ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS
December 3-9, 2007
"Poland's Place, Post-Kyoto"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, Warsaw Business Journal, issue 48
By Mladen Petrov and Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board; Director, Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements
"Poland is of great importance, and curbing greenhouse gas, particularly carbon dioxide emissions, will be a very great challenge, because of the rapidly growing economy and the very high reliance on coal."
November 2007
Linking Tradable Permit Systems for Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Opportunities, Implications, and Challenges
Report
By Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board; Director, Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements and Judson Jaffe
"With tradable permit systems for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in place in some parts of the world and actively being considered in others, increasing attention has been given to the opportunity to link these systems. Linking occurs when the government that maintains one system allows regulated entities to use allowances or credits from another system to meet domestic compliance obligations."
November 20, 2007
"Using Emission Fees to Curb Greenhouse Gases: A Primer"
Summary
By Joseph Aldy, Former Co-Director, Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements
"Any serious effort to address anthropogenic climate change will require giving the private sector a financial incentive to reduce emissions. Firms and consumers currently pay nothing to emit carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases. If we want to reduce the harmful effects of such gases on our environment, this free ride for pollution must come to an end...."
November 15, 2007
"Beyond Kyoto: Getting Serious About Global Climate Change"
Presentation
By Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board; Director, Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements
Project Co-Director Robert N. Stavins spoke at a Special Session of the World Energy Congress entitled "Architectures for Agreement: Climate Change Policy Post 2012" on November 15, 2007, in Rome, Italy.
November 13, 2007
"Beyond Kyoto: Getting Serious About Global Climate Change"
Presentation
By Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board; Director, Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements
Project Co-Director Robert N. Stavins addressed the University of Warsaw's Department of Economics on November 13, 2007. His presentation on post-2012 climate change policy described both the global climate policy challenge and the U.S. climate policy outlook.
November 6, 2007
"Global Climate Disruption: What Do We Know? What Should We Do?"
Presentation
By John P. Holdren, Former Director and Faculty Chair, Science, Technology and Public Policy Program
"Global warming is a misnomer," said John P. Holdren, speaking at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at the Kennedy School on November 6. "It implies something gradual, uniform, and benign. What we’re experiencing is none of these."
Holdren also urged the United States to spearhead this effort, going from being a "laggard in climate policy to being a leader." Once that happens, he said, the rest of the world will follow suit.
October 2007
"A U.S. Cap-and-Trade System to Address Global Climate Change"
Working Paper
By Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board; Director, Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements
In a paper commissioned by the Brookings Institution's Hamilton Project, Stavins, the co-director of the Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements (HPICA) proposes "a specific cap-and-trade system with several key features including: an upstream cap on CO2 emissions with gradual inclusion of other greenhouse gases; a gradual downward trajectory of emissions ceilings over time to minimize disruption and allow firms and households time to adapt; and mechanisms to reduce cost uncertainty."
September 27, 2007
"Linking Tradable Permit Systems: Opportunities, Challenges, and Implications"
Presentation
By Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board; Director, Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements
Professor Stavins' presentation at the 7th IETA Forum on the State and Development of the Greenhouse Gas Market described tradable permit systems and linkage among them that allows emission reduction efforts to be redistributed across systems. He notes that linkage may become the de jure or de facto post-2012 international policy architecture.
AP Images
Fall 2007
"Professor John P. Holdren Moderates the Energy & Climate Panel at the 2007 Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting"
Media Feature
By John P. Holdren, Former Director and Faculty Chair, Science, Technology and Public Policy Program
John P. Holdren, director of the Belfer Center's Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, moderated the Energy & Climate panel "Stabilizing the Climate: Pathways to Success" at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting in New York on September 27, 2007.
September 24, 2007
"Designing the Next International Climate Agreement"
Op-Ed, RFF Weekly Policy Commentary
By Joseph Aldy, Former Co-Director, Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements and Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board; Director, Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements
The world's first step to address global climate change, in the Kyoto Protocol, was not perfect. The next step does not need to be perfect either, but it ought to be an improvement. To contribute to the effort in designing the next step, we have just launched the Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements. This initiative will draw upon leading thinkers from academia, private industry, government, and non-governmental organizations from around the world to identify key design elements and construct a small set of promising policy frameworks, and then disseminate and discuss the design elements and frameworks with decisionmakers in the United States, Europe, and around the world.
