ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE
May 7, 2008
"Economic Incentives in a New Climate Agreement"
Paper
By Joseph Aldy, Co-Director, Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements and Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board
The Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements has agreed to help the Office of the Danish Prime Minister, in its role as incoming President of the 2009 Conference of the Parties, to prepare background papers and on-site briefings for a series of very high-level dialogues on climate change policy, hosted by the Prime Minister. These dialogues will each include about 25 participants, including CEOs of European and U.S. corporations, key officials from national governments and intergovernmental organizations, and leaders of major environmental NGOs. This paper on the subject of economic incentives was prepared by the Harvard Project leadership for the first dialogue.
April 14, 2008
"Addressing Global Climate Change with a Comprehensive U.S. Cap-and-Trade System"
Discussion Paper
By Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board
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.
AP Photo
April 7, 2008
"India's Key Foreign Policy Issues"
Policy Brief
By Xenia Dormandy, Director of the Belfer Center's Project on India and the Subcontinent
In recent years, India's military, diplomatic and economic energies have expanded far beyond Nehru's Non-Aligned position. But what does that mean for India, its region, and the United States?
March 31, 2008
"Harvard Kennedy School Faculty Discuss Energy and Environment–Related Challenges for China and the World"
Event Report
By John P. Holdren, Director and Faculty Chair, Science, Technology and Public Policy Program and Kelly Sims Gallagher, Director, Energy Technology Innovation Policy
Harvard Kennedy School Dean David Ellwood and HKS faculty John P. Holdren and Kelly Gallagher participated in a panel discussion on "The Challenge of Energy and Environment in China" in Shanghai, China.
March 20, 2008
"Workshop Ponders: Post-Kyoto, What Next?"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, Harvard Gazette
By Sasha Talcott, Director of Communications and Outreach
"The project is examining ideas that are similar to Kyoto’s top-down approach, though stronger, as well as approaches that are substantially different. Key ideas in play range from indexing emissions targets to economic growth, to bottom-up approaches, such as linking together the actions of a number of countries. One of the project’s key goals is to persuade the countries of the world not only to look at ideas similar to the Kyoto Protocol, but also to look at ideas that are very different in structure."
March 17, 2008
Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements Research Workshop
News
The Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements hosted a research workshop in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on March 13–14, 2008. The workshop brought together key scholars and other thinkers working on international climate change policy from a variety of disciplines, including economics, political science, and law. Together, they addressed issues such as how to persuade developing countries — among them China and India — to sign on to an international agreement, how to link climate policy with international trade, and how to effectively address deforestation, which accounts for 20 percent of global emissions. Attendees presented their initial research findings and got feedback on their ideas. The workshop was preceded by a reception and dinner at the Harvard Faculty Club, which featured Todd Stern, a partner at the law firm WilmerHale, as a keynote speaker. The final drafts of the research will be published in early fall 2008.
March 16, 2008
"State Fight Against Climate Change Benefits Everyone"
Op-Ed, Sacramento Bee
By Lawrence Goulder and Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board
"Because a cap-and-trade system would reduce California's overall greenhouse gas emissions, it would also lower the state's emissions of the co-pollutants. Still, it's possible, though unlikely, that co-pollutant emissions would increase in a particular locality. But here it's crucial to recognize that existing air pollution laws address such pollutants, and so any greenhouse gas allowance trades that would violate local air pollution limits would be prohibited."
March 14, 2008
"The Rise of China: Energy and Environmental Implications"
Presentation
By Kelly Sims Gallagher, Director, Energy Technology Innovation Policy
In this presentation, Kelly Sims Gallagher discusses the environmental and energy implications of China's economic growth in the 20th and 21st centuries.
March 14, 2008
"Ending the Energy Stalemate: A Bipartisan Strategy To Meet America’s Energy Challenges"
Presentation
By John P. Holdren, Director and Faculty Chair, Science, Technology and Public Policy Program
John P. Holdren provides the context for and an overview of the recommendations made by the National Commission on Energy Policy its 2004 and 2007 reports to the President and Congress of the United States.
March-April 2008
"Toward a Liberal Realist Foreign Policy: A Memo for the Next President"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, Harvard Magazine, issue 4, volume 110
By Joseph S. Nye, Sultan of Oman Professor of International Relations
"On January 20, you will inherit a legacy of trouble: Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Palestine, North Korea for starters. Failure to manage any one of them could mire your presidency and sap your political support—and threaten the country’s future. At the same time, you must not let these inherited problems define your foreign policy. You need to put them in a larger context and create your own vision of how Americans should deal with the world."
