The Trump administration has refused to publicize dozens of government-funded studies that carry warnings about the effects of climate change, defying a longstanding practice of touting such findings by the Agriculture Department's acclaimed in-house scientists, POLITICO reports.

America's nearly 1.3 million square miles of forests absorb about 15 percent of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions annually, storing carbon in growing trees, ecosystems, and wood products. By maintaining and expanding this forest carbon "sink," America can reduce greenhouse gas emissions more effectively and for less money, write Robert Bonnie, a Duke University Rubenstein fellow and former undersecretary of Natural Resources and Environment at USDA, and Jad Daley, president and CEO of American Forests, in an op-ed for The Hill.

This year’s U.N. climate talks could make or break the Paris Agreement, negotiators say, as they get down to the business of regulating carbon trading. Emerging economies, notably Brazil, are at loggerheads with the European Union and vulnerable countries over the role for old U.N. carbon market schemes in the Paris regime, according to a Climate Home News article. 

Daniel Raimi talks with Professor Subhrendu Pattanayak of Duke University. Daniel and Subhrendu talk about what policy and market factors might make it easier to expand energy access, and Subhrendu explains how dynamics within these communities can affect the likelihood of small-scale electricity projects to succeed or fail.‚Äã

Energy Initiative's director, Brian Murray, writes for Forbes: the levelized cost per unit of electricity from new utility-scale clean energy has dropped about 70 and 90 percent, respectively. In many places, the cost of new renewable generation is at or below that of existing conventional sources like natural gas, coal and nuclear. Yet, a recent study suggests that policies have driven up the retail price of electricity. Brian dives into detail about the paradox of rising and lowering electric costs.

Throughout April, the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University hosted Dr. Paul Bolger, manager of the Environmental Research Institute at University College Cork in Ireland. Bolger is a 2019 Fulbright Irish Scholar who is investigating how interdisciplinary approaches are being utilized at four American universities—Duke, Arizona State, Columbia, and Cornell—to address global sustainability challenges.

Jackson Ewing, senior fellow at Duke’s Nicholas Institute of Environmental Policy Solutions, joined the Policy 360 podcast to discuss his recent op-ed for The Hill on the far-reaching impacts of Chinese foreign energy investments on the futures of coal use and climate change.

As electricity companies in low- and middle-income countries move deeper into rural regions, the cost of new connections generally increases while the electricity demanded by these new customers remains lower than urban and peri-urban customers. This brief provides a snapshot of the relevant demand-stimulating lessons learned in the off-grid space as well as those that have been pursued by governments and utilities in the past in order to help answer critical questions.

The inaugural cohort of Energy Data Analytic PhD Fellows presented their research in The Generator. This article contains videos of their presentations.

Over the 2018-19 academic year, Duke faculty, and students developed a series of pilot projects aimed at increasing understanding of the off-grid electricity market and improving system planning in Zambia. The team received seed funding through Bass Connections. The faculty and staff of the Energy Access Project at Duke—bringing expertise from economics and data analytics to development finance and power system planning—led the project team, overseeing an interdisciplinary group of 7 Duke undergraduates and 5 masters students, who earned course credit for supporting the research.