Articles

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.

New forms of international cooperation and technology competition with China are the main drivers of public investment in energy innovation, though it remains insufficient to help meet climate goals.

In an interview with The Harvard Gazette, Henry Lee welcomes California's aggressive move toward electric vehicles, but sees one ‘huge mistake’ policymakers need to avoid and a surefire way to anger drivers.
 

Permafrost thaw has significant implications for adaptation and mitigation policy worldwide. However, it remains almost entirely excluded from policy dialogues at the regional, national, and international levels. This paper discusses current gaps and recommendations for increasing the integration of permafrost science into policy, focusing on three core components: reducing scientific uncertainty; targeting scientific outputs to address climate policy needs; and co-developing just and equitable climate adaptation plans to respond to the hazards of permafrost thaw.

We used the US-TIMES energy-system model in conjunction with integrated assessment models for air pollution (AP3, EASIUR, InMAP) to estimate the consequences of local air pollutant (LAP) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) policy on technology-choice, energy-system costs, emissions, and pollution damages in the United States. We report substantial policy spillover: Both LAP and CO₂ taxes cause similar levels of decarbonization. Under LAP taxes, decarbonization was a result of an increase in natural gas generation and a near-complete phaseout of coal generation in the electric sector. Under a CO₂ tax, the majority of simulated decarbonization was a result of increased electric generation from wind and solar. We also found that the timing of the CO₂ and LAP taxes was important. When we simulated a LAP tax beginning in 2015 and waited until 2025 to introduce a CO₂ tax, the electric sector was locked into higher levels of natural gas generation and cumulative 2010–2035 energy system CO₂ emissions were 8.8 billion tons higher than when the taxes were implemented simultaneously. A scenario taxing CO₂ and LAPs simultaneously beginning in 2015 produced the highest net benefits, as opposed to scenarios that target either CO₂ or LAPs, or scenarios that delayed either LAP or CO₂ taxes until 2025. Lastly, we found that net benefits compared to business as usual are higher under a regional versus a national LAP-tax regime, but that efficiency gains under the regional tax are not substantially higher than those under the national LAP-tax policy.

John Holdren spoke to The Harvard Gazette about the proposed Inflation Reduction Act legislation and its potential impact, should it survive House scrutiny and be signed by President Biden.

This research note provides insights on the role of nature-based solutions for carbon mitigation in India, including scenario simulations by 2050. The results show that forests, trees, and agroforestry can provide major carbon reductions through sustainable land use nationwide, helping India to offset carbon emissions from hard-to-abate sectors.

The Woodwell Climate Research Center and the Harvard Kennedy School’s Arctic Initiative this week unveiled their multi-year Permafrost Pathways program. The $41 million program, with funding from the collaborative Audacious Project, will combine global permafrost-thaw monitoring with regional and local initiatives to adapt to the onset of usteq and related challenges.

On April 11, 2022, The New York Times covered the launch of the new Permafrost Pathways project, a collaboration between the Belfer Center's Arctic Initiative, Woodwell Climate Research Center, and the Alaskan Institute for Justice. The six-year effort by climate scientists and policy experts aims to fill gaps in knowledge about planet-warming emissions and help affected communities in Alaska.