The important work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is receiving worldwide attention following the recent release of the Panel's Fifth Assessment Report (AR5). The Report has been prepared by hundreds of experts over the last four years; it reviews and assesses the most advanced research on climate change and summarizes it for policy makers around the world. The IPCC's assessment reports are considered the benchmark for scientific understanding of climate change.

The Harvard Project on Climate Agreements co-hosted an official side-event panel at the Nineteenth Conference of the Parties (COP-19) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Warsaw, Poland. The event, held on November 20, 2013, was titled "Identifying Options for a New Climate Regime Arising from the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action."

The Harvard Project on Climate Agreements hosted an official side event at the Nineteenth Conference of the Parties (COP-19) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Warsaw, Poland on November 18, 2013. The event was titled "Linkage: A Promising Approach to Achieving the Goals of the Durban Platform."

The Harvard Project co-sponsored a research workshop in May 2013 examining options for the UNFCCC's Durban-Platform process. This Issue Brief draws from and extends the discussion at the workshop.

Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), visited the Harvard Kennedy School on September 27, 2013. The Harvard Project on Climate Agreements hosted Ms. Figueres, who met with Kennedy-School students, Harvard-College undergraduates, and faculty. She also held an open meeting attended by approximately 120 students from Boston-area universities. Her public address, entitled "The Good News on Climate Change," explored the potential of technological innovation to reduce the greenhouse-gas emissions that cause climate change.

In December, the member nations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change met in Doha, Qatar for the Eighteenth Conference of the Parties (COP-18) to discuss climate change on a global level. The Harvard Project on Climate Agreements co-hosted, with the government of Qatar, an event entitled "After Doha: Balancing Adaptation, Mitigation, and Economic Development."

The Harvard Project on Climate Agreements co-hosted, with the government of the State of Qatar, a special high-level event at the Eighteenth Conference of the Parties (COP-18) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Doha on December 6, 2012. The event was titled "After Doha: Balancing Adaptation, Mitigation, and Economic Development." Participants addressed, at a high level, the state of international climate regimes and prospects for progress over the next several years.

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 Harvard Project on Climate Agreements hosted, on January 10, 2012, a study tour of Chinese officials working in climate and energy policy. The tour was organized by the World Resources Institute's China office. The study tour and several members of the Harvard faculty discussed options and prospects for international policy to address global climate change.

The introduction of the U.S. SO2 allowance-trading program to address the threat of acid rain as part of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 is a landmark event in the history of environmental regulation. The program was a great success by almost all measures. Ironically, cap and trade seems especially well suited to addressing the problem of climate change, in that emitted greenhouse gases are evenly distributed throughout the world's atmosphere. Recent hostility toward cap and trade in debates about U.S. climate legislation may reflect the broader political environment of the climate debate more than the substantive merits of market-based regulation.