Environment & Climate Change

On March 26, the study group met for the first time to examine recent democratic progress and backsliding in African countries. The session focused on ongoing conflicts in different regions of Africa and examined their political underpinnings. Participants also discussed the role of third-party actors in supporting and facilitating conflict mediation and peacebuilding efforts in the continent. The study group counted with the presence of external expert guest Dr. Antje Herrberg, Chief of Staff of the European Union Capacity Building Mission in Niger (EUCAP Sahel Niger). Dr. Herrberg brings more than two decades of professional and personal experience in transition and conflict resolution, intractable conflict, and terrorism with a deep interest to alleviate the suffering of people. Furthermore, Florian Dirmayer, Master in Public Policy Candidate at Harvard Kennedy School, delivered a memo briefing on European Union Security Cooperation with Niger After the 2023 Military Coup.

Harvard Kennedy School hosted Leon Clarke, Director of Decarbonization Pathways at Bezos Earth Fund, for an Energy Policy Seminar to discuss the economic challenges that are slowing the pace of the energy transition.

HPCA and Director Robert Stavins played an active role at COP 28 in Dubai, which concluded on December 12 with an historic agreement calling for “transitioning away” from fossil fuels. Aside from moderating an official HPCA Side Event on reducing global methane emissions, Stavins also participated in several other panel discussions and forums on issues relating to the climate change negotiations as well as meetings with participants and journalists. Read more on HPCA’s activities in Dubai on our COP 28 Tumblr page.

Amy Harder, the founding Executive Editor of the climate policy publication Cipher News, expressed her surprise with several positive outcomes from the recent 28th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 28) in Dubai during a special episode of “Environmental Insights: Discussions on Policy and Practice from the Harvard Environmental Economics Program.”

The Harvard Project on Climate Agreements (HPCA) assembled a panel of leading academics and government officials to discuss strategies for achieving significant methane emissions reductions at relatively low costs at an official COP 28 Side Event last Wednesday (Dec. 6). The event, titled “Reducing Global Methane Emissions: Imperatives, Opportunities, and Challenges,” was moderated by HPCA Director Robert Stavins.

With 28th Conference of the Parties (COP 28) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change well underway, Jonathan Banks, the global director of the Methane Pollution Prevention Program at the Clean Air Task Force (CATF), is the guest in a special mid-COP episode of “Environmental Insights: Discussions on Policy and Practice from the Harvard Environmental Economics Program.” The podcast is produced by the Harvard Environmental Economics Program.

With the start of the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP 28) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change just days away, environmental economist Nat Keohane is expressing optimism that the new global stocktake will incentivize participating nations to step up their collective efforts to slow the rise of global temperatures. Keohane is the guest in a special pre-COP episode of “Environmental Insights: Discussions on Policy and Practice from the Harvard Environmental Economics Program.” The podcast is produced by the Harvard Environmental Economics Program.

Efforts around and impacts of global methane-emissions abatement will be the focus at an official side event on December 6 co-sponsored by the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements at the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP-28) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Dubai. Harvard Project Director Robert Stavins will also participate in a number of other events at COP-28.

Energy economist Severin Borenstein, Professor of the Graduate School at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, discussed the many significant challenges facing the nation’s electricity power sector in the latest episode of “Environmental Insights: Discussions on Policy and Practice from the Harvard Environmental Economics Program.

Resource economist UC Berkeley Professor Meredith Fowlie spoke about the complex regulatory challenges and ‘just transition’ dynamics of climate policy in the latest episode of “Environmental Insights: Discussions on Policy and Practice from the Harvard Environmental Economics Program.”