New & Noteworthy

About

The Environment and Natural Resources Program's mandate is to conduct policy-relevant research at the regional, national, international, and global level, and through its outreach initiatives to make its products available to decision-makers, scholars, and interested citizens.

Over the past 30 years environmental policy has changed dramatically. Today it is an integral part of energy policy, economic development, and security. Security means not only protection from military aggression, but also maintenance of adequate supplies of food and water, and the protection of public health. These problems cannot be addressed from one discipline or from the perspective of one issue or one country. The world of the future will demand the integration of multiple needs and values across both disciplinary and geographic boundaries.

Each year ENRP faculty and fellows produce publications and conduct research on a wide variety of topics. Five themes stand out:

  • Integration: Bridging the gap across natural, social, and engineering sciences, the environmental and development communities, multiple sectors of human activity, and geographic and temporal scales
  • Global change: Responding effectively to global environmental threats such as climate change, loss of biodiversity, and environmentally unsustainable economic policies
  • Energy: Designing, developing, and implementing economically and environmentally sound energy policies
  • Economic Incentives: Assessing the effectiveness of incentive-based environmental regulation
  • Sustainability: Meeting human needs for energy, agriculture, and water while protecting environmental quality and biodiversity

While our projects and activities continue to evolve, our perspective remains global and interdisciplinary, linking the fields of science and policy. ENRP looks forward to being an active participant in the environmental policy debate as it evolves over the course of this decade.

Sponsors

Funding for the Environment and Natural Resources Program and its projects and initiatives comes from the Roy Family, the Jassim M. Jaidah Family, BP International Ldt, the Energy Foundation China, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Fund for Strategic Innovation, POET LLC, and the National Science Foundation.

Previous sponsors include the Hui Research Fund for Generating Powerful Ideas, the Harvard Global Institute, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea, the Harvard Climate Change Solutions Fund, and the Belfer Center.

The Environment and Natural Resources Program is committed to improving diversity within our program at all levels. We believe that representing a wide array of perspectives and backgrounds results in better scholarship and more enduring impacts from our efforts.

EPSS logo

Hosted each semester at HKS, the Energy Policy Seminar Series provides a public forum for students, fellows, faculty, and interested community members to deepen their knowledge of current issues surrounding energy systems. EPSS features a range of speakers, from academic experts to government analysts to climate activists. The series is co-sponsored by the Environment and Natural Resources Program, the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, the Harvard University Center for the Environment, and the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability.

To receive announcements about upcoming seminars, join our mailing list.


Spring 2024 Series

Dates: Mondays, 12:00-1:15 p.m. ET 

Location: Harvard Kennedy School, Rubenstein Building, Room 414AB + Zoom

Registration: RSVP required. A Harvard University ID is required for in-person attendance; all are welcome to attend via Zoom.

Recordings: Seminars will be recorded and available to watch on the relevant event page (typically one week later). Those who register for a seminar will automatically receive a link to the recording as soon as it becomes available.

Roy Award logo

The Roy Family Award for Environmental Partnership is presented every two years to an outstanding cross-sector partnership that enhances environmental quality through novel and creative approaches.  

We are looking for partnerships that:

  • have advanced a new idea, model, or paradigm that could be transferable to other issues or geographic regions to improve the quality of the environment; and
  • have taken risks that result in significant actions that contribute to solutions and create leverage for greater action.

2024 Call for Nominations

The nomination deadline for the 2024 Roy Family Award for Environmental Partnership has passed. Nominations are being evaluated by our team and finalists will be notified in early 2024. 

For Applicants

  • Eligibility

    Awards are given to programs or projects that:

    • engage in partnership, defined as participation of two or more separate organizations; and
    • organizations must operate in at least two different sectors: academic, civic, business, government, or non-profit; and
    • organizations must work together collaboratively on a project or program that tangibly improves the quality of our environment.

    Projects can be domestic or international in scope. Self-nomination is permissible and encouraged.

  • Award Benefits

    • Finalists receive rigorous due diligence review based on the award program’s well-established evaluation criteria
    • Visibility and recognition from Harvard University that may catalyze expansion or additional partnerships
    • Join the prestigious group of award-winning partnerships from around the world
  • Selection Criteria

    • Innovation - Demonstrates a leap in creativity
    • Effectiveness - Achieves tangible results
    •  Significance - Successfully addresses a challenging environmental problem
    • Transferability - Shows promise of inspiring successful replication by others

Research on Partnership Effectiveness

The Environment and Natural Resources Program is part of the international research project Effectiveness of Partnerships for Advancing the Sustainable Development Goals: Behavioural Pathways and Impacts. The project, which has culminated in a new book, Partnerships for Sustainability in Contemporary Global Governance, provides the first interdisciplinary, integrated, and comparative theoretical approach and data on the effectiveness of partnerships for sustainability. 

ENRP’s contribution to this project is directly linked to a pioneer database about environmental cross-sector partnerships, in the framework of the Roy Family Award for Environmental Partnership. Amanda Sardonis and Henry Lee’s book chapter, “Partnerships under Pressure: Lessons on Adaptation and Overcoming Challenges,” investigates the durability of partnerships and their adaptability as a key condition for partnership effectiveness and long-term sustainability. Sardonis and Lee surveyed Roy Award finalists and winners since 2003 to assess if and how the partnerships in ENRP's database lived up to their initial potential, with the goal of understanding whether and how they adapted to overcome the challenges that they encountered. Their chapter summarizes the survey responses and presents three case studies that examine in greater detail the level of adaptability characterizing each partnership, the different dynamics of such adaptability, and how the partnerships’ ability to adapt impacted their effectiveness.
 

Past Award Winners

  • 2022: ColdHubs Limited

    ColdHubs Limited - born out of a partnership between the Smallholders Foundation (of Nigeria), the Institute for Air Handling and Refrigeration (ILK Dresden), and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)—uses solar-powered walk-in cold rooms to reduce post-harvest losses for smallholder farmers across rural Nigeria. 

    ColdHubs' highly replicable cooling solution reduces food waste and associated greenhouse gas emissions in Nigeria, while also increasing economic opportunity and food security for smallholder farmers.

    In 2021, ColdHubs’ 54 operational units saved 52,700 tons of produce from spoilage, making more safe, nutritious food available for consumption by Nigerians. By reducing post-harvest loss, ColdHubs also doubled the average household income of the 5,250 smallholder farmers, retailers, and wholesalers it serves, from USD $60 to $120 per month. With the option to store food safely for longer, farmers are able to negotiate better prices for a higher quality product, leading to additional revenue gains. 


    Belfer Center Coverage

  • 2020: Clean Water for Carolina Kids

    The partnership of RTI International, NC Child, the Duke Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, and the North Carolina Division of Public Health protects children and infants from exposure to lead from drinking water at child care centers and schools.

    The partnership was selected for its development and implementation of a novel and creative approach that eliminates lead from childcare center and elementary school drinking fountains and faucets before it reaches children. Standard public health practice is to test and treat children after exposure rather than proactively rooting out lead poisoning sources. The North Carolina effort uses a citizen-science approach that includes the use of mail-out test kits, an online enrollment and reporting portal, and most importantly, training and communication support.

    In fall 2019, a new North Carolina rule was adopted that requires all licensed childcare centers to test for and remove lead in water used for drinking or food preparation. It is the first-of-its-kind lead in water testing program nationally to make large scale, yet scientifically robust testing feasible while empowering childcare centers and schools to participate as citizen scientists.


    Belfer Center Coverage

  • 2018: Advancing Green Infrastructure Program

    Each year, 257 million gallons of combined sewage flow into surface waterways surrounding New Haven during rain events, exceeding the capacity of the combined sewer system, negatively impacting ecosystem health and quality of life. The contamination and street flooding are the direct result of stormwater runoff from the City’s increasing impervious surface cover, which overload both the combined and storm sewer systems. Constructing added capacity and separating the combined system is an ongoing, expensive, and disruptive process. The Advancing Green Infrastructure partners worked together to develop, pilot, and implement a program that is demonstrating the effectiveness of bioswales to reduce pollution from runoff and prevent street flooding.

    Common Ground students planting bioswales on West Park.

    “As a low lying, coastal city, New Haven is already experiencing negative impacts of climate change – its successful effort to address this challenge will rely upon engagement by the entire community,” Mayor Toni N. Harp said of the 2018 Roy Award winner. “… This program maximizes limited resources to achieve multiple objectives: mitigating the impacts of storm water runoff in an environmentally sustainable way, while creating meaningful employment for some of the city’s most vulnerable residents.”

  • 2016: California Healthy Nail Salon Program

    In partnership with local counties and cities throughout California, the California Healthy Nail Salon Program addresses the environmental health and justice issues faced by workers in the salon industry and works to standardize safe, pollution prevention salon practices that can be implemented nationwide and globally. The Program focuses on the reduction of carcinogenic and reproductive toxins in the workplace by establishing locally-legislated programs that educate and empower salon employees and incentivize salons to reduce chemical exposures and protect the health of the employees, customers, and the environment.

    Roy dinner

    Nail salon workers handle products containing toxic chemicals, solvents, and volatile organic compounds known to be harmful to human and environmental health, but there is very little federal and state oversight of chemical use and exposure in salons. The workers and salon owners often lack accurate information about safe occupational practices and hazardous waste disposal policies that impact thousands of individuals and pollute air and water.

    In the United States, over 400,000 individuals are formally employed in the nail salon sector, excluding the thousands of independent contractors who rent stations in salons. Over 97 percent of salon workers in the U.S. are women, many of them immigrants. In California alone, it is estimated that up to 80 percent of manicurists and cosmetologists are Vietnamese immigrants, and more than 50 percent are of reproductive age. The California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative and AHS partnered with the City and County of San Francisco, the City of Santa Monica, Alameda County, Santa Clara County, and San Mateo County to standardize safe, pollution prevention practices by requiring that to qualify as a "Healthy Nail Salon," a salon must 1) use products free of chemicals known to cause reproductive harm, cancer and respiratory problems; and 2) train workers in the best practices for worker safety and environmental health. As of July 2016, 96 salons carry the "Healthy Nail Salon" seal.

    The Collaborative, AHS, and its partners are taking the lead on the issue of environmental justice in the nail salon industry with a high level of progress and partnership. By fostering partnerships on several levels—individual (salon workers), community (organizations and groups), local (counties, cities, policymakers), and national (federal and government agencies)—the Collaborative has brought together diverse entities to implement an innovative and growing program, and in the process, has brought national attention to salon worker environmental justice, health, safety, and rights.

    Building on the success of the Healthy Nail Salon Recognition Programs at the city and county level, on September 24, Governor Jerry Brown signed California Assembly Bill 2125, requiring the California Department of Toxic Substances Control to create guidelines for local governments to voluntarily implement Healthy Nail Salon Recognition programs.

    "The Roy Award selection committee was especially impressed with the program's commitment to empowering salon workers to proactively take steps to improve their health and safety and reduce chemical exposure in their workplaces and communities," said Henry Lee, director of the Environment and Natural Resources program at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, which coordinates the award. "We believe that this partnership demonstrates the impact of a highly-local, targeted approach in addressing environmental health and justice – and one that can be replicated around the globe." The partnership was selected from a number of highly qualified projects the world that tackle tough environmental problems ranging from eliminating lead in gasoline to lessening the environmental impacts of textile manufacturing to harnessing big data to protect forests. Experts world-wide reviewed the nominated projects with the following criteria: innovation, effectiveness, significance, and transferability.

    Roy Award

     

    "It is a great honor that our diverse partnership of non-profit and governmental partners, who have come together to address what has been an overlooked environmental justice issue in our nation, are being recognized for their cross-sector collaborative efforts," said Julia Liou, Planning and Development Director at Asian Health Services and Co-Founder of the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative.

    The purpose of the Roy Family Award for Environmental Partnership is to draw attention to an exceptional partnership and its achievements while inspiring others to replicate or expand upon its success. "We are delighted to receive this award along with the Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative," said Debbie Raphael, director of the San Francisco Department of the Environment. "It acknowledges fruitful collaboration among government, NGOs and small business to make work environments healthier. Despite these gains, federal law regarding cosmetics is woefully weak and we call on Congress to strengthen FDA's ability to regulate personal care products and professional salon products."


    Belfer Center Coverage

    Watch a panel held at the Harvard Kennedy School, "Toxic Beauty: Environmental Justice and Workers' Rights," discuss the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative


    External Coverage

    Coverage in the Harvard Crimson

    National coverage by CBS News

    Local coverage in the East Bay Times

  • 2013: Dow-TNC Collaboration

    The Dow-TNC Collaboration is an innovative partnership between The Dow Chemical Company and The Nature Conservancy to research the value of ecosystem services. Established in 2011, the five-year project combines the expertise of Dow, one of the world’s largest chemical manufacturers, and TNC, the foremost global land and water conservation organization, to develop tools and models that incorporate the value of resources provided by nature into business decisions.

    Ecosystems provide valuable services for communities and companies. Measuring the value of water, land, air, oceans, plants, and animals to a company or community is difficult, and as a result, business decisions are often made without taking natural assets into account. The Dow-TNC collaboration takes a science-based, measurable approach to help companies understand how to incorporate the value of nature into the business decision process. The ecosystem services framework has long been hailed by academics as a viable mechanism for valuing nature, but has not been practically applied – until now.

    In January 2011, Dow and TNC launched their 5-year collaboration to promote valuing ecosystem services in business decision-making. Since the launch, Dow and TNC have worked together to identify key ecosystem services that Dow relies upon as well as the environmental impacts of priority Dow manufacturing sites around the world. Scientists from TNC and Dow are working together at selected Dow pilot sites to implement and refine models that support corporate decision-making by taking into consideration the value and resources that ecosystem services provide. These sites serve as “living laboratories” where Dow and TNC are testing methods and models of ecosystem valuation so they can be used to inform more sustainable business decisions at Dow and influence the decision-making and business practices of other companies globally.

    The collaboration recently completed its first pilot at Dow’s facility in Freeport, Texas, the company’s largest manufacturing facility; and is currently in the midst of the second pilot in Santa Vitoria, Brazil. A major goal of this collaboration is to produce results and findings that are replicable and transferable to Dow’s other 135 sites. In addition, most of the methodologies, tools and results will be shared publicly with the hope that other companies, non-governmental organizations and governments can make use of them as well.

    “Valuing natural services is a critical step in protecting our environment – and one that should be replicated around the globe,” said Henry Lee, director of the Environment and Natural Resources program at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, in announcing the 2013 award winner.

    Neil Hawkins, vice president of Global EH&S and Sustainability at Dow, said “This award is recognition not only of this unique collaboration, but truly a win for sustainable business. We hope to incorporate the value of nature into decision-making – not only at Dow but also across the broader business community, inspiring others to invest in nature as well.”

    “Our collaboration shows how companies and public-interest organizations can work together to make economic growth a force for conservation," said Glenn Prickett, chief external affairs officer for The Nature Conservancy.  “By studying the value of nature and incorporating it in business decisions, the private sector can become a powerful agent not only for economic development, but for conserving the healthy lands and waters on which our economy depends.”


    Belfer Center Coverage

    Watch the panel video on the Belfer Center's YouTube channel

    Dow Chemical Company and Nature Conservancy Win 2013 Roy Family Award for Environmental Partnership


    External Coverage

    Putting a Price on Nature, Harvard Gazette

    Dow Chemical-Nature Conservancy Collaboration Honored, e! Science News

    The Economics of Ecosystems, Sense and Sustainability blog

  • 2011: Refrigerants, Naturally!

    In 2011, ENRP awarded the Roy Family Award to Refrigerants, Naturally!, a  unique global initiative of companies committed to combating climate change and ozone layer depletion by substituting harmful fluorinated gases ("F-gases", such as CFCs, HCFCs and HFCs) with natural refrigerants.

    Since Refrigerants, Naturally! received the Roy Family Award for Environmental Partnership in 2011, the partners have continued their efforts to provide HFC-free cooling equipment in Europe, the US, and around the world. Unilever, for example, has rolled out more than one million HFC-free ice cream cabinets. Coca Cola remains committed to their goal of going HFC-free in all new equipment by 2015 and at the London Olympics already every single one of Coca Cola’s 3,130 vending and cooling units are HFC-free, most of them using CO2 technology.

    In February 2012, the US Environmental Protection Agency finally included hydrocarbon refrigerants such as propane and isobutane in their list of substitutes for ozone-depleting substances in household refrigerators and freezers – a decision Refrigerants, Naturally! had long been hoping and advocating for. Hydrocarbon refrigerants have zero ozone depletion potential (ODP) and very low global warming potential (GWP) compared to other refrigerants.

    Partner companies are Unilever, McDonald’s, The Coca Cola Company, Pepsico, and Red Bull, which joined in 2011. UNEP and Greenpeace are supporting partners. Several companies have expressed interest in committing to an HFC-free future and participating in the partnership. The members are optimistic that their number will continue to grow.

    In November 2010, the Board of the Consumer Goods Forum has agreed on a resolution and action plan to mobilize resources within their respective  businesses to begin phasing out HFC refrigerants by 2015, and replace them with non-HFC refrigerants (natural refrigerant alternatives) where these are legally allowed and available for new purchases of point-of-sale units and large refrigeration installations. Since then, the CGF Member companies have made steady progress. To help deliver continued momentum in fulfilment of the Board Refrigeration resolution, the 2nd CGF Sustainable Refrigeration Summit was held in Atlanta on September 28th 2011. At the Summit were 110 attendees, representing equipment suppliers, retailers, other CPG companies, customers, and NGO partners. A total of 45 companies representing geographical diversity (Asia, North America, Europe, and Latin America) were in attendance. At this summit, they identified common challenges to implementing this commitment and discussed ways to overcome these challenges. Read more about the project at the Refrigerants, Naturally! website

    Individuals in photo from left to right: Else Krueck (Director Environment & CSR, McDonald's Europe), Bernard Morauw (Senior Director of Worldwide Equipment, McDonald’s), Emad Jafa (Pepsico), Bob Langert (Vice President for Corporate Social Responsibility, McDonald’s), Professor Henry Lee (HKS), Antoine Azar (Global Program Manager, The Coca Cola Company), Amy Larkin (Director, Greenpeace Solutions), Rajendra Shende (Head of OzonAction, United Nations Environment Programme), David Lustig (Vice President for Global External Affairs, Unilever), Bryan Jacob (Director of Energy Management & Climate Protection, The Coca Cola Company), Jeff Seabright (Vice President for Environment and Water Resources, The Coca-Cola Company), Ellen Roy Hertzfelder (Representative of the Roy family)

    Individuals in photo from left to right: Professor Henry Lee (HKS), Amy Larkin (Director, Greenpeace Solutions), David Lustig (Vice President for External Affairs, Unilever), Jeff Seabright (The Coca-Cola Company), Rajendra Shende (United Nations Environment Programme), Ellen Roy Hertzfelder (Representative of the Roy family)


    Belfer Center Coverage


    External Coverage

  • 2009: Mexico City Metrobus

    In 2009, the Roy Family Award was given to the Mexico City Metrobus, a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system that reduces air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, while improving the quality of life and transportation options in one of the largest cities in the world. The Metrobus system is a result of a partnership launched by EMBARQ - The World Resources Institute Center for Sustainable Transport - with assistance from CEIBA (a Mexican NGO) and the Mexico City government and with funding and support from the Shell Foundation, Caterpillar Foundation, Hewlett Foundation, and the World Bank. Through this collaboration, EMBARQ, CEIBA and Mexico City established the Center for Sustainable Transport in Mexico, now known as EMBARQ Mexico, the not-for-profit organization that has provided ongoing technical assistance to the Metrobus system from its inception through its expansion.

    The Metrobus system has expanded rapidly in recent years, from 20 kilometers in 2005 to 95 kilometers in 2012. In April 2012, the system expanded even further: it opened Line 4, which runs through the historic downtown neighborhood of the city and extends to the airport. As of 2012, the Metrobus system served 760,000 passengers per day.

    Read more at the Metrobus website

    Individuals in photo from left to right: Professor Henry Lee (HKS), Alexis Mariani (Sr. Climate Change Specialist, Global Environment Facility), Ellen Roy Hertzfelder (Representative of the Roy family), Nancy Kete (Director, EMBARQ – The World Resources Institute Center for Sustainable Transportation), Adriana Lobo (Executive Director, Center for Sustainable Transport in Mexico), Chris West (Director, Shell Foundation), Dean David Ellwood (HKS), Marcelo Ebrard (Mayor of Mexico City), Alejandro Villegas (Program Officer, Hewlett Foundation), Guillermo Calderon (Director General for the Metrobus)

    Individuals in photo from left to right: Marcelo Ebrard (Mayor of Mexico City), Dean David Ellwood (HKS)


    Belfer Center Coverage


    External Coverage


    Articles in Spanish

  • 2007: Hybrid Systems for Rural Electrification in Africa

    In 2007, ENRP awarded the Roy Family Award to the Hybrid Systems for Rural Electrification in Africa (HSREA), a collaboration among Energiebau Solarstromsysteme, a German solartechnology provider; InWEnt- Capacity Building International, Germany, a non-profit organization with expertise in human resources development, and their African colleagues at Kakute Limited, a technology training company in Tanzania; RENERG Ghana; and the Vincentian Sisters in Mbinga, Tanzania. The HSREA Project provides reliable, renewable electricity to rural African villages through a system of solar panel technology combined with modified diesel motors running on pure plant oil from the plentiful jatropha nut.

    After being awarded with the Roy Family Award 2007, the project team composed of InWEnt – Capacity Building International, Germany (now: GIZ - Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH) and Energiebau Solarstromsysteme, Cologne/Germany together with its main partner Kakute Ltd. Arusha/Tanzania intensified the capacity building activities in Ghana, Mali, and Tanzania.

    It implemented training courses in Ghana, Mali, and Tanzania to enhance the local capacities for optimized jatropha cultivation. As part of the regional outreach, a special training in Tanzania was also offered for experts from Ethiopia. Besides this, two motor trainings for multi-fuel generators were carried out in Cologne/Germany to ensure proper operation of the installed hybrid-systems.

    In order to underpin the relevance of jatropha in general and specially of hybrid-systems combining photovoltaic systems with refitted generators running on straight vegetable oil from the jatropha nuts, a regional “Dialogue Forum on Biofuels for Poverty Alleviation” was carried out in December 2008 in cooperation with UNEP-DTIE and FAO, bringing together representatives from the relevant ministries for rural and social development, research institutes and NGOs from Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Ruanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. The reason for focusing poverty alleviation on the political level was that more and more African countries were confronted with an international hype caused by the search for alternatives to fossil fuels. They experienced increasing pressure to convert arable land into plantations for export-oriented production of oil seeds – among others jatropha – without having defined their own biofuel policies. The forum therefore came up with recommendations on how to shape such policies.

    Under such circumstances, the approach to use straight vegetable jatropha oil for fueling off-grid power systems in rural areas is still innovative but has also to compete with diesel generators that are cheaper in the short run than hybrid-systems, but are inefficient and extend the dependence on fossil fuels.

    A promising program is now developed in Zimbabwe using the HSREA approach and its network: The NGO Environment Africa is engaged in a project working on three pillars: policy development, research and, community development. The aim of the last is to assist community groups in setting up small businesses on processing of the seed for production of oil for soap making and energy. This also involves setting up a hybrid system. Two oil milling plants in Mudzi and Mutoko districts have been developed yet. The installation of the hybrid-system is scheduled for next year.

    Read More: Role of Hybrid-Systems in Rural Electrification – Experiences from pilot projects in Africa

    Individuals in photo from left to right – Back Row: Marko Schmitt (Projects Worldwide, Energiebau), Bernd Wolff (Project Manager, Energiebau), Michael Funcke-Bartz (Senior Project Manager, InWent, Achim Steiner (Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme), Bernd Schleich (Managing Director, InWent)

    Front Row: Livinus Manyanga (Director, Kakute, Ltd. Tanzania), Sister Kaja Peric (Vincentian Sisters from Mbinga, Tanzania), Richard Aburgi (RENERG Ghana)

    Individuals in photo from left to right - Back Row: Richard Aburgi (RENERG Ghana), Michael Funcke-Bartz (Senior Project Manager, InWent), Sister Kaja Peric (Vincentian Sisters from Mbinga, Tanzania), Michael Schäfer (Managing Director, Energiebau), Livinus Manyanga (Director, Kakute, Ltd. Tanzania), Bernd Schleich (Managing Director, InWent), Professor Henry Lee (HKS)

    Front Row: Ellen Roy Hertzfelder (Representative of the Roy family), Bernd Wolff (Project Manager, Energiebau), Dean David Ellwood (HKS)


    Belfer Center Coverage


    External Coverage

  • 2005: FedEx-Environmental Defense Future Vehicle Project

    In 2005, ENRP awarded the Roy Family Award to the FedEx-Environmental Defense Future Vehicle Project, in which FedEx committed to make the hybrid truck its standard replacement vehicle for its fleet of 30,000 medium duty delivery trucks if emissions, performance, and cost goals were met.  While the economics of the hybrid truck and more viable alternative options such as smaller trucks meant that FedEx did not replace all of its trucks with hybrids, as of 2012 it had 330 hybrid-electric delivery vehicles and a total of 1,869 alternative-fuel vehicles in its fleet.  The project was a catalyst for bringing hybrids to the truck marketplace.

    Individuals in photo from left to right: James Sweetnam (Senior Vice President, Eaton Corporation), David Bronczek (President and CEO, FedEx Express), Ellen Roy Hertzfelder (Representative of the Roy family), Fred Krupp (President, Environmental Defense Fund), Professor Stephen Walt (HKS), Professor Henry Lee (HKS)

    Individuals in photo from left to right: Professor Stephen Walt (HKS), David Bronczek (President and CEO, FedEx Express), Fred Krupp (President, Environmental Defense Fund), James Sweetnam (Senior Vice President, Eaton Corporation)


    Belfer Center Coverage


    External Coverage

  • 2003: Noel Kempff Climate Action Project

    Located in the northeast of Bolivia, the Noel Kempff Climate Action Project (NK-CAP) preserves the rich and biologically diverse ecosystems of Noel Kempff Mercado National Park. The Noel Kempff Mercado National Park is located in one of the few areas in South America where several different ecosystems converge: the evergreen forest of the highlands, the cerrado’s savannas, the savanna’s wetlands, and the forest’s wetlands.  In 1997, when 832,000 hectares of tropical forest adjacent to the park were threatened with timber harvesting and deforestation, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and Bolivian conservation organization Fundación Amigos de la Naturaleza (FAN) created the NK-CAP. Together with the Bolivian government and three energy companies, the partners terminated the logging rights and the land was incorporated into the national park. Then the project partners launched a rigorous scientific program to measure the carbon stored in the project area and the carbon emissions avoided by the project.

    In its 15 year existence, the Noel Kempff Climate Action Project has achieved the following results:

    • It considerably expanded biodiversity protection in Bolivia.
    • It preserved a rich and biologically diverse forest ecosystem.
    • It was included in the UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites.
    • It avoided 1,034,107 tons CO2 emissions, which would have been caused by logging and deforestation between 1997 and 2005.
    • It guaranteed the long-term projection of Noel Kempff Mercado National Park.
    • It contributed substantially to the empowerment of the indigenous communities in Bajo Paraguá and to community development, in particular.
    • It supported indigenous communities to achieve legal status as "Communities of Native Peoples" and to apply for official recognition of their land title.
    • It provided alternative, environmentally sustainable economic opportunities for the local population.

    In November 2005, an internationally accredited certifier evaluated and certified the Noel Kempff Climate Action Project design and its emissions reductions. It was the first forest emissions reductions project to be fully certified using rigorous standards based on those used in the Clean Development Mechanism. The Noel Kempff project provided an excellent working example of how carbon sequestered in the living biomass of forests, and emissions reductions achieved through forest conservation, can be scientifically quantified, monitored and certified, and also generate benefits for biodiversity and local communities.

    Due to the current position of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, which is opposed to carbon markets, the project is analyzing opportunities and scenarios to adjust to the Bolivian policies regarding the climate change regime, and to continue generating benefits to biodiversity conservation and local communities in the Noel Kempff Mercado National Park.


    Belfer Center Coverage


    External Coverage

The Environment and Natural Resources Program (ENRP) offers a variety of research and funding opportunities for Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) and Harvard College students, including paid research assistant roles, policy analysis exercise grants, internship funding, and research fellowships.

Sign up for our emails to keep up to date with opportunities for engagement with ENRP. 

Research Assistants

Our Research Assistant (RA) positions are open to actively enrolled HKS students. RAs are deeply and substantively involved in the operation and success of ENRP’s research projects and efforts. They conduct collaborative and independent research under the guidance of ENRP Faculty and Senior Fellows. Specific roles, tasks, and experiences vary depending on the Program’s needs and RAs’ skills. New positions are announced as they open - see below for current opportunities.
 

Roy Family Fellowship

Through the generous support of the Roy Family Student Support Fund, this fellowship provides full tuition for two years for incoming MPP, MPA, or MPA/ID candidates. 

  • Eligibility

    Both domestic and international students are eligible to apply.

    Successful applicants will:

    • Have a demonstrated interest in environmental and energy issues, either through public or private sector work experience or through related entrepreneurial experience as an undergraduate; preference will be given to candidates with a demonstrated interest in public-private partnerships and market-oriented solutions to realize environmental or energy goals.
    • Make a strong case that they intend to focus their studies at the HKS on environment or energy issues. Roy Family Fellows will consult with ENRP faculty to ensure that their curriculum choices will advance their understanding of and ability to contribute to environmental policy.
  • Selection Criteria

    Fellows will be selected based on outstanding merit from among the applicants who meet all relevant HKS admissions criteria. Two-year degree program students will receive funding for both academic years, so long as the recipients remain in good academic standing and enroll in a program of courses relevant to environment and energy issues.

  • Application Instructions

    Instructions on how to apply can be found on the HKS Student Financial Services Office website

Crump Fellowship

Administered by the Environment and Natural Resources Program, the Joseph Crump Fellowship supports a Harvard PhD candidate conducting research on the environment, natural resource management, energy policy, or the intersection between energy and the environment. The Joseph Crump fellow is expected to be involved with one or more ongoing research projects within the sponsoring HKS center/program and to write at least one publishable paper in the area of energy, environment, or natural resource policy. 

All Harvard PhD candidates in good standing may apply; preference is given to HKS PhD students.

  • Application Instructions

    Applications will be accepted starting February 16, 2024.

    The application deadline for the 2024-2025 fellowship is June 7, 2024.

    Application Process: Students should submit, by email, an application that contains:

    • A one-page cover letter summarizing why this opportunity will benefit them.
    • A research proposal, including title, description, and high-level budget (2 pages maximum).
    • Curriculum vitae.
    • Recommendation letter from a member of the Harvard faculty with whom the applicant has discussed this proposal.
    • A list of other sources, if any, approached for funding.

    Please submit applications via email to enrp@hks.harvard.edu, with the subject line "Crump Fellowship Application."

    For more information on the Crump Fellowship, please email enrp@hks.harvard.edu

Vicki Norberg-Bohm Fellowship

Established to support Harvard Kennedy School PhD candidates conducting exploratory research on energy, environmental, or science and technology policy, the Vicki Norberg-Bohm Fellowship is designed to expose doctoral students to a wide range of scholarship and research approaches in their first three years of their program – as they are exploring and refining a dissertation topic.

Awardees will receive between $5,000-$10,000. The award can be used for a variety of activities including support for collaboration with other researchers with limited funds for PhD student participants. Prior awards provided funds for data access, to conduct field work, attend conferences, learn a foreign language in a host country, or visit research-relevant scholars, practitioners, and institutions. No tuition support may be covered by this award. For a list of past recipients of the award click here.

  • Eligibility

    We welcome from students enrolled in any of the Harvard Kennedy School's doctoral programs. Students in their first three years of their program are eligible, but preference is given to year 1 and year 2 students.

  • Expectations

    Awardees will be expected to produce a working paper or report on the research experience and may be asked to present at an HKS seminar. 

  • Application Instructions

    Applications will be accepted starting February 16, 2024.

    The application deadline for the 2024-2025 fellowship is April 19, 2024.

    Application Process: Students should submit, by email, an application that contains:

    • A one-page cover letter summarizing why this opportunity will benefit them.
    • A research proposal, including title, description, and high-level budget (2 pages maximum).
    • Curriculum vitae.
    • A list of other sources, if any, approached for funding.

    Please submit applications via email to enrp@hks.harvard.edu, with the subject line "Vicki Norberg-Bohm Fellowship Application."

    For questions regarding the Norberg-Bohm Fellowship, please email enrp@hks.harvard.edu

  • Selection Process

    Applicants will be assessed on the quality of their proposed research and the intellectual rigor and relevance to the student's previous work.

  • About Dr. Vicki Norberg-Bohm

    Dr. Vicki Norberg-Bohm's work focused on understanding the process of technological change and the role of public policy for stimulating innovation and diffusion of environment-enhancing technologies. Her research resulted in expanded interest in the field of technology innovation for sustainable development. She completed her PhD in Public Policy at Harvard in 1996. Dr. Norberg-Bohm then went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she was Assistant Professor in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning and Co-Director of the Program on Environmental Research and Education from 1994 to 1999. She returned to Harvard in 1999 to direct the Energy Technology Innovation Policy (ETIP) Project from 1999 until 2003. She passed away in 2004.

Roy Family Environmental Summer Internship Funding (Harvard College Students)

The Roy Family Environmental Summer Internship Program allows returning Harvard College students to craft their own internship for a public, private, or non-profit organization anywhere in the world.

Award recipients will be chosen based on the merit of their projects. Each Roy Family Summer Internship award provides up to $7,000 for the summer.

Applications will be accepted starting March 1, 2024. The deadline to apply for Summer 2024 funding is March 22nd, 2024, at 11:59pm EST.

Please email applications to enrp@hks.harvard.edu, with the subject line "Roy Family Environmental Summer Internship Funding." 

Any questions should be addressed to enrp@hks.harvard.edu.

  • Who is eligible?

    Harvard College students who have completed two semesters of course work and is returning to the college for the coming fall semester. You must be a returning student to apply. Not open to May 2024 graduates.

  • What type of work will be supported?

    The work must focus on a topic that relates to environment, climate, energy, sustainability or natural resources, and it must be conducted under the direct auspices of a public, private or non-profit organization anywhere in the world. The work can involve research, or implementing or managing programs or projects. The work does not have to be with an environmental or energy organization , nor does it have to focus exclusively on environment or energy topics. For example, a project with a local planning board that involves working on climate or environment-related issues would be eligible. Students must negotiate their project and/or responsibilities with an eligible organization, which must agree in writing to employ the student for a minimum of ten weeks between the end of the spring semester and the beginning of the fall semester. The work conducted under this internship should be of direct benefit to the selected organization and the work should further the student's education. It is the student's responsibility to identify their potential employers and negotiate the arrangement.

  • What are the employing organization's responsibilities?

    The organization must agree to provide the student with supervision and direction. If the internship is in-person, the organization must provide workspace and office resources.

  • When must the internship take place?

    The student must work a minimum of ten weeks between the end of the spring semester and the beginning of the fall semester to receive the full stipend. How the student schedules the time is up to the student and the employer. Students may work less than 10 weeks, but the stipend will be pro-rated. 

  • How will the recipients be selected?

    Students should submit a written application that contains:

    1. A short description of the organization and the proposed project.
    2. A one-page statement summarizing why this opportunity will benefit both you and the organization.
    3. A letter from the employing organization agreeing to the arrangement and the responsibilities outlined above.
    4. A recommendation letter from a member of Harvard University.
    5. Your resume.

    A committee of faculty and staff will review the applications and select the recipients. The committee will weigh the merits of the proposed project, the qualifications of the applicant, and the employing organization's ability to pay. Preference will be given to internship offers from organizations that would be otherwise unable to pay an intern.

  • Past Recipients

    2021 Harvard College Recipients

    • Ang Sonam Sherpa, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE)
    • Lisa Wang, Prime Impact Fund 

    2020 Harvard College Recipients

    • Charlotte Dyvik Henke, Center for International Climate Research (CICERO)
    • Joseph Winters, Grist Magazine
    • Skylah Reis, Buzzard's Bay Coalition 

Future of Hydrogen 

To accelerate the global transition to a low-carbon economy, all energy systems and sectors must be actively decarbonized. While hydrogen has been a staple in the energy and chemical industries for decades, hydrogen from zero-carbon and renewable energy sources is drawing attention as a versatile and sustainable energy carrier with the potential to play an important role in the carbon-free energy system.

As governments and corporations become increasingly committed to address climate change and reduce emissions, they are placing greater emphasis on the deep decarbonization of energy-intensive “hard-to-abate” sectors, such as iron and steel production, high-temperature industrial heat, aviation, shipping, and long-distance road transportation. These are areas where shifting to electricity as the preferred energy vector while decarbonizing its production may not be immediately feasible. However, adoption of “green” hydrogen at scale will depend on more than just its environmental benefits; economic, policy, technological, and safety factors must also be addressed.

Our ongoing research, targeting the upcoming G20 meeting and beyond, explores the implications of adopting renewable hydrogen at scale on the roles nations might play in a future global hydrogen market – and hydrogen’s impact on overall energy systems, value chains, and sectors. Challenges include transportation costs and infrastructure deployment at scale. We have specifically focused on China and the EU thus far; and we intend to use the same analytical framework to assess the potential of renewable hydrogen in India and Japan.

Mission Hydrogen: A policy brief series in collaboration with the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI) on the future of hydrogen - and the economic impacts and geopolitical repercussions of a global hydrogen system.  

Research: 

Events:

Contact

For general program information and inquiries, please email Paul Sherman (paul_sherman@hks.harvard.edu). 

Our team of faculty and both resident and non-resident fellows are available for speaking engagements, panel discussions, and interviews upon request. Please email Elizabeth Hanlon (ehanlon@hks_harvard.edu). 

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