Andrei Covatariu News Today

Read MEI's weekly briefing featuring expert analysis of key regional developments for the week ahead.

The Middle East Institute (MEI) is pleased to convene a virtual conference highlighting a number of synergistic themes associated with climate change throughout the week of the event. These daily themes put into focus areas of priority for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), as the region begins to look ahead towards hosting the upcoming COP28 climate meeting in the UAE, following last year’s COP27 meeting in Egypt.

Water resources are a key component of global sustainability, especially in light of the mounting environmental challenges posed by climate change. We asked some of MEI’s Climate and Water Program scholars to share their perspective on strategies and opportunities that could most readily alleviate the region’s water security concerns.

Expert regional analysis by MEI scholars and contributors.

With COP27 concluded, we asked experts from across MEI, some of whom attended the meeting, to offer their perspectives on the developments that came out of the conference and what it means moving forward, especially for the Middle East and North Africa. 

Energy is now a seminal topic, as the energy security concerns have become more salient, while prices have increased inflation everywhere. Although the current challenges call for addressing security of supply first, this year's COP event seeks to prioritize conversations on the energy transition process and mitigation measures. 

What began as a summer heatwave of significantly above-normal temperatures in Europe expanded to a series of successive heatwaves that has afflicted most of the northern hemisphere. Temperatures reached and remained at substantially elevated levels in the months of June and July, breaking historical records in many countries across Europe, Asia, North America, and the Middle East.

Expert regional analysis by MEI scholars and contributors.

On Dec. 13, 2021 at a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting, a draft resolution that would have recognized climate change as a security threat was rejected. The resolution, co-sponsored by Niger and Ireland, would have incorporated climate change as a security risk within the U.N. framework of conflict prevention strategies. What are the potential implications of this and what comes next? We asked seven experts to weigh in with their thoughts.

Andrei Covatariu is a Senior Research Associate and the Summer School Director at Energy Policy Group, a Bucharest-based non-profit, independent think tank specializing in energy and climate policy, with a regional focus on Eastern Europe and the Black Sea Basin. Andrei is also a Member of the Board of the FEL-100, the community that gathers the most promising 100 young professionals in the energy sector worldwide, a program designed and coordinated by the World Energy Council in London.