Paul Isbell is the CAF Energy Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations (CTR) at Johns Hopkins University SAIS and the lead energy specialist of CTR’s flagship projects, the Atlantic Basin Initiative (ABI) and the Atlantic Energy Forum (AEF). He is also a Senior Associate Fellow at the Elcano Royal Institute for International and Strategic Studies in Madrid.
Previously he was Senior Visiting Fellow at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, D.C.; Director of the Energy and Climate Change Program at the Elcano Royal Institute in Madrid; emerging market economist at Banco Santander; and professor of international economics and geopolitics at diverse universities across the Atlantic Basin (including the University of Alcala de Henares; ICADE-Pontificia Comillas; Syracuse University; George Washington University and the Instituto Tecnologico de Buenos Aires).
His recent work includes an analysis of global flows (“Regionalism and Interregionalism in Latin America: The Beginning or the End of Latin America’s ‘Continental Integration’?” Atlantic Future Scientific Paper, 2015) which suggests the emergence of new practical regions clustered around the world’s major ocean basins; and an argument for the development of transnational ‘ocean basin’ governance bodies, like the recently established Atlantic Energy Forum (“Atlantic Energy and the Changing Global Energy Flow Map.” Atlantic Future Scientific Paper, 2014; and “Shale Gas, el offshore y geopolitica”, Integracion & Comercio, #40, IDB-INTAL, October 2015).
Mr. Isbell is also the author of Energy and the Atlantic: The Shifting Energy Landscapes of the Atlantic Basin (German Marshall Fund and OCP Foundation, 2012) and the co-editor (with Eloy Alvarez Pelegry) of The Future of Energy in the Atlantic Basin (Center for Transatlantic Relations JHU SAIS and Orkestra-Basque Institute of Competitiveness-Deusto University, Washington, DC and Bilbao, 2015). Currently working on a new approach for engaging global geopolitics based upon this emerging ocean basin paradigm.
He is also the co-author (with Vergara et al) of major studies by international bodies on energy and climate change in Latin America, including The Climate and Development Challenge for Latin America and the Caribbean: Options for climate-resilient, low-carbon development (ECLAC-IDB-WWF, Washington, DC, 2013); Societal Benefits of Renewable Energy in Latin America and the Caribbean (IDB, Washington, DC, 2014); and The Economic Case for Landscape Restoration in Latin America (WRI, 2016).
Recent Publications
“Modern Renewable Energy: Approaching the Tipping Point?” chapter in forthcoming book, Green Law, edited by Vicente Lopez-Ibor, 2017.
“Trump’s Supply-Side Energy Policy and the Low Carbon Transition,” Analisis del Real Instituto Elcano (ARI), Madrid, February 17, 2017.
“Panorama energético de EEUU bajo la presidencia de Trump,” ECONOMIA EXTERIOR, Madrid, número 79, invierno 2016-17. (“US Energy Panorama under President Trump”)
The Economic Case for Land Restoration in Latin America, with Walter Vergara et al, World Resources Institute, Washington DC: November 2016.
“Shale gas, offshore y geopolítica: El potencial de la Cuenca Atlántica,” Revista Integración & Comercio, Número 39 del BID-INTAL, Buenos Aires, octubre 2015.
“The Shifting Flows of Global Energy and Trade: Implications for Latin America,” in Dane, Felix. (ed) The Politics of World Security, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS): Rio de Janeiro, 2015.
“Regionalism and Interregionalism in Latin America: The Beginning or the End of Latin America’s ‘Continental Integration?” ATLANTIC FUTURE Scientific Paper Number 20, European Commission, Brussels, 2015.
The Future of Energy in the Atlantic Basin, co-editor with Eloy Alvarez Pelegry, Center for Transatlantic Relations, Johns Hopkins University SAIS, Washington, DC, and Orkestra-Basque Institute of Competitiveness (pdf), Deusto University, Bilbao: CTR JHU, 2015.
“Introduction to the Future of Energy in the Atlantic Basin,” The Future of Energy in the Atlantic Basin,” The Future of Energy in the Atlantic Basin, co-editor with Eloy Alvarez Pelegry, Center for Transatlantic Relations, Johns Hopkins University SAIS, Washington, DC, and Orkestra-Basque Institute of Competitiveness, Deusto University, Bilbao: CTR JHU, 2015.
“The Dynamics and Paradoxes of the Atlantic Energy Renaissance,” The Future of Energy in the Atlantic Basin, co-editor with Eloy Alvarez Pelegry, Center for Transatlantic Relations, Johns Hopkins University SAIS, Washington, DC, and Orkestra-Basque Institute of Competitiveness, Deusto University, Bilbao: CTR JHU, 2015.
“The Emergence of the Atlantic Seascape,” The Future of Energy in the Atlantic Basin, co-editor with Eloy Alvarez Pelegry, Center for Transatlantic Relations, Johns Hopkins University SAIS, Washington, DC, and Orkestra-Basque Institute of Competitiveness, Deusto University, Bilbao: CTR JHU, 2015.
“Atlantic Energy and the Changing Global Energy Flow Map,” ATLANTIC FUTURE Scientific Paper Number 17, European Commission, Brussels, 2014.
“Una visión Pan-Atlántica del renacimiento de la energía atlántica,” elfinanciero.com (Mexico), April 11, 2014
“A Pan-Atlantic Vision of the Energy Renaissance,” with Vicente Lopez-Ibor, in Oil Buyer’s Guide, Bloomberg Brief, May 9, 2014.
“Beneficios para la sociedad de la adopción de fuentes renovables de energía en América Latina y el Caribe,” with Walter Vergara, et al, IDB Technical Note (IDB-TN-623), Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, DC, April 2014
“Societal Benefits from Renewable Energies in Latin America and the Caribbean,” with Walter Vergara, et al, IDB Technical Note (IDB-TN-623), Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, DC, April 2014.
“Renacimiento energético atlántico,” ECONOMÍA EXTERIOR. Núm. 68., Madrid, Primavera 2014.
“How Brazilian Business Anticipates Geopolitics” for Brazilian Business, Rio de Janeiro, edition 888, Sept/Oct 2014.
“Atlantic Energy and the Changing Global Energy Flow Map,” a chapter in Multilateral Security Governance, a publication of the XI Security Conference of the Forte de Copacabana, October 2014.
“The Future of the Global Energy Flow Map and its Strategic Implications” a chapter in the book, Global Flow Security: A New Security Agenda for the Transatlantic Community in 2030, Center for Transatlantic Relations and the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, Washington D.C., 2014
“La energía en el Atlántico y el horizonte estratégico” (Atlantic Energy and the Strategic Horizon),, Revista CIDOB d’Afers Internacionals, Barcelona, n.102-103, 2013, p. 73-100
“The Continuity of Pragmatism: the key to a successful Brazilian energy future,” CEBRI Dossier, Rio de Janeiro, Volume 2, Year 10, 2012.
The Climate and Development Challenge for Latin America and the Caribbean: Options for Climate Resilient Low Carbon Development, with Vergara, W., A.R. Rios, L.M. Galindo, P. Gutman, P. Suding, A. Grunwaldt, A. Deeb, J. Samaniego, E. Alatorre and M. Panuncio, 2012. Inter-American Development Bank. Washington, D.C., 2012.
Energy and the Atlantic: The Shifting Energy Landscape of the Atlantic Basin, German Marshall Fund of the US, Washington, D.C.-Brussels, December 2012.
“What Climate Change Means for Latin America”, Hemisphere, Miami, Volume 20, Spring 2011 (ISSN 08983038) .
“La política energética y la lucha contra el cambio climático: la complicada encrucijada norteamericana” chapter in Seguridad, modelo energético y cambio climático, Ministry of Defense, Spain, IEEE (Spanish Institute of Strategic Studies), January 2011.
“La trampa de los recursos: Energía y cambio climático” chapter in Europa después de Europa, Emilio Lamo de Espinosa et. al. Academia Europea de Ciencias y Artes, Madrid, 2010.
“La política energética de Obama después de un año”, Economía Exterior, Madrid, 2010 invierno, 51, pp. 29-40.
“Estados Unidos: la política energética de Obama” chapter in Tratado de Energías Renovables, Aranzadi Civitas-Iberdrola, Madrid, 2010.