Nate Graham joined the Inter-American Dialogue in 2018 as the program assistant for Energy, Climate Change & Extractive Industries. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Washington University in St. Louis with a B.A. in political science and economics and a minor in environmental studies. While at Washington University, Nate spent a semester studying at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and interning at the US Foreign Commercial Service in Santiago, where he focused on the mining and automotive sectors. His articles on energy and climate policy in Mexico, Venezuela, and Brazil have been published in The New York Times, Foreign Policy, World Politics Review, and Americas Quarterly. He speaks English and Spanish and has intermediate proficiency in Portuguese.
The fires in the Amazon expose the very heart of the greatest collective action problem that humanity has faced, and it foreshadows harder battles to come. The actions of each individual country have consequences for the global climate, yet perpetrators are loath to make sacrifices when others, especially those with equal or greater responsibility, are not doing the same. The fact that threats of economic punishment seem to have shifted Brazil’s behavior suggests that a similar approach could be taken to address climate change on a larger scale. But it will not be easy, especially where the biggest emitters are concerned.
Revitalizing Brazil’s energy sector will be key to Jair Bolsonaro’s success as president – but so far, he’s had mixed results when it comes to getting reforms through Congress. Unless Bolsonaro learns to work with legislators and ease turbulence within his government, Brazil’s missing energy reforms will continue to threaten its economy, and its politics.
The development of energy resources is an integral component of many of Latin America’s economies, from established producers like Colombia and Brazil to newcomers to the global energy market like freshly oil-rich Guyana. However, policymakers and energy companies throughout the region must devise solutions to a variety of fiscal, political, social, and environmental hurdles to ensure successful and sustainable projects, explained speakers at an Inter-American Dialogue event on May 10.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has shaken up Mexico’s energy industry even more than anticipated. Nate Graham, assistant for the Energy Program, posed some questions to non-resident senior fellow Héctor Castro Vizcarra to discern where the country’s energy sector is headed.
