Harvard Project Conducts Highly Successful Side-Event at COP-18

The Harvard Project on Climate Agreements hosted an official side-event at the Eighteenth Conference of the Parties (COP-18) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Doha, Qatar on December 3, 2012. The event was titled "Market Mechanisms in a Post-Durban International Climate Regime." Participants assessed the design and potential role of "new market mechanisms" (NMM) in the Kyoto Protocol second commitment period, Copenhagen/Cancun regime, and a new arrangement arising from the Durban-Platform process. The event was co-hosted by the Enel Foundation and the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA). Speakers were:

• René Castro Salazar, Minister of Environment, Energy, and Telecommunications, Government of the Republic of Costa Rica
• David Hone, Chairman of the Board of Directors, IETA and Senior Climate Change Advisor, Shell
• Axel Michaelowa, Head of International Climate Policy Research, Center for Comparative and International Studies, University of Zurich, and Senior Founding Partner of the consultancy, Perspectives
• Simone Mori, Executive Vice President of Regulation, Environment, and Innovation, and Head of Carbon Strategy, Enel
• Robert Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government, Harvard Kennedy School, and Director of the Harvard Project

The presentations were based in part on a Harvard Project Discussion Paper by Dr. Michaelowa, "Can New Market Mechanisms Mobilize Emissions Reductions from the Private Sector?" David Hone also provided a background paper titled "Establishing a Global Carbon Market: A Discussion on Linking Various Approaches to Create a Global Market." This is attached as a PDF at the bottom of this page.

Attendance was extraordinary, relative to most side-events at COP-18. A standing-room only (and overflowing-into-the–hallway!) crowd numbered about 250. (See accompanying photo.)

The speakers' presentations, as well as David Hone's background paper, may be downloaded below.