The Road from Copenhagen

Moderator: Ernest J. Moniz
Robert N. Stavins
Michael Greenstone
Stephen Ansolabehere
Edward S. Steinfeld
Henry D. Jacoby
John Sterman PhD '82

February 5, 2010
Running Time: 1:54:57



About the Speakers

Ernest Moniz

Moderator: ERNEST MONIZ Director, MIT Energy Initiative Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems Co-director of the Laboratory for Energy and the Environment

Ernest J. Moniz has served on the MIT faculty since 1973. He was Under Secretary of the Department of Energy from October 1997 until January 2001. He also served from 1995 to 1997 as Associate Director for Science in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President.

At MIT, Moniz was Head of the Department of Physics and Director of the Bates Linear Accelerator Center. His principal research contributions have been in theoretical nuclear physics, particularly in advancing nuclear reaction theory at high energy.

Moniz received a B.S. degree in physics from Boston College, a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Stanford University, and honorary doctorates from the University of Athens and the University of Erlangen-Nurenburg. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Humboldt Foundation, and the American Physical Society and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Moniz received the 1998 Seymour Cray HPCC Industry Recognition Award for vision and leadership in advancing scientific simulation.

Rob Stavins

ROBERT N. STAVINS Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

Robert N. Stavins is the Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government, Director of the Harvard Environmental Economics Program, Chairman of the Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Group at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and Director of Graduate Studies for the Doctoral Program in Public Policy and the Doctoral Program in Political Economy and Government, and Co-Chair of the Harvard Business School-Kennedy School Joint Degree Programs.

Stavins' research has focused on diverse areas of environmental economics and policy, including examinations of: market-based policy instruments; regulatory impact analysis, innovation and diffusion of pollution-control technologies, environmental benefit valuation, policy instrument choice under uncertainty, competitiveness effects of regulation, depletion of forested wetlands, political economy of policy instrument choice, and costs of carbon sequestration.

Stavins received his B.A. in Philosophy at Northwestern University, an M.S.in Agricultural Economics at Cornell University, and Ph.D. in Economics Harvard University.

Michael Greenstone

MICHAEL GREENSTONE 3M Professor of Environmental Economics, MIT Department of Economics, Research Associate National Bureau of Economic Research

Michael Greenstone is the 3M Professor of Environmental Economics in the Department of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at Brookings.

His research is focused on estimating the costs and benefits of environmental quality. He has worked extensively on the Clean Air Act and examined its impact on air quality, manufacturing activity, housing prices, and infant mortality to assess its costs and benefits. He is currently engaged in a large scale project to estimate the economic costs of climate change. Other current projects include examinations of: the benefits of the Superfund program, the economic and health impacts of indoor air pollution in Orissa, India, individual's revealed value of a statistical life, the impact of air pollution on infant mortality in developing countries, and the costs of biodiversity.

He is a member of the Environmental Economics Advisory Committee of EPA's Science Advisory Board and his research has been funded by the NSF, NIH, and EPA. In 2004, Professor Greenstone received the 12th Annual Kenneth J. Arrow Award for Best Paper in the Field of Health Economics. He is currently an editor of The Review of Economics and Statistics.

Greenstone received a Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University and a BA in economics from Swarthmore College.

STEPHEN ANSOLABEHERE Professor of Political Science, MIT, Professor of Government, Harvard University

Stephen Ansolabehere studies elections, democracy, and the mass media. He is coauthor (with Shanto Iyengar) of The Media Game (Macmillan, 1993) and of Going Negative: How Political Advertising Alienates and Polarizes the American Electorate (The Free Press, 1996). Ansolabehere is also a member of the Cal Tech/MIT Voting Project. which was established in 2000 to prevent a recurrence of the problems that threatened the 2000 US Presidential election.

Ansolabehere received a B.S. in Economics and B.A. in Political Science from the University of Minnesota and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University.

EDWARD S. STEINFELD Associate Professor of Political Science at MIT

Edward Steinfeld is an associate professor of political economy in the MIT Department of Political Science. Steinfeld directs the MIT China Program (MISTI), and co-directs the MIT Industrial Performance Center's China Energy Group. His research focuses on the political economy of development, with a particular emphasis on contemporary China.

Much of Steinfeld's current research focuses on the growth, regulation, and performance of China's energy sector. Decisions being reached in that sector today exert tremendous influence over a variety of global environmental concerns, everything from climate change to natural resource depletion. Such decisions, however, are exceedingly complicated, often involving multiple actors and dense interactions between new technologies, burgeoning markets, diverse commercial strategies, and new regulations.

While at MIT, Steinfeld has also served as a consultant to the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, and a variety of both public and private sector organizations. Steinfeld currently serves as a director of the National Committee on US-China Relations.

He received a B.A. ('88) in Government from Harvard University, a M.A.('93)and Ph.D.,('96) in Political Science from Harvard University.

Jake Jacoby

HENRY D. JACOBY Professor of Management, MIT Sloan School of Management Co-Director, Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, MIT

Henry "Jake" Jacoby studies policy and management in the areas of energy, natural resources, and the environment, writing widely on these topics, including five books. He is a former Chair of the MIT Faculty, and former Director of the Harvard Environmental Systems Program, former Director of CEEPR, and former Associate Director of the MIT Energy Laboratory. He currently serves on the Scientific Committee for the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program and on the Climate Research Committee of the U.S. National Research Council. His current research is focused on economic analysis of climate change and greenhouse gas mitigation, and the integration of this work with the natural science of the issue.

Jacoby received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 1957, an M.P.A. in Public Administration from Harvard University in 1963, and a Ph.D. in Economics, also from Harvard University, in 1967.

John Sterman

JOHN STERMAN PHD '82 Jay W. Forrester Professor of Management and Engineering Systems Director, System Dynamics Group, MIT

John D. Sterman's research includes systems thinking and organizational learning, computer simulation of corporate strategy, and the theory of nonlinear dynamics. He is the author of many scholarly and popular articles on the challenges and opportunities facing organizations today, including the book Modeling for Organizational Learning, and the award-winning textbook Business Dynamics.

Sterman's research centers on improving managerial decision making in complex systems. He has pioneered the development of "management flight simulators" of corporate and economic systems.

Sterman has twice been awarded the Jay W. Forrester Prize for the best published work in system dynamics. He won a 2005 IBM Faculty Award, and the 2001 Accenture Award for the best paper of the year published in the California Management Review (with Nelson Repenning). He has five times won awards for teaching excellence from the students of the MIT Sloan School of Management, and was named one of the Sloan School's "Outstanding Faculty" by the 2001 Business Week Guide to the Best Business Schools.

Testimony to Policymakers

Providing expert testimony to policymakers is a notable event and important mode of communication for the Program. A key aspect of our mission is to provide objective information to the policy-making community that is helpful to their deliberations on global change issues. Responding to requests for testimony enables Program participants to directly communicate insights from their area of expertise and help contribute to improved understanding.

U.S. Congressional Testimony and Correspondence

The True Costs of Alternative Energy Sources: Are We Unfairly Penalizing Natural Gas?
U.S. Joint Economic Committee
April 26, 2012
Michael Greenstone
, Director of The Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution and the 3M Professor of Environmental Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, participated in a Joint Economic Committee hearing examining the potential impact on the American Consumer due to loss of refining capacity. Greenstone focused on the true cost of alternative forms of energy, taking into account their social (i.e. health) costs. His testimony was based on his recent report, which was reported by the Washington Post. The testimony is available here.

An Open Letter to Congress from U.S. Scientists on Climate Change and Recently Stolen Emails
Decem
ber 4, 2009
Prof. Ronald Prinn and 24 leading U.S. scientists with substantial expertise on climate change and its impacts on natural ecosystems, our built environment and human well-being, assure policy makers and the public of the integrity of the underlying scientific research and the need for urgent action to reduce heat-trapping emissions. In response to the recent controversy dubbed 'Climategate', the scientists seek to set the record straight: The body of evidence that human activity is the dominant cause of global warming is overwhelming. The content of the stolen emails has no impact whatsoever on our overall understanding that human activity is driving dangerous levels of global warming. The letter is available here.

Allocation Issues in Greenhouse Gas Cap and Trade Systems
U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
October 21, 2009
Prof. Gilbert Metcalf participated in a Hearing on the costs and benefits for energy consumers and energy prices associated with the allocation of greenhouse gas emission allowances. Prof. Metcalf's written testimony is available here. The archived webcast of the hearing and other testimonies presented are available here.

Some Fundamentals of Allowance Allocation
U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
October 21, 2009
Dr. Denny Ellerman participated in a Hearing on the costs and benefits for energy consumers and energy prices associated with the allocation of greenhouse gas emission allowances. Dr. Ellerman's written testimony is available here. The archived webcast of the hearing and other testimonies presented are available here.

The Future of Fossil Fuels: Geological and Terrestrial Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide
U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources
May 1, 2007
Dr. Howard Herzog participated in a Hearing on carbon capture and sequestration and the future of fossil fuels. Dr. Herzog's written testimony is available here. Other transcripts from the hearing are available here.

The European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme
U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
March 26, 2007
Dr. Denny Ellerman participated in a Roundtable Hearing to discuss the progress of the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme and to receive information on lessons learned for policymakers who want to better understand how a market-based trading program could operate efficiently and effectively in the United States. A transcript of the hearing is available here.

Climate Change: A Growing Scientific Impetus for Policy
U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means
February 28, 2007
Prof. Ronald Prinn participated in a Hearing on energy and tax policy, the first in a series that focused on climate change. Prof. Prinn's written testimony is available here. Other transcripts from the hearing are available here.

Interpreting the Stern Review of the Economics of Climate Change
U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
February 13, 2007
Prof. Henry Jacoby participated in a Hearing on the Stern Review of the Economics of Climate Change, examining the economic impacts of climate change and stabilizing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Prof. Jacoby's written testimony is available here. A transcript of the full hearing is available here.

 

Other examples of testimony to policymakers and advice provided upon request include presentations to:

  • official E.U. bodies, such as the Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change to President Barrosso of the European Commission, on emissions trading;
  • non-U.S. governmental bodies, such as the Commission des affaires européennes of the French Assemblée Nationale, on the E.U. ETS;
  • the U.S. Congressional Budget Office, on insights into proposed cap-and-trade systems;
  • the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, on the economic analysis capabilities and methodology applied in the Joint Program's work;
  • the Executive Office of the President of the USA, on scenarios of greenhouse gas emissions and atmospheric concentrations;
  • regional groups, such as those working on the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative of the Northeastern U.S. (RGGI), on the issue of a safety valve; and
  • state-level associations, such as the California Air Resources Board, on emissions trading and air quality issues, and the Florida legislature, on issues of cellulosic biofuels and climate change mitigation.

Program participants also contribute their expertise in various advisory roles, in response to requests for briefings, and through involvement in steering committees, panels, and professional organizations. Outlets for this type of communication include involvement in national and international bodies such as the U.S. National Academies, the International Panel on Climate Change, and the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program; participation in Synthesis and Assessment activities of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program; as well as myriad informal contacts with government and international agencies, sponsor organizations, NGOs, and fellow researchers.

Geoengineering: Science & Governance

 

 

      An MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change and Harvard University Center for the Environment initiative.

About the Seminar Series

Solar geoengineering is the concept of deliberately cooling the Earth by reflecting a small amount of inbound sunlight back into space. It is the only currently known method for reducing temperatures in the short term (years to decades), and therefore has the potential to reduce many of the worst impacts of global warming. But what would be the side effects, both physical and socio-political? How would it work and who gets to decide if it is deployed?  Does humanity have the wisdom and the institutions to govern the development of such a powerful technology in this messy, multi-polar world?
 
This seminar series, held jointly by the Harvard University Center for the Environment (HUCE) and MIT’s Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, will explore the science, technology, governance and ethics of solar geoengineering. In bringing together international experts, participants will learn some of the greatest challenges and hear opinions on how this technology could and should be managed.

To find out about the next event, please visit: http://environment.harvard.edu/geoengineering. Or follow us on Twitter at #HarvMITGeoeng.

 

 

 

 

 

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