2015

'Trust but Verify' Should be a Motto of Paris Climate Talks

November 30, 2015

[The Christian Science Monitor ] Joseph Aldy: The United States, like many other countries, has been participating in negotiations in the lead-up to the United Nations' conference on climate change in Paris. The goal is to craft a policy framework that is going to engage all countries in combating global warming and establish institutions that can continue to spur more ambitious efforts over time.

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Paris Climate Summit Could Bring Historic Deal on Emissions, but Likely Won't Halt Climate Change

November 29, 2015

[Los Angeles Times ]...Robert Stavins, a Harvard economist who studies international climate policy and negotiations, wrote on his blog this month that the earlier distinction between developed and developing countries "made progress on climate change impossible, because growth in emissions since the protocol came into force in 2005 is entirely in the large developing countries — China, India, Brazil, Korea, South Africa, Mexico and Indonesia."

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Paris Can Be a Key Step

November 17, 2015

[Robert Stavins' blog] I returned from a brief trip to Paris two days before the horrific events of November 13th, which have shocked and saddened civilized people everywhere. I was in Paris for discussions regarding climate change policy at OECD headquarters. Now, I’m preparing to return to Paris in less than two weeks with my colleagues from the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements (I’ve inserted a list...

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Following the Law Isn't Exxon's Only Obligation

November 9, 2015

[Bloomberg View ] Cass Sunstein: The attorney general of New York, Eric T. Schneiderman, is investigating Exxon Mobil for possible legal violations in connection with its public statements about climate change. (Disclosure: In the late 1990s and early 2000s, I did academic research on punitive damages awards, which was funded in part by Exxon.) While the legal issues are likely to be technical and complex, the investigation also raises fundamental questions about the ethical responsibilities of...

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If the US Had Price on Carbon, Would Keystone XL Have Made Sense?

November 9, 2015

[The Conversation ] James Stock:...The starting point of environmental economics is that pollution creates negative externalities – that is, polluting imposes harm on others in a way not reflected in its price.

The textbook approach to address this problem is to “internalize” the externality by adjusting the price of the polluting activity to reflect the monetary value of that externality. In theory, the polluter is discouraged from polluting because those external costs are now figured into its operations.

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Keystone XL Pipeline Rejection Signals US Taking Lead on Climate Change Fight

November 7, 2015

[The Guardian ]...“The symbolic value is significant because it will position the United States in a more favourable light with those countries and those activists who favour strong action on climate change,” said Harvard professor Stavins. The boost to US credibility would allow it to drive through a more effective deal in Paris.

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Sweeping Study Claims that Rising Temperatures Will Sharply Cut Economic Productivity

October 21, 2015

[The Washington Post ]...While the authors appear to have conducted a careful analysis, Robert Stavins, an environmental economist at the Harvard Kennedy School, cautions that there is a lot of uncertainty in calculating the long term economic costs of climate change. Stavins also adds that while the study only examines market impacts of climate change, “many economic impacts of climate change will be outside of markets, such as many ecological impacts, which are nevertheless economic.”

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Trade and Environment: A View of the TPP

October 9, 2015

[Jeffrey Frankel's blog] Twelve Pacific Rim countries agreed on October 5, 2015 to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a major new agreement that liberalizes trade, establishes procedures for intellectual property protection and dispute settlement, and also provides significant protection for the environment and wildlife. HEEP Faculty Fellow Jeffrey Frankel argues that “…the deal gives environmentalists more than they had bothered to ask for.”