‘Toothless’ sanctions
Why the world’s largest waste management company made a $3 billion bet on the US.
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Last month, the Trump administration imposed fresh sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, signaling a renewed desire to drive Moscow to the negotiating table in its war against Ukraine. But although these measures have the potential to harm the Russian economy, just how much damage they inflict will depend largely on one actor: Beijing. China bought almost half the oil Russia exported in 2024, evading Washington’s existing restrictions in the process. And new sanctions alone will do little to push China into significantly reducing its purchases.
Connecticut needs an honest debate, and fresh thinking, to shape a climate strategy fit for today, not 2022.
The fashion industry sits at the intersection of climate, energy, and consumption, facing growing pressure to cut emissions, transition to clean energy, and build circular systems across global supply chains.
Carbon credits are emerging as a key tool for companies to meet a number of objectives, including emission-reduction targets, compliance obligations, investor expectations, and disclosure requirements.
In the fall of 2024, the Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP) at Columbia University SIPA launched the International Dialogue on Climate and Trade to afford governments and stakeholders opportunities to seek common ground on ways of more effectively and equitably managing issues at the intersection of climate and trade.
On July 22, 2025, CGEP hosted a virtual roundtable under the Chatham House Rule on the World Bank's June 2025 announcement that it would reverse a long-standing, informal policy of excluding nuclear projects from its lending portfolio.
On March 31, 2025, the Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP) at Columbia University SIPA hosted a private virtual roundtable under the Chatham House rule to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the United States pursuing disposal of defense high-level nuclear waste (HLW) and spent nuclear fuel (SNF) before commercial SNF.
The Rockefeller Foundation and the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA jointly organized a workshop from December 3rd to 6th, 2024, in Bellagio, Italy, on how to finance responsible critical mineral supply chains.
The below working papers and supporting analysis were developed in response to an article published in Nature Climate Change by SIPA Professor Doug Almond along with Xinming Du and Anna Papp, “Favorability towards natural gas relates to funding source of university energy centers.”
The mining sector continues to face headwinds in attracting the necessary investments to meet the growing demand for critical minerals in clean energy technologies.