5 Items

Audio - Harvard Environmental Economics Program

How Politics Impacts Climate Policy: A Conversation with Gernot Wagner

| June 08, 2021

Gernot Wagner, Clinical Associate Professor at New York University and former economist at the Environmental Defense Fund, shared his thoughts on the impact of politics on climate policy in the latest episode of “Environmental Insights: Discussions on Policy and Practice from the Harvard Environmental Economics Program,” a podcast produced by the Harvard Environmental Economics Program.

Solar One power plant

NREL

Journal Article - Nature Energy

Policy Sequencing toward Decarbonization

| November 2017

Many economists have long held that carbon pricing—either through a carbon tax or cap-and-trade—is the most cost-effective way to decarbonize energy systems, along with subsidies for basic research and development. Meanwhile, green innovation and industrial policies aimed at fostering low-carbon energy technologies have proliferated widely. Most of these predate direct carbon pricing. Low-carbon leaders such as California and the European Union (EU) have followed a distinct policy sequence that helps overcome some of the political challenges facing low-carbon policy by building economic interest groups in support of decarbonization and reducing the cost of technologies required for emissions reductions. However, while politically effective, this policy pathway faces significant challenges to environmental and cost effectiveness.

Heads of State participate in the opening ceremony of the High-Level Event of COP 22, November 15, 2016.

Creative Commons

Analysis & Opinions - Foreign Affairs

Cop22 After Trump

| November 21, 2016

"...[E]ven if the impacts of a Trump slump in U.S. domestic climate action are manageable, the impact on global policy may not be. The concern here is not immediate support for new coal plants or the immediate risk of conflict; it is the way in which a weakening of international institutions might initiate a negative feedback loop played out over many years and decades."

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Analysis & Opinions - WIRED

To Help Cool the Climate, Add Aerosol

| October 5, 2016

"Of course, solar geoengineering alone cannot stabilize the climate. The world must cut carbon dioxide emissions. But solar geoengineering is unique because it can help address already committed climate change—future climate change locked in due to past emissions. Cutting carbon emissions alone will not have immediate effects, given the length of time that carbon already in the atmosphere stays there."

Analysis & Opinions - MarketWatch

Here’s a Way to Cool the Planet without Merely Reducing Emissions

| June 16, 2016

"China has initiated a limited research program on albedo modification. The U.S. has not. Given that albedo modification is the kind of technology that necessitates an open, transparent, and international research effort — precisely the kind of effort in which the U.S. excels — this is a serious failing."