potentially harmful treatments. Fellow Kirstin R.W. Matthews summarizes her recent publication in a new commentary — outlining public health consequences of these state laws and calling for scientific societies’ advocacy in state policymaking.