Environment & Climate Change

30 Items

Audio - Harvard Environmental Economics Program

Natural Resources & Environmental Economics: A Conversation with Geoffrey Heal

| May 01, 2023

Esteemed economist Geoffrey Heal lauded recent technological advancements while also expressing his frustration with the impact of international efforts to combat climate change policy during the latest episode of “Environmental Insights: Discussions on Policy and Practice from the Harvard Environmental Economics Program.” The podcast is produced by the Harvard Environmental Economics Program.

Audio - Harvard Environmental Economics Program

Thoughts on Water Management and Environmental Justice: A Conversation with Sheila Olmstead

| Oct. 08, 2021

Sheila Olmstead, professor of public affairs at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin, shared her thoughts on U.S. water policy and environmental justice in the latest episode of “Environmental Insights.”

Audio - Harvard Environmental Economics Program

Climate and Environmental Policy in the Biden Administration: A Conversation with Richard Revesz

| Jan. 05, 2021

Richard Revesz, the Lawrence King Professor of Law at New York University and co-founder of the Institute for Policy Integrity, shared his thoughts on how the transition to a new presidential administration later this month will impact U.S. environmental and climate change policy in the latest episode of “Environmental Insights: Discussions on Policy and Practice from the Harvard Environmental Economics Program,” a podcast produced by the Harvard Environmental Economics Program.

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Policy Brief - Harvard Project on Climate Agreements

Carbon Sequestration in the U.S. National Parks: A Value Beyond Visitation—Summary

| September 2015

Plants draw carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they grow, sequestering the carbon in biomass and thus helping to mitigate climate change. This mitigation has an economic value commensurate with reduced damages from climate change. However, the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) has not calculated the carbon-sequestration benefits provided by the 84 million acres of land it manages, even though 85% of this land is vegetated.

The NPS has a dual mission—to foster both tourism ("visitation" to those researching this topic) and land stewardship. Measuring the value of carbon sequestration would complement ongoing attempts to measure the economic value of tourism by providing an initial estimate of the economic importance of one component of the NPS's stewardship obligations.

Discussion Paper - Harvard Project on Climate Agreements

Carbon Sequestration in the U.S. National Parks: A Value Beyond Visitation

| February 2015

This discussion paper examines the potential role U.S. National Parks play in curbing greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions through carbon sequestration—the process of moderating global climate change by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it in long-term mineral, organic, and oceanic reservoirs.

Book - Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc.

Economics of Climate Change and Environmental Policy: Selected Papers of Robert N. Stavins, 2000–2011

| January 2013

Professor Robert Stavins, Harvard Project Director, recently published the second volume of his collected papers with Edward Elgar Publishing. The 26 essays in the volume cover a wide range of topics, including: environmental policy analysis; economic analysis of environmental policy instruments; economics and technical change; natural resource economics — land and water; and domestic and international climate change policy. The first volume of Professor Stavins' papers was published in 2000 — also by Edward Elgar — covering the period 1988–1999.

In this Apr. 2007 file photo, a shovel prepares to dump coal into a truck at the Black Thunder Mine in Wright, Wyo. U.S. coal exports have been increasing as strong overseas demand offers an outlet for a fuel falling from favor at home.

AP Photo

News - Harvard Project on Climate Agreements

New Policy Idea: Buy Coal! A Case for Supply-Side Environmental Policy

    Author:
  • Bryan Galcik
| April 26, 2012

Bard Harstad, Associate Professor of Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, recently released a study, "Buy Coal! A Case for Supply-Side Environmental Policy," which will be published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Political Economy.

News - Harvard Project on Climate Agreements, Belfer Center

New Book from Former Harvard Environmental Economics Program Pre-Doctoral Fellow Gernot Wagner on Effective Environmental Economic Policy

| November 2011

The core message of But Will the Planet Notice?—presented with both rigor and wit—is that the actions of individuals can do very little to solve major environment problems, including climate change, species preservation, and water scarcity. What's required is economic policy that motivates large portions of the population—and major industrial sectors—to reduce pollution and use resources more efficiently.

Discussion Paper - Harvard Project on Climate Agreements, Belfer Center

The Problem of the Commons: Still Unsettled After 100 Years

| September 2010

Harvard Project Director Robert N. Stavins reviews economics research on open-access resources over the last century; the development of market-based policies to respond to commons problems; and the application of policy-relevant scholarship in economics to the "ultimate commons problem"—global climate change.