Environment & Climate Change

By investing in the public and private sector research and development in this space, and by fostering a community of researchers, entrepreneurs, and investors literate in CO2 capture opportunities, the United States can be the leader of this new economic sector. It is essential for the Nation to build a vibrant and sustained research and development community spanning the public sector, academic and research domains, and for-profit companies, ensuring world leadership in this new technological domain.

Guest Balsa Lubarda joins Right Rising to walk us through the basics of what scholars mean by "ideology" and how it relates to far-right ecologism. Along with host Augusta Dell'Omo, Balsa takes us on a deep dive into the world of what he calls "far-right ecologism." He explains how various ideological threads of the radical right, far right, and Christian ecology intersect in far-right ecologism. In today's discussion, Balsa and Augusta consider some of the implications of the growth of far-right ecologism for the environmental justice movement and national green parties.

Daniel Esty, the Hillhouse Professor of Environmental Law and Policy at Yale University and author of the new book, Values at Work: Sustainable Investing and ESG Reporting, expressed his optimism for the prospects of climate policy in the Biden Administration in the latest episode of “Environmental Insights: Discussions on Policy and Practice from the Harvard Environmental Economics Program,” a podcast produced by the Harvard Environmental Economics Program.

2021 Arctic Frontiers hosted a panel of young Arctic leaders alongside seasoned Arctic influencers who dove deeper into the opportunities and obstacles northern youth face now and in the future. Framed in the context of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, speakers were invited to discuss the pressing issues that they stand to inherit such as climate change, societal pressure, migration of young people to the south, and the question of whether the Arctic is facing its own cultural revolution. This session sought to build bridges between generations, borders, and disciplines to find the best solutions for a resilient Arctic.

One of the world's top academic voices on climate change, environmental, and energy policy offered his perspectives on the European Green Deal  on January 26 during a Virtual Forum sponsored by the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements. Ottmar Edenhofer, director of the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and professor of the Economics of Climate Change at the Technische Universität Berlin, offered a frank assessment of the Deal’s potential to significantly address the impacts of global climate change.

Joel Clement and Lara Hansen argue that although President Joe Biden was elected was because his team has a plan for addressing the causes of climate change, addressing the compounding impacts of climate change requires a game plan that has not yet been fleshed out. To address the climate crisis, the United States must restore past adaptation efforts, innovate new ones, and develop a national resilience strategy to organize and guide U.S. efforts in the decades to come.

President Joe Biden started signing executive orders and announcing new hires after his inauguration. Joel Clement, a former senior executive and whistleblower at the Interior Department, elaborates on what this would mean for his former agency.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is upending our lives and the global economy in ways unimaginable until recently. While the overall impacts are still difficult to quantify, ramifications are sure to be felt for decades to come. Providing secure, reliable, and affordable resources for all without causing devastating environmental consequences is perhaps the greatest challenge of the 21st century. But the pandemic has significantly altered dynamics and changed priorities. How is this impacting the quest for sustainability?

In this paper we analyze these challenges by focusing on the plastic industry. There is no doubt that plastic has molded society in many ways that make our lives easier and safer, but it has also created a global environmental and sustainability crisis. In order to curb our addiction to plastic, the world had been waging a war against virgin plastic, but the pandemic has turned an enemy into a much-needed ally. How can we leverage the advantages of plastic without contributing to the world’s environmental crisis? This dilemma poses a significant challenge, but also opens an opportunity to address sustainability at a systemic level through circularity and the transition to low-carbon alternatives to petroleum-based plastics.

The Trump administration’s short-sighted geo-economic crackdown on the main international oil and gas producers—be it Saudi Arabia, Russia, or Iran—not only came at the expense of economic interests of allied countries in Europe, but also did long-term harm to the United States itself, helping its global rival China. Sooner rather than later—and a new administration offers this opportunity—U.S. policymakers will have to address businesses’ growing interests in (green) investment strategies and the rapidly intensifying geopolitical rivalry with China. Transatlantic cooperation in the development of sustainable energy sources and technologies will be instrumental. A “Transatlantic New Green Deal” would allow allies to generate much-needed new economic growth after the COVID-19-related economic contraction and improve the energy security of consumer countries, curb the effect of greenhouse gases and realign the balance of power in world energy markets.

Daniel Schrag argues that in order to reestablish the United States as a serious partner in addressing global climate change, the president must make good on the original standards of the Paris Agreement.