Environment & Climate Change

Harvard Kennedy School hosted Sarah Ladislaw, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Climate and Energy of the U.S. National Security Council, for an Energy Policy Seminar on the U.S. approach to energy and climate issues in its foreign policy.

Harvard Kennedy School hosted Jahi Wise, Senior Adviser to the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to discuss the design and implementation of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a historic investment in American clean energy technology finance.

Low-income consumers are "feeling the heat" of growing energy prices, and reducing their use of potentially life-saving air conditioning technology at a time when global temperatures are rising.

Harvard Kennedy School hosted Jason Grumet, CEO of the American Clean Power Association, for an Energy Policy Seminar to discuss recent U.S. progress on addressing climate change and the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act.

Harvard Kennedy School’s Energy Policy Seminar series hosted Ana Unruh Cohen, Senior Director for NEPA, Infrastructure and Clean Energy at the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), to provide an update on the Biden Administration’s ongoing permitting reform. 

On "Resource Radio," a podcast by Resources for the Future, Catherine Wolfram, Visiting Professor at Harvard Kennedy School and Rhodium Group's John Larsen offer insights on 2022’s biggest stories in energy and environmental policy at the state, national, and international levels, including U.S. climate legislation and how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has affected energy markets. They also look ahead to the developments in energy and environmental policy that are likely to become important in 2023.

Joshua Schwartz and Sabrina Arias write that although Congress seems unable to act, enough states, cities and counties are mobilizing to make a dent in U.S. carbon emissions. The states, cities, counties, and towns that have committed themselves to upholding the Paris agreement currently release a majority of U.S. carbon emissions. If they do manage to meet their targets, they can make a meaningful difference.

Last week, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin seemingly dashed Democrats’ hopes for congressional action to slow climate change. Sen. Bernie Sanders accused Manchin of “sabotag[ing] the president’s agenda”; Rep. John Yarmuth, when asked about the consequences of Congress not acting on climate change, said, “We’re all going to die”; and climate activists, as well as some Democrats in Congress, wondered if Manchin should be removed as chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

The newly elevated "Major Questions Doctrine" of the Supreme Court's conservative majority puts a vast array of environmental and business regulations at risk, writes John Holdren.

Russian military action in Ukraine could trigger an energy crisis even more serious than the one already hitting Europe. As has been pointed out, should the West hit Russia with severe new sanctions, President Vladimir Putin could cut off natural gas exports, leaving the continent shivering through midwinter. Yet there is another potential weapon of Russia’s that’s been less discussed and might be very effective: An ability to disrupt global oil markets, which would directly hit U.S. consumers.