AP Photo

"Stavins, Holdren: Key Takeaways from Bali Climate Conference"

Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter

Spring 2008

John Holdren and Robert Stavins joined top climate negotiators from more than 180 countries in Bali, Indonesia, in December to address one of the most pressing issues of our time: forging an international agreement on climate change.

At the conference, Holdren, director of the Belfer Center's Science, Technology and Public Policy program, led a side event which focused on the topic of developing "win-win" strategies that link climate policy with development strategy in Brazil, China, and India. The Center's Energy Technology Innovation Policy group's Kelly Sims Gallagher, Hongyan He Oliver, and Lifeng Zhao coordinated the China component of this joint project with the Woods Hole Research Center, and the Center's Ambuj Sagar, senior research associate, contributed to the India component and presented his work.

Holdren expanded on "win-win" strategies at a Kennedy School JFK Jr. Forum presentation in November. "We need a portfolio of choices," Holdren said, noting that these include speeding up "win-win" mitigation and adaptation measures, putting a price on greenhouse gas emissions, expanding international cooperation, and increasing investments in energy-technology research and development. The U.S., Holdren said, "must switch from being a laggard in climate policy to being a leader." See http://www.belfercenter.org/publication/17661/

Stavins, co-director of the Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements, traveled to Bali with members of the Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements, an effort to help design a successor to the Kyoto Protocol by drawing on the best ideas from government, academia, business, and environmental advocacy groups. While there, he and the project co-director Joe Aldy met with government delegations, including China, India, Denmark, and Japan, and exchanged ideas with leading scholars, business leaders, and NGO representatives from around the world.

The project also hosted a side event, "Architectures for Agreement: Issues and options for Post-2012 International Climate Change Policy," which resulted in a lively discussion of six different ideas to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. Stavins separately gave the principal presentation at an event sponsored by the International Emissions Trading Association.

Holdren and Stavins offered their takeaways, as well as key items to watch going forward.

Holdren: "The agreement finally reached in Bali actually achieved more than I had expected. There was never any possibility - in fact there was no intention by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change leadership - to reach formal agreement at this juncture on specific numerical targets and timetables for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. The hope, with respect to timing, was simply that the Bali meeting would agree on 2009 as the target date for completing the post-Kyoto framework, and this was achieved."

Besides agreement on 2009 as the date for completion of the post-Kyoto framework, Holdren said, "the Bali agreement contains very important progress on an approach for including reductions in emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) after 2012, on mechanisms and financing for technology transfer, and on increased attention to and financing for adaptation to the degree of climate change that will occur in spite of the best possible mitigation efforts. So, in reality, a lot was achieved at Bali."

Stavins and Aldy: "For the Bali roadmap, countries agreed to continue working together, and they have agreed on certain measures. The ultimate destination was not decided. That was not feasible, and was not necessary. But the direction was decided, and the vehicle for travel was augmented in positive ways."

"It's important that both the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change process (the process that led to the original Kyoto Protocol) and President Bush's Big Economies process continue," Stavins and Aldy said. "In January, the White House hosted in Hawaii the largest emitters from the industrialized and developing world, accounting for 85 to 90 percent of emissions, they noted. This dual track makes sense for the time being," they added, "as it allows those countries that are the biggest part of the problem to negotiate more intensively on solutions."

For Academic Citation:
Communications Office. "Stavins, Holdren: Key Takeaways from Bali Climate Conference." Belfer Center Newsletter (Spring 2008).