The Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) is the only multi-lateral treaty that deals specifically with the energy sector. It must be carefully reviewed to see if it can play a role in addressing climate change. The importance of international investment in the energy sector in the developing countries...

Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda, the organization widely held responsible for September 11,2001 attacks on World Trade Center, said in a 1998 interview that he believed that Oil Prices, then trading at around $11 a barrel should ideally trade at around $144 a barrel. Oil touched around...

The issue of energy security is being reviewed from a standpoint of geopolitics. The contention is that geopolitics is inescapably related to the question of energy security for a simple reason: the contradiction between the universal character of energy demand and the nation-state’s exclusive...

The general rules of the multilateral system cover trade in energy, although they are arguably not designed to specifically tackle major issues pertinent for energy trade. The traditional focus of GATT has been market access of domestic manufactured products abroad rather than access to foreign...

The petroleum industry is confronted with severe deficits in the institutional framework for global business. In order to fill the gap, companies react with voluntary commitments to ecological, social and governance standards. This study analyses a broad variety of Best Practice projects in...

Energy is pivotal for socio-economic and cultural development. Last century witnessed a drastic increase, on one hand on the consumption of energy and, on the other on greenhouse gases emissions. Traditionally, energy security has been linked with the need to guarantee supply and, in turn,...

Although China has become a major trading partner of the EU, the EU-China relationship has deteriorated over the last decade. This has been demonstrated, for example, by disputes over trade issues, unequal treatment of EU investors by Beijing, frictions over the transfer of intellectual...

Global energy demand is likely to increase by 45 percent by 2030. Climate change will threaten existing employment and necessitate new green jobs. Funding has gone towards such renewable energy technologies as wind and solar; such fuel economy options as second-generation hybrids, plug-in...

As China is dependent on oil and gas imports to maintain its high growth rates, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and Central Asia have become increasingly important for the country’s economic development. In May 2014, China and Russia signed a new gas deal, for example, and in...