AIR POLLUTION
September 2009
Post-Kyoto International Climate Policy: Summary for Policymakers
Book
By Joseph E. Aldy, Faculty Affiliate, Harvard Project on Climate Agreements and Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board; Director, Harvard Project on Climate Agreements
This volume is a highly topical contribution to climate policy debates that offers options, based on cutting-edge social-science research, for an international climate change regime to succeed the Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012. It distils key findings from the Harvard Project into an easy reference for policymakers, journalists, and stakeholders.
August 2006
The World Energy Book
Book
Section 1 : Contents and World Overview
Section 2 : North America
Section 3 : Latin America and the Caribbean
Section 4 : Energy Statistics; Electricity usage per capita; Coal and Electricity usage per capita; Oil and Gas usage per capita; Coal, Electricity, Oil and Gas output
May 2006
China Shifts Gears: Automakers, Oil, Pollution, and Development
Book
By Kelly Sims Gallagher, Senior Associate, Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group
In China Shifts Gears, Kelly Sims Gallagher identifies an unprecedented opportunity for China to "shift gears" and avoid the usual problems associated with the automobile industry while spurring economic development.
2005
Environmental Protection and the Social Responsibility of Firms
Book
By Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board; Director, Harvard Project on Climate Agreements, Bruce L. Hay and Richard H. K. Vietor, Steering Committee Member, Harvard Project on Climate Agreements
| Everyone agrees that firms should obey the law. But beyond what the law requires—beyond bare compliance with regulations—do firms have additional social responsibilities to commit resources voluntarily to environmental protection? How should we think about firms sacrificing profits in the social interest? Are they permitted to do so, given their fiduciary responsibilities to their shareholders? Even if permissible, is the practice sustainable, or will the competitive marketplace render such efforts and their impacts transient at best? Furthermore, is the practice, however well intended, an efficient use of social and economic resources? And, as an empirical matter, to what extent do firms already behave this way? | ||
| Until now, public discussion has generated more heat than light on both the normative and positive questions surrounding corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the environmental realm. In Environmental Protection and the Social Responsibility of Firms, some of the nation’s leading scholars in law, economics, and business examine commonly accepted assumptions at the heart of current debates on corporate social responsibility and provide a foundation for future research and policymaking. |
December 30, 2004
Political Economy of Environmental Regulation
Book
By Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board; Director, Harvard Project on Climate Agreements
The Political Economy of Environmental Regulation is a new authoritative collection comprised of previously published papers: economic analyses of the processes through which political decisions regarding environmental regulation are made, principally in the institutional context found in the United States. Despite this geographic focus, many of the papers contain analytical models that are methodologically of interest and/or have lessons that are relevant in other parts of the world.
In the environmental realm, questions of political economy emerge along three fundamental dimensions, which are closely interrelated but conceptually distinct: (1) the degrees of government activity; (2) the form of government activity; and (3) the level of government that has responsibility. The first three parts of the book deal respectively with these three fundamental dimensions of inquiry. The fourth part of the book examines the use of economic analysis in contemporary environmental policy.
The Political Economy of Environmental Regulation will be of significant interest to environmental scholars, students and policy makers alike.
Fall 2006
"CCS: Research is Not Enough"
Book Chapter, volume 2
By Jennie Stephens, Former Associate, Energy Technology Innovation Policy
Governments and industry face a dilemma: how to reconcile increased energy demand with the need to reduce atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) offers a means of reducing pollution from coal-fired power generation.
July 2005
"Providing Low-Sulfur Fuels for Transportation Use: Policy Options and Financing Strategies in the Chinese Context"
Conference Paper
By Hongyan He Oliver, Former Research Fellow, Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group, 2004-2009 and Kelly Sims Gallagher, Senior Associate, Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group
This short paper is intended to outline the primary policy options available to the Chinese government to ensure that low-sulfur fuels become widely available in China to provide cleaner air and the ability to deploy more advanced vehicle technology.
August 2012
"The SO2 Allowance Trading System: The Ironic History of a Grand Policy Experiment"
Discussion Paper
By Richard Schmalensee and Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board; Director, Harvard Project on Climate Agreements
In a new discussion paper, authors Richard Schmalensee, professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Robert N. Stavins, director of the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements, explore four ironic outcomes associated with the otherwise very successful sulfur-dioxide cap-and-trade system created by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.
AP Photo/John Giles
July 2012
"Post-Durban Climate Policy Architecture Based on Linkage of Cap-and-Trade Systems"
Discussion Paper
By Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board; Director, Harvard Project on Climate Agreements and Matthew Ranson
The outcome of the December 2011 United Nations climate negotiations in Durban, South Africa, provides an important new opportunity to move toward an international climate policy architecture that is capable of delivering broad international participation and significant global CO2 emissions reductions at reasonable cost. This paper addresses an important component of potential climate policy architecture for the post-Durban era: links among independent tradable permit systems for greenhouse gases.
AP Photo
July 2012
"Gasoline Taxes and Consumer Behavior"
Discussion Paper
By Erich Muehlegger, Shanjun Li and Joshua Linn
Gasoline taxes can be employed to correct externalities associated with automobile use in order to reduce dependency on foreign oil and raise government revenue. This paper examines how gasoline taxes affect consumer behavior as distinct from tax-exclusive gasoline prices. It suggests that traditional analysis could significantly underestimate policy impacts of tax changes and discusses the implications of these findings.
