In recognition of the urgency of reducing methane emissions, several voluntary international multiparty agreements and initiatives have recently been concluded to accelerate collective action and establish formal mechanisms for monitoring the implementation of methane-related commitments. While these initiatives reflect ambition on the part of public, private, and civil society actors with regard to methane, the implementation of these initiatives presents challenges for governments, emitting sectors, and other parties.

The negotiators gathering this week for the 27th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP-27) in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt will tackle a multitude of important issues, with questions relating to increased ambition and financial reparations among those at the top of the agenda. That’s the perspective offered by Ray Kopp, Senior Fellow at Resources for the Future, during 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.

The explosion of youth climate activism in recent years has focused the world’s attention on the problem like never before, but Michael Greenstone, the Milton Friedman Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, argues that young activists often err by trying to turn climate change into a moral issue rather than an environmental one. Greenstone shared his thoughts during 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

Daniel Jacob, the Vasco McCoy Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry and Environmental Engineering at Harvard, shared his perspectives on methane and its sources, transport, and measurements 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.

With so many of the nation’s environmental regulations being tested in the courts, technological solutions may be the most promising way to address climate change. That was the opinion offered by environmental lawyer Jeffrey Holmstead 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.

The post-pandemic demand for energy combined with the war in Ukraine and subsequent gas shortages have created a global energy crisis. That is the assessment offered by renowned global energy expert Daniel Yergin 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.

There will be bumps on the road as America transitions to a clean power system. That’s the assessment offered by Lori Bennear, the Juli Plant Grainger Associate Professor of Energy Economics and Policy at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University, 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.

Jonathan Wiener, the William and Thomas Perkins Professor of Law at Duke Law School, shared his insights on the prospects for federal fiscal, legislative, and regulatory instruments to positively impact climate policy in the latest episode of “Environmental Insights: Discussions on Policy and Practice from the Harvard Environmental Economics Program.” 

Orley Ashenfelter, the Joseph Douglas Green 1895 Professor of Economics at Princeton University, outlined both the positive and negative impacts of climate change on grape growing and the wine industry in the latest episode of “Environmental Insights: Discussions on Policy and Practice from the Harvard Environmental Economics Program."

Maureen Cropper, Distinguished University Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland, makes a compelling case in favor of updating the social cost of carbon in the latest episode of “Environmental Insights: Discussions on Policy and Practice from the Harvard Environmental Economics Program.”