ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
March 24, 2011
Harvard Kennedy School Announces 2011 Roy Family Environment Award
Press Release
By Amanda Sardonis, Assistant Director, Environment and Natural Resources Program
CAMBRIDGE, MA— The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University announced today that the 2011 Roy Family Award for Environmental Partnership will be given to Refrigerants, Naturally!, an alliance of corporations substituting environmentally-harmful fluorinated gases ("F-gases", such as CFCs, HCFCs and HFCs) with natural refrigerants in their commercial refrigeration installations. Natural refrigerants are climate and ozone friendly gases that exist naturally in the biosphere, i.e. ammonia, carbon dioxide, and hydrocarbons.
Spring 2011
Belfer Center Newsletter Spring 2011
Newsletter
By Sharon Wilke, Associate Director of Communications
The Spring 2011 issue of the Belfer Center newsletter features recent and upcoming activities, research, and analysis by members of the Center community on critical global issues. This issue highlights the Belfer Center’s continuing efforts to build bridges between the United States and Russia to prevent nuclear catastrophe – an effort that began in the 1950s. This issue also features three new books by Center faculty that sharpen global debate on critical issues: God’s Century, by Monica Duffy Toft, The New Harvest by Calestous Juma, and The Future of Power, by Joseph S. Nye.
AP Photo
February 21, 2011
"Turning Fledgling Concepts into Reality"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Juliette Kayyem, Lecturer in Public Policy
"From the perspective of national security, independence from oil imports in the Middle East is necessary; our complicated relations with nations such as Saudi Arabia are made worse by our complete dependence on their commodity. Even the revolution in Egypt has made oil companies worry about the continuing accessibility of the Suez Canal, a crucial route to the Atlantic Ocean."
AP Photo
January 31, 2011
"Pursuing Real Environmental Justice in California"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board; Director, Harvard Project on Climate Agreements
"Questions have been raised about the wisdom of a single state trying to address a global commons problem, but with national climate policy developments having slowed dramatically in Washington, California is now the focal point of meaningful U.S. climate policy action."
AP Photo
December 6, 2010
"Governments Should Seize on Business Support for Climate Deal"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Jonas Meckling, Former Research Fellow, Geopolitics of Energy Project, 2010–2012; Harvard Project on Climate Agreements, 2009–2010; Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group, 2007–2009
"...[T]he corporate winners of a green economy have emerged as a force in climate politics, throwing their weight behind a deal. If a price is put on carbon dioxide emissions, producers of low-carbon technologies are likely to experience an increase in demand for their products. Moreover, cap-and-trade schemes — a key pillar of climate policies around the globe — create new commodity markets in their own rights. In 2009, the global carbon market was worth $144 billion, and it is expected to grow exponentially over the coming decade. In particular financial services providers, accountants and lawyers have taken great interest in the carbon gold rush."
Winter 2010-11
Belfer Center Newsletter Winter 2010-11
Newsletter
By Sharon Wilke, Associate Director of Communications
The Winter 2010/11 issue of the Belfer Center newsletter features recent and upcoming activities, research, and analysis by members of the Center community on critical global issues. This issue highlights a major Belfer Center conference on technology and governance, the Center's involvement in the nuclear threat documentary Countdown to Zero, and a celebration of Belfer Center founder Paul Doty.
Photo by Stuart Darsch
October 29, 2010
At MIT, Holdren Issues Call for Action on Climate Disruption
News
By James F. Smith, Communications Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
John P. Holdren, President Obama's chief science and technology advisor, draws a grim picture of our world at the end of this century if we fail to start slashing greenhouse gas emissions that are ravaging the global climate. In a lecture at MIT, Holdren issued a call to action, arguing for a package of integrated measures to protect the environment. Holdren is on leave from Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center, where he was director of the Science and Technology Public Policy program.
September 2010
"How Good Politics Results in Bad Policy: The Case of Biofuel Mandates"
Discussion Paper
By Robert Lawrence, Member of the Board, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
This paper argues that the growing list of concerns about the impact of biofuel targets and mandates are the predictable result of a failure to follow the basic principles of good policy-making. Good policy-making requires developing a policy goal or target (i.e., reducing greenhouse gas emissions, reducing oil consumption, or increasing rural economic development) and designing an instrument to efficiently meet that particular goal. The more precise the goal, the better. In addition, for each target, there should be at least one policy instrument. You cannot meet two goals with only one instrument. This paper argues that the current U.S. biofuels mandates do not represent the most efficient or precise instrument to meet any of the policy's stated goals.
Photo by Sharon Wilke
March 5, 2010
Climate Change Reporters: 2010 a Year of Uncertainty for Cap-and-Trade
News
By Lucia Cordon
When thinking about climate change and the future, a word comes to mind for Juliet Eilperin. This word is "uncertainty." Eilperin, who covers environment for the Washington Post, said at a Harvard Kennedy School climate-media event Thursday that there is uncertainty in the United States today on political action, on consistency in policy making, and on public opinion regarding climate change.
March 4, 2010
Reducing Cars' and Trucks' Carbon Emissions Difficult but Feasible, New Study Finds
Press Release
By Sasha Talcott, Former Director of Communications and Outreach
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A new study from current and former researchers at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs finds that reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transportation will be a much bigger challenge than conventional wisdom assumes — requiring substantially higher fuel prices combined with more stringent regulation.
