Back in the spring of 2008, a short piece from my postgraduate work was published in the Transatlantic Affairs Bi-Monthly Journal. The piece called for closer alignment of energy policy between the Trilaterals: North America, Japan, and Europe.

From Transatlantic Bi-Monthly, Spring 2008

The economies of the United States, Europe, and Japan comprise 50% of world gross domestic product, and these three economic areas utilize 50% of the world’s energy.1 Controlling such a large percentage of total world economic output, as well as utilizing a similar percentage of the world’s energy, these three economic areas are vital to the well-being of the world economy. Yet, despite the large utilization of energy, these three areas do not have a coordinated energy strategy. As examples in the past decade, these regions have disagreed on energy issues ranging from renewable energy supplies to climate change, to most notably the invasion of Iraq. Those differences have crystallized to a political and public opinion rift between the United States and the European Union. Understandably, specific geographic and demographic considerations force the European Union to deal with global terrorism, the Middle East, and Russia differently than the United States. While the political rift between the United States and Europe has somewhat closed since 2003, global popular approval for the United States remains at an all-time low. As we venture into an ever more complex world, these combined differences and lack of concerted direction threaten the economic vitality of the United States, Europe, and Japan, and this, in turn, threatens the world economy.

You can read the full piece here. Sadly, not much has changed.