Articles

469 Items

Students marching in Milan

Wikimedia CC/Mænsard vokser

Journal Article - Global Environmental Politics

Is Democracy the Answer to Intractable Climate Change?

| 2023

While research suggests that democracy offers an answer to the climate crisis, evidence of the effect of regime type on greenhouse gas emissions is mixed and yields inconclusive findings. This article investigates the effect of regime type on carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane emissions and presents new evidence showing that when it comes to climate change mitigation, democracies are no greener than autocracies.

Chinese icebreaker Xuelong

Banhfrend/Wikimedia Commons

Journal Article - Climatic Change

Geopolitical and Economic Interests in Environmental Governance: Explaining Observer State Status in the Arctic Council

| Apr. 21, 2023

In 2013, the Arctic Council underwent its most significant change since its foundation in 1996, with its formalization through the creation of a secretariat, the confirmation of eight observers, and acceptance of other five states, including China, with the same status. This study explores geopolitical and economic interests of actors of regional environmental governance that impact both applications and their acceptance as observer states.

A hydrogen fuel cell bus is refueled at a a fueling station, March 16, 2021, in Canton, Ohio. 

AP Photo/Tony Dejak

Magazine Article - Foreign Affairs

The Age of Energy Insecurity: How the Fight for Resources Is Upending Geopolitics

| Apr. 10, 2023

As recently as 18 months ago, many policymakers, academics, and pundits in the United States and Europe were waxing lyrical about the geopolitical benefits of the coming transition to cleaner, greener energy. They understood that the move away from a carbon-intensive energy system that relied on fossil fuels was going to be difficult for some countries. But on the whole, the conventional wisdom held that the shift to new sources of energy would not only aid the fight against climate change but also put an end to the troublesome geopolitics of the old energy order.

Students at left watch as student activists take positions in the Cathedral of Learning

AP/Keith Srakocic

Journal Article - Environmental Politics

Fossil Fuel Divestment and Public Climate Change Policy Preferences: An Experimental Test in Three Countries

| 2023

Divestment is a prominent strategy championed by activists to induce positive social change. For example, the current fossil fuel divestment movement includes over 1,500 institutions that control $40 trillion in assets. A primary pathway through which divestment is theorized to be effective is by influencing public beliefs and policy preferences, thus pressuring policymakers to take action. However, prior research only tests this argument via qualitative case studies. The authors assess the impact of exposure to information about fossil fuel divestment on public opinion through the use of national survey experiments in three major greenhouse gas emitters: the U.S., India, and South Africa.

juvenile Arctic cod

Shawn Harper, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Journal Article - Polar Record

The Central Arctic Ocean Fisheries Moratorium: A Rare Example of the Precautionary Principle in Fisheries Management

| Jan. 16, 2023

This paper explores the unique conditions that made the Agreement to Prevent Unregulated High Seas Fisheries in the Central Arctic Ocean possible and examines how success was achieved by the interrelationships of science, policy, legal structures, politics, stakeholder collaboration, and diplomacy.

A public charging station for electric vehicles in New Delhi, India, Thursday, April 1, 2021.

AP Photo/Neha Mehrotra

Journal Article - Nature Energy

Understanding India’s Low-Carbon Energy Technology Startup Landscape

| Dec. 15, 2022

Low-carbon energy technology (LCET) startups could play a key role in accelerating India’s decarbonization. Yet, understanding of the LCET startup landscape and what shapes it remains low. This paper provides an analysis of the Indian LCET startup landscape to fill this gap.

Robert Stavins

Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer

Newspaper Article - Harvard Gazette

Glimmers of Movement, Hope at COP27

    Author:
  • Alvin Powell
| Nov. 23, 2022

Following the COP27 climate conference in Egypt, Robert Stavins said in an interview with the Harvard Gazette that the talks were both frustrating and hopeful: frustrating because they did little to accelerate the slow pace of action to reduce carbon emissions, and hopeful because of a reawakened dialogue between the world’s biggest emitters—the U.S. and China—and movement to address climate-related damage to the world’s most vulnerable nations.

teaser image

Journal Article - Energy Research & Social Science

Green Hydrogen Value Chains in the Industrial Sector—Geopolitical and Market Implications

| October 2022

The adoption of green hydrogen will be critical for decarbonizing industrial processes at scale, especially hard-to-abate ones such as steel and cement production. This paper maps the role countries could play in future green hydrogen industrial markets based on three criteria: resource endowment, existing industrial production, and economic relatedness.

rainwater harvesting tank with ladder

Flickr/Sustainable Sanitation Alliance

Journal Article - Frontiers in Water

Factors Affecting Farmers' Decision to Harvest Rainwater for Maize Production in Ghana

    Authors:
  • Enoch Bessah
  • Emmanuel Donkor
  • Abdulganiy O. Raji
  • Olalekan J. Taiwo
  • Olusola O. Ololade
  • Shadrack K. Amponsah
  • Sampson K. Agodzo
| Sep. 28, 2022

Climate change, especially the variability of rainfall patterns, poses a threat to maize production in Ghana. Some farmers harvest rainwater and store it for maize production to cope with unpredicted rainfall patterns. However, there are only a few studies on the adoption of rainwater harvesting for maize production. This study analyses the factors that influence farmers' decision to harvest rainwater for maize production in Ghana. 

The Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica sails past the American island of Little Diomede, Alaska

AP Photo/David Goldman, File

Journal Article - Marine Policy

Shipping Governance in the Bering Strait Region: Protecting the Diomede Islands and Adjacent Waters

| Sep. 28, 2022

This article analyzes potential courses of action that Russia and the United States could pursue, jointly or separately, to protect the Bering Strait Region from the adverse effects of growing shipping.