Methane emissions have emerged as an urgent global climate policy priority, with new regulatory regimes taking shape in several key jurisdictions. This represents a remarkable change from a decade ago when methane emissions were largely unregulated. While the oil and gas industry has often fought methane regulation, at other times it has been divided. Nikolai’s presentation examines why the industry has been unified or divided over methane regulation, and what the consequences have been for the political feasibility of methane policy. His presentation focuses on the United States, where he has spent the last three years interviewing oil and gas executives, NGOs, institutional investors and political elites. More broadly, Nikolai's research sheds light on the role of incumbent industries in environmental politics.

This seminar is Nikolai's final presentation of his doctoral candidature.

About the speaker

Nikolai Drahos is a PhD candidate at the ANU School of Regulation and Global Governance. He has over a decade of experience working on climate and energy policy and economics across the public sector, academia and thinktanks. Nikolai holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and a Master of Environmental and Resource Economics from the Australian National University. He is a recipient of the Sir Roland Wilson PhD Scholarship, and a visiting fellow in the Gas Programme at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.

This seminar presentation is a dual-delivery event. Registration is only required for Zoom attendance. 

If you require accessibility accommodations or a visitor Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan please email regnet.communications@anu.edu.au.

Image credit: creativecommons.org