Weathering Poverty
The first and most prominent of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals is “to end poverty in all its forms, everywhere, and leave no one behind.” Instead, reports shows that climate risk disproportionately affects poor countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, which are projected to experience many more heat-related deaths as the average global temperature climbs. Yet the developed world becomes further enmeshed in geopolitical conflicts and ignores what is happening to the environment. “Climate risk is rising, with the world becoming hotter and weather shocks such as flood and drought increasing in number and severity,” said Clare Balboni, […]
Designing Climate Policy
Environmental protection seems to come and go, depending on the whim of the party that gets voted into office. A citizen might wonder, how is climate policy designed, anyway? Is there a method to the madness? New climate policy is developed through an iterative process that blends scientific data, public consultation, and political negotiation to meet long-term net-zero goals. Effective design usually combines “carrots” (tax credits, rebates, etc.) with “sticks” (carbon pricing, fines, etc.) to accelerate the transition. “Fighting climate change requires implementing ambitious carbon reduction policies,” said Thomas Bourany, postdoctoral research scholar of economics at Columbia University. “The free-rider problem is […]