DISCUSSION PAPERS
July 2008
"Toward a Post-Kyoto Climate Change Architecture: A Political Analysis"
By Robert O. Keohane and Kal Raustiala
"Any international agreement to address climate change must rest on broad public support in developed nations for mitigation actions. We propose an international climate architecture that builds on such public support — which we hope will be forthcoming — and uses multilateral international institutions to extend its effects to countries without such "green" publics."
AP Photo
June 2008
"Analysis of Policies to Reduce Oil Consumption and Greenhouse-Gas Emissions from the U.S. Transportation Sector"
By Kelly Sims Gallagher, Senior Associate, Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group and Gustavo Collantes, Former Research Fellow, Energy Technology Innovation Policy Research Group/Enviroment and Natural Resources Program, 2007-2008
This study examines different policy scenarios for reducing GHG emissions and oil consumption in the U.S. transportation sector using a variant of the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS).
May 2008
"Returns to Scale in Carbon Capture and Storage Infrastructure and Deployment"
By Jeffrey Bielicki, Former Research Fellow, Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group, 2006–2009
In this Belfer Center discussion paper, Bielicki describes SimCCS, a cost-minimizing geospatial deployment model used to deploy CCS for a variety of combinations of CO2 sources and injection reservoirs. The purpose of SimCCS is to determine the returns to scale for CCS deployment and to unravel the determinants thereof.
May 16, 2008
"Biofuels and the Corporate Average Fuel Economy Program: The Statute, Policy Issues, and Alternatives"
By Gustavo Collantes, Former Research Fellow, Energy Technology Innovation Policy Research Group/Enviroment and Natural Resources Program, 2007-2008
This paper investigates the relationship between the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program and the supply of biofuels in the United States.
April 14, 2008
"Addressing Global Climate Change with a Comprehensive U.S. Cap-and-Trade System"
By Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board; Director, Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements
There is a growing impetus for a domestic U.S. climate policy that can provide meaningful reductions in emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. The paper describes and analyzes an up-stream, economy-wide CO2 cap-and-trade system which implements a gradual trajectory of emissions reductions (with inclusion over time of non-CO2 greenhouse gases), and includes mechanisms to reduce cost uncertainty.
Carsten Karl
Winter 2007/08
"Cleaner Power in India: Towards a Clean-Coal-Technology Roadmap"
By Ananth Chikkatur, Associate, Energy Technology Innovation Policy and Ambuj D. Sagar, Former Visiting Scholar, Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group (ETIP), June 2009; Former Research Fellow, ETIP, 1996-2002; Former Senior Research Associate, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, 2007-2008
Investigating the role of coal in India's energy sector, Chikkatur and Sagar emphasize the need for a technology roadmapping process. They highlight the interlinkages between technology innovation and public policy and provide an analytical framework to help delineate the kinds of questions that scholars and practitioners need to ask in addressing India's coal sector.
February 7, 2008
Vegetable Oil Based Biofuels in India
This paper addresses two key questions: What is the economic potential of biofuel development in India? And what are the obstacles to this development? It traces the economics at each stage in the production chain – from harvesting to processing to transportation; provides an overview of the industry’s economics and details the requirements at each stage of the value chain for the industry to reach its potential; and shows how the vegetable oil biofuels sector can provide substantial benefits to the rural poor in India while addressing the risks and threats of the biofuel industry development.
January 2008
"Twenty-first Century Terrorism: The Definitional Problem of Complex Political Environments"
By Marcial Alecio Garcia Suarez, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 2006-2007
The paper addresses some problems in understanding twenty-first century terrorism. The focus is on the singularity that results from the relationship between complex political environments and aspects of contemporary terrorist actions. The paper focuses on two main aspects of terrorism: the definitional problem and the analytical framework. Such analysis could offer a pathway to the challenges of achieving a clear understanding of terrorism as one of the main political issues of the twenty-first century.
Anita Gould
January 2, 2008
"Synthesis of Comments Received on 'Policy Options for Reducing Oil Consumption and Greenhouse-Gas Emissions from the U.S. Transportation Sector'"
By Kelly Sims Gallagher, Senior Associate, Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group
This paper includes solicited comments from representatives from government, non-profit organizations, the private sector, including from automobile firms and fuels providers, labor unions, and others, to the July 2007 discussion paper on policy options for reducing oil consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from the U.S. transportation sector.
Summer 2007
"Policy Options for Reducing Oil Consumption and Greenhouse-Gas Emissions from the U.S. Transportation Sector"
By Kelly Sims Gallagher, Senior Associate, Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group, Gustavo Collantes, Former Research Fellow, Energy Technology Innovation Policy Research Group/Enviroment and Natural Resources Program, 2007-2008, John P. Holdren, Former Director and Faculty Chair, Science, Technology and Public Policy Program, Henry Lee, Director, Environment and Natural Resources Program and Robert Frosch, Senior Associate, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program
The goal of this paper is to contribute to the current policy debate about how to effectively limit or reduce oil consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from the U.S. transportation sector.
