ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS
June 3, 2008
Post-2012 International Policy Architecture for Global Climate Change International Workshop
Agenda
The International Workshop on "Post-2012 International Policy Architecture for Global Climate Change" was organized by the Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements, the International Centre on Climate Governance (a joint initiative of the Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei and the Fondazione Giorgio Cini) and the Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Climate Change.
The workshop was held in Venice on May 14–16, 2008, and took place in the magnificent setting of the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, a celebrated monastery located on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore facing Saint Mark's Square. Participation in the workshop was by invitation only.
The workshop was structured as follows. On May 15th, a one-day academic workshop presented preliminary results of work in progress from the Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements. This will be useful to obtain feedback from colleagues on research-in-progress and exchange ideas about international climate change policy.
On May 16th, a stakeholders meeting provided leaders from business, environmental advocacy, and government an opportunity to engage in a discussion about international climate change policy with one another and with academic experts. The main results of the academic workshop were presented at the beginning of the stakeholder workshop on May 16th.
May 2008
Climate Change: Expert Opinion on the Economics of Policy Options to Address Climate Change
Report
By U.S. Government Accountability Office, Joseph Aldy, Co-Director, Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements and Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board
"...GAO was asked to elicit the opinions of experts on (1) actions the Congress might consider to address climate change and what is known about the potential benefits, costs, and uncertainties of these actions and (2) the key strengths and limitations of policies or actions to address climate change. GAO worked with the National Academy of Sciences to identify a panel of noted economists with expertise in analyzing the economic impacts of climate change policies and gathered their opinions through iterative, Web-based questionnaires. The findings reported here represent the views of the 18 economists who responded to both questionnaires."
Two of the 18 economists who participated were Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements Co-Directors Joseph Aldy and Robert Stavins. In addition, two other participating economists, James Edmonds of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and William Pizer of Resources for the Future, are members of Harvard Project research teams.
May 7, 2008
"Economic Incentives in a New Climate Agreement"
Paper
By Joseph Aldy, Co-Director, Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements and Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board
The Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements has agreed to help the Office of the Danish Prime Minister, in its role as incoming President of the 2009 Conference of the Parties, to prepare background papers and on-site briefings for a series of very high-level dialogues on climate change policy, hosted by the Prime Minister. These dialogues will each include about 25 participants, including CEOs of European and U.S. corporations, key officials from national governments and intergovernmental organizations, and leaders of major environmental NGOs. This paper on the subject of economic incentives was prepared by the Harvard Project leadership for the first dialogue.
May / June 2008
"Climate Policy Architectures for the Post-Kyoto World"
Journal Article, Environment, issue 3, volume 50
By Joseph Aldy, Co-Director, Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements and Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board
"The global climate has changed and will continue to change as a result of greenhouse gas emissions from a broad variety of human activities. In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change determined that 'most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations.' If greenhouse gas emissions continue to grow unabated, the global average temperature will likely increase between 1.1°C and 6.4°C. This warming will unleash a myriad of impacts, the vast majority of which will adversely affect water availability, agricultural and forestry productivity, the spread of infectious diseases, extreme weather events, unique ecosystems and rare species, and the built environment in coastal areas. The risks of global climate change clearly necessitate an international effort."
April 14, 2008
"Addressing Global Climate Change with a Comprehensive U.S. Cap-and-Trade System"
Discussion Paper
By Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board
There is a growing impetus for a domestic U.S. climate policy that can provide meaningful reductions in emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. The paper describes and analyzes an up-stream, economy-wide CO2 cap-and-trade system which implements a gradual trajectory of emissions reductions (with inclusion over time of non-CO2 greenhouse gases), and includes mechanisms to reduce cost uncertainty.
March 20, 2008
"Workshop Ponders: Post-Kyoto, What Next?"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, Harvard Gazette
By Sasha Talcott, Director of Communications and Outreach
"The project is examining ideas that are similar to Kyoto’s top-down approach, though stronger, as well as approaches that are substantially different. Key ideas in play range from indexing emissions targets to economic growth, to bottom-up approaches, such as linking together the actions of a number of countries. One of the project’s key goals is to persuade the countries of the world not only to look at ideas similar to the Kyoto Protocol, but also to look at ideas that are very different in structure."
March 17, 2008
Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements Research Workshop
News
The Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements hosted a research workshop in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on March 13–14, 2008. The workshop brought together key scholars and other thinkers working on international climate change policy from a variety of disciplines, including economics, political science, and law. Together, they addressed issues such as how to persuade developing countries — among them China and India — to sign on to an international agreement, how to link climate policy with international trade, and how to effectively address deforestation, which accounts for 20 percent of global emissions. Attendees presented their initial research findings and got feedback on their ideas. The workshop was preceded by a reception and dinner at the Harvard Faculty Club, which featured Todd Stern, a partner at the law firm WilmerHale, as a keynote speaker. The final drafts of the research will be published in early fall 2008.
March 16, 2008
"State Fight Against Climate Change Benefits Everyone"
Op-Ed, Sacramento Bee
By Lawrence Goulder and Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board
"Because a cap-and-trade system would reduce California's overall greenhouse gas emissions, it would also lower the state's emissions of the co-pollutants. Still, it's possible, though unlikely, that co-pollutant emissions would increase in a particular locality. But here it's crucial to recognize that existing air pollution laws address such pollutants, and so any greenhouse gas allowance trades that would violate local air pollution limits would be prohibited."
February 2008
"Giving Green to Get Green: Incentives and Consumer Adoption of Hybrid Vehicle Technology"
Working Paper
By Kelly Sims Gallagher, Director, Energy Technology Innovation Policy and Erich Muehlegger
Federal, state and local governments use a variety of incentives to induce consumer adoption of hybrid-electric vehicles. The authors study the relative efficacy of state sales tax waivers, income tax credits and non-tax incentives and find that the type of tax incentive offered is as important as the value of the tax incentive.
January 22, 2008
Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements Research Paper Competition
Announcement
The Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements invites submission of papers focused on the design of international climate policy architectures. Papers should propose a complete policy framework to succeed the Kyoto Protocol in the post-2012 period.
