The Harvard Project Presence at COP-20

The Harvard Project on Climate Agreements cohosted two official side-events at the Twentieth Conference of the Parties (COP-20) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which was held in Lima, Peru, in December 2014. In addition, Project Director Robert N. Stavins was a panelist at two other events at COP-20.

The Harvard Project kicked off its participation on December 8 with "Implications of the Energy-efficiency Gap for Reducing Greenhouse-gas Emissions"—a side event co-hosted with the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) and the Enel Foundation.

Panelists discussed the "energy-efficiency gap"—the apparent gap, suggested by research, between the rate at which energy-efficient technologies are actually adopted and the rate at which scholars and policymakers expect them to be adopted, based on expected private financial returns to investment in these technologies. As energy efficiency is often put forward as an important approach to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, an understanding of the energy-efficiency gap is relevant to climate-change policy.

Presentations were based in part on a Harvard Project Discussion Paper—"An Assessment of the Energy-Efficiency Gap and its Implications for Climate-Change Policy"—co-authored by Todd Gerarden (Public Policy Ph.D. student, Harvard Kennedy School), Richard Newell (Director, Duke University Energy Initiative), Robert Stavins, and Robert Stowe (Executive Director, Harvard Environmental Economics Program).

The panelists were:

• Daniele Agostini, Head of Low Carbon Policies and Carbon Regulation, Enel Group;
• Andreas Löschel, Chair of Microeconomics, and Energy and Resource Economics, University of Münster; and Research Associate, ZEW;
• Richard Newell, Gendell Professor of Energy and Environmental Economics, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University; and Director, Duke University Energy Initiative;
• Robert Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; and Director, Harvard Project on Climate Agreements;
• Jesus Tamayo Pacheco, President of the Supervisory Body for Investment in Energy and Mines of Peru.

Links to presentations for some speakers' presentations on energy efficiency are at the bottom of this web page.

The International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), Arizona State University, and the Harvard Project cohosted a side-event focused on "Linkage among Climate Policies in the 2015 Paris Agreement" on December 11.

Panelists discussed how the new international agreement to be concluded in Paris, in December 2015 at COP-21, might either facilitate or impede linkage—not only among cap-and-trade systems, but among cap-and-trade, carbon tax, and non-market regulatory systems. Linkage has the potential to increase the cost-effectiveness, political feasibility, and environmental effectiveness of regional, national, and subnational climate policies.

Presentations were based in part on another Harvard Project Discussion Paper, which was prepared with the support of—and in collaboration with—IETA: "Facilitating Linkage of Heterogeneous Regional, National, and Sub-National Climate Policies Through a Future International Agreement.” This paper was co-authored by Daniel Bodansky (Foundation Professor of Law, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University), Seth Hoedl (J.D. student, Harvard Law School), Gilbert Metcalf (Professor of Economics, Tufts University), and Robert Stavins.

The panelists were:

• Hanna-Mari Ahonen, Transaction Manager, Swedish Energy Agency;
• Daniel Bodansky, Foundation Professor of Law, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University;
• Dirk Forrister, President & CEO, International Emissions Trading Association;
• Nathaniel Keohane, Vice President for International Climate, Environmental Defense Fund;
• Kelly Kizzier, Policy Advisor, International Carbon Markets, Directorate for Climate Action, European Commission;
• Robert Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; and Director, Harvard Project on Climate Agreements.

Links to presentations for some speakers' presentations on linkage are at the bottom of this web page.

IETA hosted a separate panel event on December 9 at the Association's pavilion, which examined market mechanisms in the 2015 Paris agreement; Project Director Robert Stavins served as a panelist.

Harvard Project Director Robert Stavins participated in "International Cooperation: Towards the 2015 Agreement—A Perspective from International Think Tanks"—a panel devoted to China-U.S. cooperation on combating climate change. This December 9 event was hosted by the National Development and Reform Commission of the Government of the People's Republic of China.

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) covered the event and wrote:

"Robert Stavins, Harvard University, presented on the origins and significance of the recent China-US bilateral announcement, observing that true cooperation results from focusing not on 'what makes us different', but on 'what we share.' On the commonalities, he listed similar annual CO2 emissions, having huge coal and gas reserves with their resultant impacts on health, and having sub-national cap-and-trade policies. Stavins noted a foundation in the context of the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) as the most significant factor in the collaboration."

The panelists were:

• Xie Zhenhua, Vice-Chairman, National Development and Reform Commission; Head of Chinese Delegation to the COP-20;
• Li Junfeng, Director General, National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation.
• Jennifer Morgan, Global Director, Climate Program, World Resources Institute;
• Teresa Rebera, President, Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI);
• Robert Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; and Director, Harvard Project on Climate Agreements;
• Nicholas Stern, IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government; Chairman, Grantham Research Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science;
• Zhou Dadi, Former President, Energy Research Institute, National Development and Reform Commission; Member of National Committee of Experts on Climate Change;
• Zou Ji, Deputy Director General, National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation.