Documents

Obama Administration Pressing ahead on Transportation Security -- But Delays Foreseen

The U.S. anti-terrorist department, the Transport Security Agency (TSA), has stepped up its efforts to work with countries in Europe and other nations around the world to screen air cargo being shipped from those departure points to the U.S. As things stand, Congress continues to press for 100 percent screening, but TSA says that that it will take several years to achieve that standard on a global air cargo supply chain. That timetable was supplied in answers during a recent hearing. As things stand in March 2010, here is the basic picture as presented to Congress by TSA in a hearing: Enhancing Security throughout the Transportation System.

Excerpts of testimony of Gale D. Rossides, Acting Administrator of the Transport Security Agency (TSA), before the Subcommittee on Homeland Security in the
Committee on Appropriations of
United States House of Representatives
March 4, 2010

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International Energy Efficiency Initiative

Energy efficiency is the most immediate and cost-effective opportunity to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. According to the United Nations Foundation in Washington, a recent assessment by Project Catalyst concluded that improving energy efficiency could provide roughly one-third of available, cost-effective emissions reductions in 2020.

It is one of the few large-scale mitigation options that yields a positive economic return while providing a wide range of other social, environmental, and security benefits. Energy efficiency is attractive in all nations and especially in developing countries because it allows existing energy sources to serve a larger population and facilitates universal access to modern energy services a key requirement for poverty reduction and sustainable development. A study by the McKinsey Global Institute determined that profitable investments in energy efficiency through 2020 could cut global energy demand growth in half.

Another significant innovation could come with reforms of utility companies' regulatory regimes to reward them for efficiency improvements, as has been done in California.

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Cap and Trade: Trial and Error – and Pitfalls

Transatlantic Perspectives on Market Mechanisms for Curbing Carbon Emissions

A Roundtable on Energy and the Environment

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  • Organized Labor in U.S. and Germany—Will it Survive?

    By Michael Mosettig

    To the union leaders who occupy offices inside, the big white building just north of Lafayette Square in Washington is known as The House of Labor. Encased on marble, with a view of the White House, it exudes the power that once belonged to leaders of American labor unions to help pick and elect Democratic Party presidents and push their agendas through Congress.

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UMD Jean Monnet Research Project

Infrastructure Planning and Financing: Lessons from Europe and the United States

The University of Maryland has received a Jean Monnet grant from the EU to conduct a series of policy exchanges between Europe and the US on filling infrastructure needs and the utility of public/private partnerships as the financing mechanism. If interested in participating in or receiving more information about these exchanges, please contact Rye McKenzie (rmckenzi@umd.edu).

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New from the Bertelsmann Foundation

The Bertelsmann Foundation is an independent, nonpartisan and nonprofit think tank in Washington, DC with a transatlantic perspective on global challenges.

"Brussels & Berlin | October 2020e" by Nathan Crist

"Trade War 2020" by Emily Hruban

 

Summer Course