November 3, 2017

Linking Heterogeneous Climate Policies (Consistent with the Paris Agreement)

International linkage of climate policies can play an important role in ensuring adequate climate ambition under the Paris Agreement. A new Working Paper looks at the opportunities for – and barriers to – linkage of heterogeneous regional, national and subnational climate policies.

SEE FULL ARTICLE
September 27, 2017

New Study Finds Expected Savings from School Energy Efficiency Upgrade Outpace Actual Returns

Innovative study finds energy efficiency investments made at California public schools may not provide as much benefit as officials expected.

SEE FULL ARTICLE
September 26, 2017

Fuel-efficient Cars Often Paired with Gas Guzzlers, Study Finds

A study released Tuesday by economists at UC Davis, Yale, and MIT shows that families who own fuel-efficient cars tend to buy big, powerful gas guzzlers as their second vehicle, largely defeating the purpose of the little petrol sippers in their garages.

SEE FULL ARTICLE
September 15, 2017

Replacing Coal by Gas: An Effective Strategy to Reduce CO2 Emissions?

Now more than ever, natural gas is hoped to effectively help shale gas producing regions reduce their CO2 emissions, by largely replacing their coal energy input. At the same time, the domestic replacement of coal by gas releases amounts of tradable coal, whose supply meets the foreign energy demand, contributing to increase emissions in the rest of the world.

SEE FULL ARTICLE
August 17, 2017

Black Carbon Problems in Transportation

Black carbon particulates in “soot” emissions have significant detrimental impacts on public health, climate change and food production; and diesel engines in the transportation sector are a major source of such emissions. There are cost-effective technologies that can mitigate the emissions. However, a wide range of policies at all levels of government are needed to incentivize the uptake of emission-mitigating technologies.

SEE FULL ARTICLE
July 17, 2017

The Behavioral Effect of Pigovian Regulation: Evidence from a Field Experiment

Market-­based regulation, and in particular Pigovian taxes/subsidies, have the potential to make consumers internalize socially harmful external effects associated with their choices. Recent behavioral literature, however, suggests that explicit financial penalties/rewards may undermine willingness to behave prosocially.

SEE FULL ARTICLE