Press Release

Harvard Project on Climate Agreements at COP-23

The Harvard Project on Climate Agreements will conduct three panel events at the Twenty-Third Conference of the Parties (COP-23) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Bonn, Germany during the week of November 13, 2017. See below for details of all three.

COP-23 attendees who wish to meet with the Harvard Project during the conference should email
Jason_Chapman@hks.harvard.edu.

COP-23 will focus on elaborating the Paris Agreement, which was adopted at COP-21 in December 2015 and which entered into force on November 4, 2016. Although the Paris Agreement represents a major step forward in efforts to address global climate change, much remains to be done to specify the rules and guidelines required to fully implement the Agreement, which primarily deals with action after 2020.


Events in Brief:

Heterogeneous Linkage and the Evolution of Article 6
Monday, November 13
12:00 – 1:30 pm
International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) Room, Business Hub, Bonn Zone

Implementing and Linking Carbon Pricing Instruments: Theory and Practice
Tuesday, November 14, 2017
11:30 am – 1:00 pm
Side Event Meeting Room 12

Carbon Pricing Policy Design
Tuesday, November 14, 2017
2:00 – 3:30 pm
International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) Room, Business Hub, Bonn Zone


Events in Detail:

Heterogeneous Linkage and the Evolution of Article 6
Monday, November 13
12:00 – 1:30 pm
International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) Room, Business Hub, Bonn Zone

Participants:

Jos Delbeke
Director General for Climate Action
European Commission

Kelley Kizzier
Co-Chair, Article 6
Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice

Michael Mehling
Deputy Director, Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Gilbert Metcalf
Professor of Economics
Tufts University

Robert Stavins
A. J. Meyer Professor of Energy and Economic Development
Harvard Kennedy School

Abstract:

The Paris Agreement has achieved one of two key necessary conditions for ultimate success — a broad base of participation among the countries of the world. But another key necessary condition has yet to be achieved — adequate collective ambition of the individual nationally determined contributions (NDCs). How can climate negotiators provide a structure that provides incentives to increase ambition over time? One part of the answer can be facilitating international linkage of regional, national, and sub-national policies. A central challenge is how to accomplish this in the context of the great heterogeneity that characterizes climate policies, along several dimensions, in the context of Paris-Agreement NDCs. Panelists will review the status of linkage in the world, the evolution of Article 6, and the relationship between the two. The panel will draw in part on a paper by Michael Mehling, Gilbert Metcalf, and Robert Stavins, “Linking Heterogeneous Climate Policies (Consistent with the Paris Agreement),” available here.


Implementing and Linking Carbon Pricing Instruments: Theory and Practice
Tuesday, November 14, 2017
11:30 am – 1:00 pm
Side Event Meeting Room 12
Co-Hosts: Harvard Project on Climate Agreements and Enel Foundation

Participants:

Andrei Marcu
Senior Fellow
International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development

Michael Mehling
Deputy Director, Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Gilbert Metcalf
Professor of Economics
Tufts University

Simone Mori
Head of European Affairs
Enel

Robert Stavins
A. J. Meyer Professor of Energy and Economic Development
Harvard Kennedy School

Other participant(s) to be determined

Abstract:

The Paris Agreement has achieved one of two key necessary conditions for ultimate success — a broad base of participation among the countries of the world. But another key necessary condition has yet to be achieved — adequate collective ambition of the individual nationally determined contributions. This panel will consider how this issue might be addressed by international linkage of regional, national, and sub-national policies — that is, formal recognition of emission reductions undertaken in another jurisdiction for the purpose of meeting a Party’s own mitigation objectives. A central challenge is how to facilitate such linkage in the context of the very great heterogeneity that characterizes Nationally Determined Contributions along several dimensions. We consider such heterogeneity among policies, and identify which linkages of various combinations of characteristics are feasible; of these, which are most promising; and what accounting mechanisms would make the operation of respective linkages consistent with the Paris Agreement. The panel will draw in part on a paper by Michael Mehling, Gilbert Metcalf, and Robert Stavins, “Linking Heterogeneous Climate Policies (Consistent with the Paris Agreement),” available here.


Carbon Pricing Policy Design
Tuesday, November 14, 2017
2:00 – 3:30 pm
International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) Room, Business Hub, Bonn Zone)
Co-Hosts:  Harvard Project on Climate Agreements and Enel Foundation

Participants:

Daniele Agostini
Head of Low Carbon Policies and Carbon Regulation
Enel

Joseph Aldy [via videoconference]
Associate Professor of Public Policy
Harvard Kennedy School

Christina Hood
Head of Unit, Environment and Climate Change
International Energy Agency

Gilbert Metcalf
Professor of Economics
Tufts University

Robert Stavins
A. J. Meyer Professor of Energy and Economic Development
Harvard Kennedy School

Abstract:

This panel will review experiences with cap-and-trade and carbon-tax policies, and draw lessons from those experiences. Panelists will also examine the choice between — and design of — such policies, through a political-economy lens, in order to highlight important public policy principles and policy options in carbon-pricing-policy design. The panel will draw in part on a paper by Joseph Aldy, “The Political Economy of Carbon Pricing Policy Design,” available here.