Environment & Climate Change

The Harvard Project participates in a major Harvard initiative aimed at reducing emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Participating researchers represent a range of academic disciplines and Harvard schools.

The Danish Minister of Climate, Energy, and Utilities expressed his hope that the tragic war in Ukraine will help accelerate the clean energy transformation by weaning Europe off Russian gas during a Virtual Forum (view recording here) last Friday (April 8). The event was hosted by the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements (HPCA) and moderated by Robert Stavins, HPCA Director and A.J. Meyer Professor of Energy and Economic Development. 

Arctic Data Stories will give students with non-technical backgrounds the chance to explore geospatial data and policy, guided by experts from the Arctic Initiative, the Woodwell Climate Research Center, and Esri. The workshop covers topics in data visualization, policy, and ArcGIS software and culminates with student presentations on Arctic-specific policy challenges. Sessions will be held on Fridays from 12–2 p.m. from February 11 to March 11, 2022, on Zoom. We will host a final workshop at the Woodwell Climate Research Center in Falmouth, MA on March 26 and 27. Participants must commit to attending all sessions when applying. Students wishing to participate should fill out the form HERE.

Arctic residents, students, policymakers, academics, and business leaders convened in Reykjavík, Iceland, for the 2021 Arctic Circle Assembly from Thursday, October 14 to Saturday, October 17. The Arctic Initiative organized two sessions at this year’s Assembly: 1) Arctic Innovation Lab: 10 Ideas for a Better Arctic, and 2) Policy and Action on Plastic in the Arctic: Innovations to Tackle Plastic Pollution with The Wilson Center’s Polar Institute. 

The Harvard Project on Climate Agreements and the Centre for European Studies and Comparative Politics (CEE) at Sciences Po Paris co-sponsored a workshop on March 16, 2021: “Prospects for Carbon Pricing in Europe and the United States.” U.S. participants included Harvard faculty members, as well as colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Environmental Defense Fund. European participants were based in Science Po’s CEE and French Economic Observatory, joined by an affiliate at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London School of Economics. Participants represented the disciplinary perspectives of both economics and political science.

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.

Arctic Data Stories will give students with non-technical backgrounds the chance to explore geospatial data and policy, guided by experts from the Arctic Initiative, the Woodwell Climate Research Center, and Esri. The workshop covers topics in data visualization, policy, and ArcGIS software and culminates with student presentations on Arctic-specific policy challenges. Sessions will be held virtually on Fridays from 12–2 p.m. ET on February 5–26 & March 5, 2021. Participants must commit to attending all sessions when applying.

Nobel Prize–winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, University Professor at Columbia University, shared his thoughts on carbon pricing, the post-pandemic economic recovery, and green economy transition during a virtual forum on September 8 sponsored by the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements, and hosted by Robert Stavins, A.J. Meyer Professor of Energy and Economic Development at Harvard Kennedy School.

Professor Stock presented his research on “The Macroeconomic Impact of Europe’s Carbon Taxes.”  This paper was co-authored by  Tufts University Professor Gilbert Metcalf and published as a working paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research in July 2020.

From his perspective as Principal Advisor to the Directorate General for Climate Action in the European Commission (EC), Jacob Werksman is cautiously optimistic about the direction of international climate policy. Werksman was the expert guest in the Conversations on Climate Change and Energy Policy webinar discussion last Thursday (July 9). The webinar series is sponsored by the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements (HPCA), and the interviews are hosted by HPCA Director Robert Stavins, the A.J. Meyer Professor of Energy & Economic Development at Harvard Kennedy School.