Policy Briefs & Testimonies

5 Items

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Testimony

The Political Economy of Banking Union and Finance in Europe

| Dec. 02, 2013

The Albert H. Gordon Lecture focuses on the fields of finance and public policy with special attention to the internationalization of finance. This year’s fall 2013 Gordon lecturer was Lucas Papademos. Lucas Papademos served as prime minister of Greece from 2011 to 2012, leading a government of national unity during the most difficult phase of the Greek debt and economic crisis. Previously, he was vice president of the European Central Bank (2002–2010) and governor of the Bank of Greece (1994–2002). The lecture titled, The Political Economy of Banking Union and Finance in Europe was presented on December 2, 2013.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, center, upon his arrival in Bangalore, India, Dec. 4, 2010. Sarkozy arrived on a 4-day visit to sign agreements to set up nuclear power plants in India and jointly develop satellites to study climate change.

AP Photo

Policy Brief - Harvard Project on Climate Agreements, Belfer Center

Towards a Breakthrough for Deadlocked Climate Change Negotiations

    Author:
  • Akihiro Sawa
| December 2010

With regard to developing a new international framework, developed countries should acknowledge how grave the consequences would be to easily give in to a Kyoto extension. Merely extending the Kyoto Protocol would surely delay mitigation actions on the part of developing countries and discourage the U.S. from making serious efforts to reduce its large energy consumption. In other words, no country should end up being a "climate-killer" in its attempts to avoid being called a "Kyoto-killer."

A Chinese resident looks at a solar panel in a residential area in Nanjing, Dec. 1, 2009. Solar energy supplies heating and hot water to as many as 150 million Chinese.

AP Photo

Policy Brief - Harvard Project on Climate Agreements, Belfer Center

Climate Finance: Key Concepts and Ways Forward

    Authors:
  • Richard B. Stewart
  • Benedict Kingsbury
  • Bryce Rudyk
| December 2, 2009

Climate finance is fundamental to curbing anthropogenic climate change. Compared, however, to the negotiations over emissions reduction timetables, commitments, and architectures, climate finance issues have received only limited and belated attention. Assuring delivery and appropriate use of the financial resources needed to achieve emissions reductions and secure adaptation to climate change, particularly in developing countries, is as vital as agreement on emission caps. Yet, a comprehensive framework on financing for mitigation and adaptation is not in sight. Developed and developing countries cannot agree on even the fundamentals of what should be included (e.g. should private finance through carbon markets be included?), let alone the level and terms of financing commitments, regulatory and other mechanisms, or governance structures.

Policy Brief - Harvard Project on Climate Agreements, Belfer Center

Climate Finance

    Author:
  • The Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements
| November 2009

The finance of climate mitigation and adaptation in developing countries represents a key challenge in the negotiations on a post-2012 international climate agreement. Finance mechanisms are important because stabilizing the climate will require significant emissions reductions in both the developed and the developing worlds, and therefore large-scale investments in energy infrastructure. The current state of climate finance has been criticized for its insufficient scale, relatively low share of private-sector investment, and insufficient institutional framework. This policy brief presents options for improving and expanding climate finance.