The Center on Food Security and the Environment is a joint effort of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.
Energy
Energy
FSI researchers examine the role of energy sources from regulatory, economic and societal angles. The Program on Energy and Sustainable Development (PESD) investigates how the production and consumption of energy affect human welfare and environmental quality. Professors assess natural gas and coal markets, as well as the smart energy grid and how to create effective climate policy in an imperfect world. This includes how state-owned enterprises – like oil companies – affect energy markets around the world. Regulatory barriers are examined for understanding obstacles to lowering carbon in energy services. Realistic cap and trade policies in California are studied, as is the creation of a giant coal market in China.
Scholarly Publications
Large potential reduction in economic damages under UN mitigation targets
May 2018
International climate change agreements typically specify global warming thresholds as policy targets, but the relative economic benefits of achieving these temperature targets remain poorly...
The rise in global biodiesel production: Implications for food security
December 2017
Policies that promote biofuels in major agricultural economies raise important questions for food prices and food security at local to global scales.
Impact of a rural solar electrification project on the level and structure of women's empowerment
September 2017
Although development organizations agree that reliable access to energy and energy services—one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals—is likely to have profound and perhaps disproportionate...
Other Publications
Climate Change and China's Agricultural Sector: Impacts, Adaptation, and Mitigation
May 2010
Although China and the United States are the two largest emitters of greenhouse gases, China’s emissions on a per capita basis are significantly lower than those of the U.S.: in 2005, per capita...
Prioritizing climate change adaptation needs for food security - Policy Brief
December 2008
The potential impact of climate change on the world’s poor is a topic with wide and growing interest, but there remains much uncertainty about how specifically to adapt to a changing climate.
News
New Stanford study suggests climate mitigation could yield trillions in economic benefits
May 2018
Failing to meet climate mitigation goals laid out in the U.N.
Smallholder irrigation a development priority in sub-Saharan Africa
July 2013
FSE study finds smallholder irrigation in sub-Saharan Africa has great potential to reduce hunger, raise incomes, and improve development prospects.
Stuck in the mud: Stanford’s scholarly farmer on the soggy fortunes of Midwest growers
July 2013
FSE deputy director Walter Falcon shares field notes from his farm in Iowa a year after the region experienced its worst drought in decades.
Events
Earth Matters: Feeding the World in the 21st Century
October 2, 2014
Meeting the world’s need for food in the 21st century presents unprecedented challenges and opportunities.
Water and agriculture in a changing Africa: What might be done?
May 23, 2013
Effective water management is one key element of agricultural innovation and growth.
Connecting the Dots 2013: The Energy, Food, Water, and Climate Nexus
April 19, 2013
Stanford experts from a range of disciplines will discuss the interconnections and interactions among humanity’s need for and use of energy, food, water, and environmental resources.
Projects
The Yaqui Valley Revisited: A case study on agricultural sustainability in Mexico
The Yaqui Valley is the birthplace of the Green Revolution and one of the most intensive agricultural regions of the world, using irrigation, fertilizers, and other technologies to produce some of...
English
Land Tenure and Property Rights in Sub-Saharan African Countries: Understanding the Legal Implications of Large-Scale Land Investments
This research area explores the national and international land and water laws that govern land tenure and property rights in sub-Saharan African countries, with the aim of understanding how large...
English
Evaluating Climate Adaptation Options in African Agriculture
FSE's previous Rockefeller project on "Prioritizing Investments in Food Security under a Changing Climate" pursued several research directions in an effort to better characterize the risks that...
English
Multimedia
Food, Energy & Water Security: Implications for U.S. National Security
October 2016
FSE Director Roz Naylor spoke at the panel session in Washington D.C. with Stanford scholars and other experts discussed pressing environmental and energy challenges and risks that the next Administration will need to confront.
Benin solar market gardens: video gallery
March 2012
This video gallery features the success story of a women's farming group in Nothern Benin who through the adoption of solar-powered irrigation pumps increased household income and nutritional intake in just one year.
People
David Lobell Senior Fellow Professor, Earth System Science, William Wrigley Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment 