East-West Center Research Program

March 19, 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Mānoa Campus, East-West Center, Burns Hall Room 3012 Add to Calendar

Pakistan, India and the United States at the Intersection of Energy, Climate Change, and National Security Policies


Dr. Toufiq Siddiqi

Adjunct Senior Fellow, Research
Program, East-West Center
President, Global Environment and Energy in the 21st Century

Tuesday, March 19, 2013 Noon – 1pm
John A. Burns Hall, Room 3012 (3rd floor)

Natural gas is considered by many as a major transition fuel from the fossil sources that provide the largest share of energy today to the renewable energy sources that are expected to dominate the energy scene in by 2050. This fuel supplies more than half of Pakistan’s commercial energy at present, and a growing share of India’s. Its consumption can no longer be met from domestic sources. India is already importing LNG, even though it costs much more than via pipeline from Iran or Turkmenistan. Pakistan signed an agreement with Iran several years ago to import large amounts of NG but it has been put under a great deal of pressure by successive US administrations not to do so.

The other large energy source that does not contribute much to climate change is nuclear power. Both India and Pakistan have ongoing programs of nuclear power generation, and expect to build more power plants. The United States and India signed an agreement for cooperation in the use of nuclear power, an offer that was not made to Pakistan, even though that country is supposed to be an ally of the US.

Dr. Siddiqi’s presentation focuses on some of the interplay between energy, climate change, and national security issues in Southwest Asia.

Toufiq Siddiq received his early education in India and Pakistan, and a Masters degree in Physics from Cambridge University. He subsequently received a doctorate in Nuclear physics from the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Dr. Siddiqi was an Associate Professor in environmental studies at Indiana University in Bloomington before joining the East-West Center in 1977, He initiated the Center’s program on the “Environmental Dimensions of Energy Policies” and on “Climate change” in the 1980s. He served as a Lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which received a Nobel Prize in 2007.

Dr. Siddiqi is a former President of the Hawaii Academy of Science, and was the first Senior Fellow at the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in Washington DC. He has served as a consultant on environment and climate change to the United Nations Development Program, the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank.


Event Sponsor
East-West Center Research Program, Mānoa Campus

More Information
Laura Moriyama, 944-7444, Laura.Moriyama@eastwestcenter.org

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