Policy Briefs & Testimonies

The Harvard Initiative to Reduce Global Methane Emissions released its first publication in May 2023: a research brief titled “Updating Estimates of Methane Emissions: The Case of China.” The Initiative is one of five interdisciplinary research clusters funded by the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability at Harvard University. The Harvard Project on Climate Agreements collaborates in the implementation of the Initiative.

The authors explore an essential element in the portfolio of climate solutions required to rapidly achieve net zero emissions — flue gas carbon capture and storage, whereby carbon can be sifted from emission streams before it enters the atmosphere and safely sequestered in geologic storage systems.

The author explores opportunities for expanding the scope of Guangdong Province’s emissions trading system in the context of China’s recently-launched national carbon-pricing system.

As one of the first low-carbon pioneering provinces in China, Guangdong launched its carbon market in 2013. An important design feature of the Guangdong emissions trading system (ETS) has been the use of offset credits. This brief, in both Chinese and English, explores the Guangdong ETS’s offset mechanism and its possible future evolution.

The climate agreement on international aviation is unique, in that no other sector has a policy that places an absolute global cap on net CO2 emissions. This policy brief provides an overview of how the scheme was designed, its characteristics, and the role played by the International Air Transport Association.

The author explores approaches to effectively managing innovation of negative emission technologies (NET), as a means to contribute significantly to alleviating climate change and its impacts. He notes that “The greatest challenge to climate change innovation is how to manage the transition of technology from the R&D stage to deployment. For a new solution such as NET to gain policymaker approval and resources needed to develop and deploy a practical operating system, advocates must come forward with a design-of-innovation program.

Improvements in eco-efficiency—defined as a combination of reducing waste and reducing the use of raw inputs—offer one strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions while also lowering production costs. In addition, changes in culture—at the level of individual businesses, countries, or both—can enhance the eco-competitive position of these businesses and countries. This paper describes three examples from Costa Rica and shows how the goal of achieving carbon neutrality can provide incentives for improving eco-efficiency and eco-competitiveness.