“It’s important to think about a strategy of reaching out to all interested groups and really engage before, during, and post-Copenhagen.”

-Paula Dobriansky, Belfer Center senior fellow

http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/cs_20091031_7714.php

Deal-Breaker for Climate-Change Treaty May Be Obama’s Congress
Bloomberg
October 27
Quoted: Robert Stavins, Harvard Environmental Economics Program
Topic: Potential international climate deal

When Barack Obama was elected president, he was heralded as a possible savior for climate- treaty talks that had dragged on for years while George W. Bush rejected limits on U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions.

Instead, Obama may send empty-handed envoys in December to the table in Copenhagen where 192 countries will try to assign emissions reductions because Congress has given him no mandate. With the European Union, Japan and Australia ready to pledge cuts of more than 20 percent only if other nations follow suit, the stage is set for promises to collapse.

The possible domino effect, along with a continuing split between the U.S. and China, erode chances for a strong treaty, negotiators and political scientists say.

“It is unlikely that an agreement which would be meaningful is going to be finalized” in the Danish capital, Robert Stavins, director of the Harvard Environmental Economics Program in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said in an interview.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ahGP9j31GiEw

“An effective, but more flexible and politically palatable approach could be an international agreement on a “portfolio of domestic commitments.” Under such an arrangement, nations would agree to honour commitments to GHG reductions laid out in their own domestic laws and regulations.”

Robert Stavins, a member of the Belfer Center’s board of directors, wrote “A Portfolio of Domestic Commitments: Implementing Common but Differentiated Responsibilities,” which Carbon Market North America published on October 23, 2009.

For the full oped, go to: http://www.pointcarbon.com/polopoly_fs/1.1263039!CMNA20091023.pdf

China, India Forge Alternative to UN Climate Treaty

Bloomberg

October 22

Quoted: Robert Stavins, Harvard Environmental Economics Program

Topic: Global climate treaty

China and India’s joint plan to cut greenhouse-gas emissions gives the developing world an alternative to the climate treaty that wealthier nations want them to sign in Copenhagen, analysts said. …

Copenhagen may produce only an agreement on principles in which richer nations take responsibility for emissions already in the atmosphere and developing countries for future pollution, said Robert Stavins, director of the Harvard Environmental Economics Program in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in an interview.

“Some people will look at that and say ‘well that’s not really so much, it’s only principles,’” Stavins said. “However it will place us probably six months or a year or two years from now where we’re more likely to have a better agreement.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a9vFLhuIfyI0

“If they don’t start doing that this week, it’s hard to imagine being able to have enough time to get through all the contentious issues and come out of Copenhagen with an agreement.”

Kelly Sims Gallagher, a member of the Belfer Center’s board of directors, was interviewed in “Clock Is Ticking on Copenhagen Climate Treaty,” which NPR’s “Morning Edition” aired on September 22, 2009.

For the full interview, go to: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113036276
_______

Gallagher was also interviewed in “Climate Change Meeting,” which PRI’s “The World” aired on September 22, 2009.

For the full interview, go to: http://www.theworld.org/2009/09/22/climate-change-meeting/

“How can developing countries participate in an international effort to reduce emissions without incurring costs that derail their economic development? Their emissions targets could start at business-as-usual levels, becoming more stringent over time as countries become wealthier.”

Robert Stavins, a member of the Belfer Center’s board of directors, co-wrote “The Essential Pillars of a New Climate Pact” with Sheila M. Olmstead, which the Boston Globe published on September 20, 2009.

For the full oped, go to: http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/19563/
__________

“As economies have grown and matured, they have become more adept at squeezing more economic activity out of each unit of energy they generate and consume.”

Stavins also wrote “Yes: The Transition Can Be Gradual—and Affordable,” which the Wall Street Journal published on September 21, 2009.

For the full oped go to: http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/19564/

“Climate change is an important threat meriting serious attention by policy-makers in California and around the world. Indeed, I am writing from Poznan, Poland, where negotiations under the Framework Convention on Climate Change are being held to work on the design of a meaningful international climate agreement. But meaningfully addressing climate change will neither be easy nor cheap, as negotiators here in Poznan from around the world recognize.”

Robert Stavins, a member of the Belfer Center’s Board of Directors, wrote “Addressing change won’t be cheap or easy,” which the San Diego Union-Tribune published on December 11, 2008.

For the full oped, go to: http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20081211/news_lz1e11stavins.html

“Poznan will launch a tough year of international climate negotiations amongst countries big and small as the U.N. struggles to meet its daunting deadline.”

Cristine Russell, senior fellow with the Belfer Center’s Environment and Natural Resources Program, wrote “Poland Climate Change Conference,” published in the Columbia Journalism Review on November 26, 2008.

For the full article, go to: http://www.cjr.org/the_observatory/poland_climate_change_conferen.php

Climate Report Proposes New Regulations
Harvard Crimson
December 5
Quoted: Robert Stavins, Environment and Natural Resources Program
Topic: Recent reports from Harvard on climate change

The Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements released 28 new reports last Sunday that will “offer a blueprint and information” to countries debating a successor to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the international treaty to reduce carbon dioxide emissions that has been widely panned as ineffective. …

Robert N. Stavins, a Harvard Kennedy School professor and the director of the project, said that the reports create “architectures” for new agreements based on economic, scientific, and political considerations.

The “rapidly growing powerhouse economies,” as Stavins calls them, will soon account for over half of the world’s carbon emissions. But much of their emissions come from ongoing industrialization, a process long since completed in developed countries.

“[Developing] countries are poor compared to the United States and other highly developed countries, and so in addition to thinking about it in terms of efficiency or cost effectiveness, there’s an issue of distributional equity,” Stavins said. “And also, you could say it’s our responsibility for what’s already up there, because of our own process of industrialization.”

http://www.thecrimson.com/printerfriendly.aspx?ref=525742

Kennedy School climate change group presents proposals for United Nations action
Harvard Crimson
November 24
Quoted: Robert Stavins, Environment and Natural Resources Program
Topic: Proposals to address climate change

The Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements at the Harvard Kennedy School released four proposals yesterday on how best to address climate change—ranging from the adjustment of international emissions standards to market-based solutions—to bring to the upcoming United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. …

“Each of the proposals looks different to the various countries in terms of its merits,” said Kennedy School Professor Robert N. Stavins, the co-director of the policy group. “We feel that we should provide information to the countries of the world to help them in their quest to design a post-Kyoto Protocol policy.”

Stavins said that the proposals were neither mutually exclusive nor even necessarily sufficient on their own. He advocated for the free market as a tool for controlling carbon emissions, but acknowledged that “tremendous political resistance” in developed countries could make market solutions difficult to implement.

http://www.thecrimson.com/printerfriendly.aspx?ref=525578