Harvard Kennedy School at COP-21 Paris

Thanks to Paris, we have a foundation for meaningful climate progress

Professor Robert Stavins writes in The Conversation about the outcome of the U.N. Conference of the Parties (COP-21) in Paris.

At last, global fretting on climate change

To gain a greater understanding of the Paris Agreement, the Harvard Gazette spoke with Robert Stavins, the Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School and head of the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements, who traveled to Paris and conducted briefings and side discussions for delegates from various nations.

Professor Robert Stavins on the Paris Agreement

An historic deal reached on Saturday (Dec. 12) at the Twenty-First Conference of the Parties (COP-21) in Paris may in the future be cited as the moment when the nations of the world finally reached concensus on the need to act on climate change.   The accord represents a first step toward the goal of preventing global temperatures from rising more than two degree Celsius and requires mitigation actions by both developed and developing countries.

Robert Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government and faculty director of the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements (HPCA), is an environmental economist whose current research focuses on market based solutions to carbon emissions reductions. He led the HPCA team activities at COP-21 and provides his perspective on the agreement in his latest blog post, portions of which are featured in this article.

The IPCC at a Crossroads: Enhancing the Usefulness of IPCC to the UNFCCC Process | COP 21 | VIDEO

View a short video of highlights from the COP21 side panel, “The IPCC at a Crossroads: Enhancing the Usefulness of IPCC to the UNFCCC Process,” co-sponsored by the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements, December 9, 2015.

Paris Agreement — A Good Foundation for Meaningful Progress | An Economic View of the Environment

Harvard Kennedy School Professor Robert Stavins writes that the Paris Agreement “provides a broad foundation for meaningful progress on climate change and represents a dramatic departure from the Kyoto Protocol and the past 20 years of climate negotiations.”

COP21 and Climate Change Policy Take Center Stage at HKS Alumni Event in Paris

More than 80 Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) alumni from throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas were treated to a lively discussion on climate change policy Tuesday night (Dec. 8) at Collège des Bernardins in Paris. The discussion, featuring Robert Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government, and respondent Gabriela Ramos MPA 1995, focused on COP21 and the potential for market-based solutions to address the global emissions problem.

COP21: Robert Stavins

Professor Robert Stavins of Harvard Kennedy School speaks with a television reporter about the work of the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements at COP21 in Paris, December 10, 2015.

Mapping the Road Ahead for the IPCC

The road ahead for climate change policy will entail many twists and turns, and the need for continuous rigorous and relevant climate science will be more important than ever.  With that framing, a group of scholars on Wednesday (Dec. 9) shared their ideas for improving the process by which the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) carries out its research agenda, at a side panel at the U.N. climate change conference in Paris.

HKS at COP21: Discussion Focuses on Climate Agreement Impacts on Business

The private sector – from large corporations to small businesses – will undoubtedly be impacted by whatever international agreement emerges from the U.N. Climate Change Conference taking place in Paris, but opinions vary as to how burdensome and costly those impacts will be. Participants in a side panel hosted on Wednesday (Dec. 9) by the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements (HPCA) at COP21, shared their perspectives on the most important challenges businesses will face post-Paris. 

Interview with Ruben Lubowski PhD (Political Economy and Government) 2002

Ruben Lubowski PhD (Political Economy and Government) 2002, the Chief Natural Resource Economist at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), reflects on COP21 and his HKS education in an interview with Doug Gavel, Harvard Kennedy School Communications.

Giandomenico Magliano MPA 1981

Giandomenico Magliano, the Italian Ambassador to France and a graduate of Harvard Kennedy School (MPA 1981), speaks with Doug Gavel, Harvard Kennedy School Communications, at the U.N. Climate Change Conference, COP21, in Paris France, on December 9, 2015.