In the 2014 joint U.S.-China climate announcement, China pledged to peak carbon emissions by 2030. Another serious pledge was then made to lower carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 60-65% from 2005 levels in its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC). This paper shows the compatibility between the non-fossil fuel share pledge and carbon intensity target and summarizes key challenges China has been facing (and will face) in scaling up non-fossil fuels as promised.

The Harvard-Tsinghua Workshop on Low-Carbon Development and Public Policy is the third annual joint workshop between the Harvard Kennedy School’s Environment and Natural Resources Program and the Sustainability Science Program and the Center for Science, Technology, and Education Policy at Tsinghua University. The workshop convened prominent members of the academic and policy communities from China and the United States at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, on June 2-3, 2016.

The three closed sessions were on: 1) Market Mechanisms to Reduce Carbon Emissions, 2) Role of Local Government in Low-Carbon Development, and 3) Energy Technology Innovation in the Transportation Sector.

In this article, the authors investigate the response of the EASM to CO2 forcing at different time scales, and untangle various dynamic and thermodynamic processes that can mediate the precipitation response to changes in boundary forcing (such as land–sea contrast, topography, and SSTs) through radiation–circulation interactions.

Building on the momentum of the agreement reached at the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the UNFCCC and Italy's intent to put forward a national program flowing from such agreements, the Environment and Natural Resources Program at the Harvard Kennedy School, Aspen Institute Italia and the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea convened a workshop in Florence, Italy on July 1, 2016 to discuss the Post-COP21 climate strategies and efforts to realize sustainable economies in Europe. The objective of the workshop was to provide a safe environment where policy makers, academics and industry leaders could come together and discuss how Europe could achieve a lower carbon energy transition. The workshop consisted of three main sessions: (1) How to achieve the EU2030 and 2050 goals; (2) how energy technology innovation can be spurred to create more options; and finally (3) what financial advances are necessary to fund these efforts. This not-for-attribution post-workshop report summarizes the highlights of the discussions, without attributing any views or comments to specific individuals.

Several fellows from different Belfer Center programs and projects described insights they’ve gained or lessons they’ve learned during their fellowships at the Center.