Environment and Natural Resources

Professor of Practice Matthew Bunn gave a presentation on Transforming U.S. Energy Innovation, a volume that he co-edited, at Carnegie Mellon University.

Harvard Project on Climate Agreements Director Robert N. Stavins delivered a presentation titled "Climate Change: Efficiency and Equity," at The Graduate Institute in Geneva, Switzerland, on November 29, 2011. The talk was one in the Geneva Environmental Dialogue Series of public keynote lectures that the Institute holds annually on a theme related to the international environment. The theme for the 2011–2012 term is "Justice and the Environment."

"A Technology-Based Greenhouse Gas Reduction Strategy for 2030" was presented by Melissa Chan and Laura Diaz Anadon of the Energy Research, Development, Demonstration & Deployment (ERD3) Policy Project at the U.S. Society of Ecological Economics 2009 Conference, Washington, D.C., June 1, 2009.

Historical patterns of growth across a range of energy technologies are used to explore "scaling". Scaling is used to describe a particular form of growth that is (i) both rapid and substantive, taking into account the overall size of the energy system, and (ii) occurs at multiple levels from the technical unit and/or plant to the industry as a whole (e.g., from a wind turbine or wind farm to total installed wind capacity or manufacturing output). Scaling dynamics are assessed in historical time series data on vehicles, jet aircraft, refineries, and power plants (nuclear, coal, gas, wind). In those cases for which S-shaped growth is clearly evidenced, logistic function parameters are used to compare scaling across different technologies.

In this presentation, Meckling and Chung identify types of sectoral approaches and their analysis of the politics behind key proposals.

The speakers presented a new framework for allocation of a global carbon reduction target among nations, in which "common but differentiated responsibilities" refers to the emissions of individuals, rather than of nations.

John P. Holdren provides the context for and an overview of the recommendations made by the National Commission on Energy Policy its 2004 and 2007 reports to the President and Congress of the United States.

Holdren presents a detailed summary of the science behind global climate disruption, and offers a look at the technologies that can help mitigate future risk. He then surveys current thinking on the economics of climate disruption and proposes practical steps forward.

Project Co-Director Robert Stavins and Analysis Group Inc.'s Judson Jaffe spoke at an International Emissions Trading Association (IETA)–sponsored side event at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia. They presented their new report on linking greenhouse gas emissions trading systems, which was also sponsored by IETA.

Lehman Brothers recently established its Council on Climate Change to bring together leaders from industry, policy, and academia to discuss the political and business implications of climate change. On December 6–7, 2007, they hosted the inaugural Council on Climate Change Summit in New York. Project Co-Director Robert Stavins presented during the Policy Options and Solutions workshop session.