COLLABORATIONS
The Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements is a joint project between Harvard University and Resources for the Future, a Washington D.C. environment and energy research group.
Resources for the Future:
RFF is a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization that conducts independent research — rooted primarily in economics and other social sciences — on environmental, energy, and natural resource issues. Although RFF is headquartered in Washington, D.C., its research scope comprises programs in nations around the world.
Founded in 1952, RFF was created at the recommendation of William Paley, then head of the Columbia Broadcasting System, who had chaired a presidential commission that examined whether the United States was becoming overly dependent on foreign sources of important natural resources and commodities. RFF became the first think tank devoted exclusively to natural resource and environmental issues.
For more than 50 years, RFF has pioneered the application of economics as a tool to develop more effective policy about the use and conservation of natural resources. Its scholars continue to analyze critical issues concerning pollution control, energy policy, land and water use, hazardous waste, climate change, biodiversity, and the environmental challenges of developing countries.
At Harvard University:
At Harvard, the project is jointly sponsored by the Harvard Environmental Economics Program and the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, both located within the Kennedy School of Government.
Harvard Environmental Economics Program:
The Harvard Environmental Economics Program (HEEP) develops innovative answers to today’s complex environmental issues. HEEP provides a forum for policymakers, scholars and advocates to grapple with such difficult questions as whether the Environmental Protection Agency should consider costs as well as benefits when determining regulatory targets; or what level of carbon reductions are appropriate to limit global climate change; and whether the United States should open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration as dependence on foreign oil pushes prices higher.
Established at the end of 2000 under the direction of Professor Robert Stavins, HEEP offers a venue to bring together faculty and graduate students from across the University engaged in research, teaching, and outreach in environmental and natural resource economics and related public policy. The program, supported by the Enel Endowment for Environmental Economics and the Harvard University Center for the Environment, and housed at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, develops curricula, sponsors research projects, and convenes conferences to further the understanding of the critical issues in Environmental Economics in the U.S. and around the world.
