Harvard Project on Climate Agreements

Host Daniel Raimi talks with Robert Stavins, the A.J. Meyer Professor of Energy and Economic Development at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Daniel and Rob discuss the role that economics has played in shaping environmental policy, both in the past and today. As major proposals like the Green New Deal seem to be turning away from market-based approaches, long-advocated by most economists, Rob shares how he sees the role of environmental economics in today's environmental policy landscape.

The New Yorker's Dorothy Wickenden  sits down with Harvard Project Director Robert Stavins to discuss what various climate-change proposals entail—and would any of them work?

This paper evaluates factors affecting the potential to transition over time to more efficient longrun climate policies, including the sequence of policies to be adopted. By considering these factors, policymakers can increase the likelihood that more efficient policies emerge from the current suite of less-efficient measures being pursued by some national and sub-national governments. The authors focus on the state of Oregon, which is currently contemplating the adoption of a greenhouse-gas cap-and-trade system.

There is widespread agreement among economists — and a diverse set of other policy analysts — that at least in the long run, an economy-wide carbon pricing system will be an essential element of any national policy that can achieve meaningful reductions of CO2 emissions cost-effectively in the United States. There is less agreement, however, among economists and others in the policy community regarding the choice of specific carbon-pricing policy instrument. 

As numerous studies have made strikingly clear, climate change is increasing much more rapidly than anticipated and its negative impacts are becoming more and more visible around the world. From the escalating extremity of weather events, severe droughts and wildfires, to melting glaciers, rising sea levels, and disastrous floods, climate change is already harming humans and our ecosystems in a myriad of ways. 

Joseph Aldy, Co-Director of the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements from 2007–2009 and an active collaborator since, has been appointed Professor of the Practice of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS). Dean Douglas Elmendorf announced the appointment on May 9. Aldy is currently associate professor of public policy at HKS.

Fifteen Minutes sat down with Professor Robert N. Stavins, Director of the Harvard Environmental Economics Program, to talk about cap-and-trade, the Peace Corps, and what individuals can do to combat climate change.