Environment & Climate Change

1015 Items

Audio - Harvard Environmental Economics Program

Emma Rothschild on Adam Smith, Methane Emissions, and Climate Change

| Nov. 08, 2023

Economic historian Emma Rothschild, the Jeremy and Jane Knowles Professor of History at Harvard, lauded the efforts of young scholars to discover local solutions to mitigate the impacts of global climate change in the latest 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.

From left, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, U.S. President Joe Biden, Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, European Council President Charles Michel, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz walk to get into place to participate in a wreath laying ceremony at the Peace Memorial Park as part of the G7 Hiroshima Summit in Hiroshima, May 19, 2023.

(Kenny Holston/Pool Photo via AP)

Analysis & Opinions - Barron's

Climate Policies Are Becoming a Casualty of High Oil Prices

| Oct. 18, 2023

Oil prices have been persistently high over the past two years , at times breaking above $120 a barrel. According to economic theory, that should be good news for climate change. But the political reality is more complicated. Climate policies are increasingly the casualties of high oil prices.

A worker in the foreground adjusts some large straps as he looks up. In the background there is a flat horizon scattered with wind turbines against a blue sky.

AP Photo/Andy Wong

Analysis & Opinions - Financial Times

Climate Action in an Era of Great Power Competition

| July 18, 2023

At the foot of the Eqi Glacier in Greenland in June, I watched ice formed thousands of years ago drop into the warming ocean. With this vivid depiction of climate change in my mind, I was disappointed that neither of the conferences held last month to prepare for the UN’s upcoming COP28 summit had produced any real breakthroughs.

However, while the need for climate action is rising, the stakes for COP, perhaps counter-intuitively, look to be diminishing. An underwhelming COP28 would be a missed opportunity but it may not be a tragedy. Twenty or even 10 years ago, it was reasonable to hope a co-operative approach could address climate. But it is no longer a realistic expectation — nor the most promising route for progress.

silhouetted oil rigs against blue background

Harvard Gazette

Newspaper Article - Harvard Gazette

Energy Agency Says Global Thirst for Oil Finally May Be Topping Out

    Author:
  • Alvin Powell
| July 11, 2023

The International Energy Agency predicted last month that demand for global oil for transport will peak around 2026, plateau for all uses by 2028, and possibly hit a zenith by the end of the decade. Harvard experts say the forecasts track with what’s going on in the developed world, but the energy needs of less-wealthy nations pressing to develop their economies could foil expectations for years to come.

Russian navy missile cruiser Marshal Ustinov

Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP

Analysis & Opinions - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

The Geopolitics of Climate Change: Scenarios and Pathways for Arctic 2050

| July 06, 2023

In May 2023, the Arctic Initiative held a closed-door workshop for climate scientists, regional experts, Indigenous and youth leaders, and national security officials from six Arctic states, with the goal of identifying the most plausible scenarios and pathways for how geopolitics linked to climate change in the Arctic might evolve and actionable steps that the U.S. government might consider taking today to manage emerging risks. Eyck Fremann summarizes his key takeaways from the event.

Analysis & Opinions - Financial Times

China’s dominance of solar poses difficult choices for the west

| June 22, 2023

The geopolitical implications of solar displacing oil as the world’s major source of energy are enormous. Why has the Middle East been a central arena in the “great game” for the past century? Because countries there have been the major suppliers of the oil and gas that powered 20th-century economies. If, over the next decade, photovoltaic cells that capture energy from the sun were to replace a substantial part of the demand for oil and gas, who will the biggest losers be? And even more consequentially: who will be the biggest winner?

US Climate Policy graphic

Getty Images

Paper - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Climate Change Requires New Approaches to Disaster Planning and Response

    Author:
  • David J. Hayes
| June 2023

To date, most of the climate policy attention has been focused on the need to reduce the greenhouse gases that are causing climate change and, as a corollary, to accelerate the U.S. economy’s transition from fossil fuels to clean energy. Yet climate change also is straining our nation’s emergency response capabilities as traditional climate-infused disasters such as hurricanes and floods become more frequent and destructive. At the same time, the emergency response community faces new challenges as slower-to-develop climate impacts like drought, heat, and wildfire increasingly are hitting an acute tipping points and becoming life- and livelihood-threatening disasters.

Women who have been internally displaced selling charcoal on a market in Al Fashir, capital of the Sudanese state of North Dafur, February 18, 2015.

Wikimedia Commons

Journal Article - International Security

Rise or Recede? How Climate Disasters Affect Armed Conflict Intensity

    Author:
  • Tobias Ide
| Spring 2023

Climate disasters shape the trajectory of internal conflicts in states highly vulnerable to changes in conflict dynamics. Conflict after a climate disaster escalates when the disaster induces shifts in relative power that enable one side to increase its military efforts. But when one actor is weakened by the disaster and the other lacks the capability to exploit that weakness, conflict intensity declines.