Bonn, 14th November, 2017
Enel Foundation and the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements (HPCA), headed by Prof. Stavins (A. J. Meyer Professor of Energy and Economic Development), promote two side-events at the COP23 in Bonn.
Both panels played to full houses - a sure sign of the importance of the discussion and the papers which these were, in part, relating: "Linking Heterogeneous Climate Policies (consistent with the Paris agreement)" by Michael Mehling (MIT), Gilbert Metcalf (Tufts University) and Robert Stavins (Harvard Kennedy School) and, "The Political Economy of Carbon Pricing Policy Design" by Joseph Aldy (Harvard Kennedy School). These complementary papers are a tangible output of the ongoing relationship between Harvard and the Enel Foundation.
The first panel, a COP23 official side-event, was presided by the distinguished authors, together with Simone Mori (Enel Foundation Scientific Committee member) to bring an industrial stakeholder's viewpoint to the discussion. Andrei Marcu (International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD)), was also expected but being engaged in the ongoing “article 6” negotiations was not able to participate. Heterogeneous linkage was debated, in front of more than 160 people, from the academic and practical perspectives of multiple stakeholders and using legal, political and economic theory supported by real-life examples from multiple jurisdictions. Linkage is important because it can reduce the costs of achieving given emissions targets, allowing for the injection of these gains into further and more ambitious objectives.
The second event, hosted at the IETA pavilion, reviewed experiences with cap-and-trade and carbon- tax policies. This engaging session, held in a packed room, included panelists: Joseph Aldy in video conference from the US, Robert Stavins, Gilbert Metcalf, Christina Hood (IEA) and Daniele Agostini (Enel Group). At the center of the discussion, the choice and design of policy taken through the political-economic lens so as to highlight important public policy principles and options. One conclusion being that contextualized hybrid-policy designs can be shown to bring better and more pragmatic results than single option ones.
Audience participation was ample during both events.
At the end of the sessions, Robert Stavins commented: There is a long term, productive relationship ongoing between Harvard and the Enel Foundation and today’s panel sessions, before overflow audiences, was our most recent success.
Panel 1 - Side-event room 12 - Bonn Zone
"Implementing and Linking Carbon Pricing Policies"
Implementing and Linking different Carbon Pricing Instruments: Theory and practice (R.Stavins, M.Mehling, G.Metcalf)
Panel 2 - IETA Pavilion - Bonn Zone
"Carbon Pricing Policy Design"