Environmental Economist Wolfram Schlenker Examines the Impacts of Climate Change on Land Use Policies in Newest Episode of “Environmental Insights”
CAMBRIDGE MA. – How climate change is affecting agriculture and land use was the focus of discussion in the newest episode of “Environmental Insights: Discussions on Policy and Practice from the Harvard Environmental Economics Program” featuring Wolfram Schlenker, the Ray Goldberg Professor of the Global Food System at Harvard Kennedy School.
The podcast is produced by the Harvard Environmental Economics Program. Listen to the interview here.
Hosted by Robert N. Stavins, A.J. Meyer Professor of Energy and Economic Development at Harvard Kennedy School and director of the Harvard Environmental Economics Program and the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements, Environmental Insights is intended to promote public discourse on important issues at the intersection of economics and environmental policy.
Schlenker, who recently joined the Harvard Kennedy School faculty after 19 years at Columbia, told Stavins he has long been interested in empirically identifying the impact of weather and climate on agricultural yields and prices.
“When I was a grad student, there was actually a very active debate whether U.S. agriculture would benefit or be harmed from climate change. That's how I got really interested in it, because it seemed like an unresolved issue,” he remarked. “I think one of the common things that I think I was among the first to identify, at least statistically, is this crucial role of extreme heat.”
Weather extremes, Schlenker explained, can have deleterious impacts far beyond lower crop yields.
“If you look at the EPA's latest proposal for the revised social cost of carbon, and you look at all the sectoral impacts and mortality, energy consumption, labor productivity, agriculture, the common theme across all of them is that it's pretty much all driven by how much of the temperature distribution we push into the really upper tail where the outcomes are just very negative,” he said. “I think that's something that's been coming back repeatedly in many contexts.”
Schlenker told Stavins he’s excited to co-teach a Harvard Ph.D. course on environmental and climate economics with James Stock, a professor in the Harvard Department of Economics.
“It's based partly on the class I taught at Columbia. It's also based on Jim Stock's experience that he had from being on the Council of Economic Advisors in Washington, DC, where he worked a lot on biofuel standards and energy transition, and so forth,” he explained. “We’re trying to merge both the classics, the fundamentals of environmental economics, with recent policy relevant topics.”
Schlenker also shared his thoughts on the recent youth movements of climate activism, saying that while individual actions may not have significant impacts on specific policy initiatives, drawing international attention to the issue has been beneficial.
“They've been really good at setting the agenda and [putting] pressure on policymakers to take this seriously. [These actions can] lead to regulation that could help us potentially make sure we don't use all those finite resources, and then, really have an effect on climate change,” he said.
Schlenker’s interview is the seventh episode of 2024 in the Environmental Insights series, with future episodes scheduled to drop each month.
“Environmental Insights is intended to inform and educate listeners about important issues relating to an economic perspective on developments in environmental policy, including the design and implementation of market-based approaches to environmental protection,” said Stavins. “We speak with accomplished Harvard colleagues, other academics, and practitioners who are working on solving some of the most challenging public problems we face.”
Environmental Insights is hosted on SoundCloud and is also available on Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Podcast Addict, and Spotify.
LINK TO PODCAST: https://on.soundcloud.com/HBEd3EgyTN3e5rBZA