The proposed Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline (TSGP) has been conceived to transport gas from the Niger delta in Nigeria, across Niger and Algeria to supply Europe as it reduces its dependence on Russian gas while transitioning to lower carbon energy. Natural gas is a key component of several European countries' total energy consumption and the push to diversify the provenance of their gas supplies would reduce market risks associated with the proposed TSGP. Technical risks to the pipeline's success can also be substantially mitigated through engineering studies before the final investment decision is made. This commentary makes the case that beyond these latter risk categories, there would be residual risks to the TSGP's success that are non-market and nontechnical in nature. It then highlights some of these residual risks and proposes potential mitigation strategies.

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 should offer an immense boost to the carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) industry. With $369 billion allocated to energy security and climate change, the expectation is to "lower energy costs, increase cleaner energy production, and reduce carbon emissions by roughly 40% by 2030". These emission reduction targets will be met in part through enhancing and expanding existing incentives.

Since 2007, coal-fired electricity generation in the U.S. has declined by a stunning 25%. At the same time, natural gas-fired generation and wind generation have dramatically increased due to technological advances and policy interventions.

One of the largest fires in Colorado history is now burning just outside of Grand Junction, Colorado. The fire has surpassed 50,000 acres in size, and is believed to be started by lighting, and now spread by high winds. Hundreds of firefighters are onsite.

When governments apply high tax rates targeted at natural resource rent, there must be generous deductions in order to avoid investment disincentives. How generous is disputed. Based on standard finance theory and recommendations from the OECD and the IMF, the value that firms attach to future deductions depends on the risks of these, and the companies' after-tax weighted-average cost of capital cannot be applied directly. As an example, a simple model quantifies the difference between pre-tax and post-tax systematic risk when tax deductions are less risky than pre-tax cash flows. Osmundsen et al. (2015) suggest that the difference must be ignored by oil companies, since they cannot find the separate market values of tax deductions. But companies operating in different jurisdictions cannot then appreciate differences in tax systems, not even approximately, which will lead to suboptimal decisions. Tax designers may instead assume that companies have gradually adopted more sophisticated methods of investment decision making.