You’ll be hard pressed to find a climate agenda that doesn’t include policies to encourage energy efficiency. It makes sense. Reducing energy consumption while lowering households’ electricity bills and greenhouse gas emissions at the same time—a win for everyone, right? While the concept of doing more with less energy is appealing, research is piling up that these policies often don’t deliver as promised and can be expensive ways to reduce carbon emissions. This as the Senate’s infrastructure bill provides an historic investment into one of the central energy efficiency programs researchers have pointed to as underdelivering. Today, I’m talking with Harris Public Policy assistant professor Fiona Burlig about this line of research and ways policymakers could improve the programs.
https://epic.uchicago.edu/area-of-focus/making-energy-efficiency-work/

The Roadmap: Do Energy Efficiency Programs Work? Lessons for Policymakers

Last November, the international community concluded its 26th United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland. Reviews were mixed. Among its successes, COP26 concluded the Paris “rulebook,” adopted a consensus decision on next steps, and produced a series of multilateral commitments on limiting methane emissions and deforestation, strengthening climate finance, and more. A surprise joint declaration between the United States and China offered hope that the world’s two largest economies and carbon emitters can still work together.

At the same time, despite substantial progress since adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015, the world remains off track to limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.  Key countries have not yet aligned their “nationally determined contributions” with the Paris Agreement’s temperature goal. How should the world view COP26? Is progress being made, or are countries avoiding the tough choices? How essential is the United States? And where do international climate negotiations go from here?

On February 1, EPIC hosted Sue Biniaz, Deputy to Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, who played a critical role in both the forming of the Paris Agreement and in the latest talks. Biniaz talked with EPIC journalism fellow and The New York Times climate reporter Lisa Friedman, who was in Glasgow covering the conference. They discussed the successes, setbacks and steps forward.

https://epic.uchicago.edu/events/event/an-insiders-look-at-cop26-successes-setbacks-and-the-future-of-international-climate-diplomacy/

An Insider’s Look at COP26: Successes, Setbacks, and the Future of International Climate Diplomacy

Energy demand continues to rise amidst impacts from geopolitical events. Yet, the United States remains committed to scaling up action at home and abroad to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Faced with energy security and climate concerns, could now be the time for a price on carbon?

Carbon pricing has received considerable bipartisan pushback, with some conservatives arguing it will raise energy costs and some progressives saying it could exacerbate socioeconomic inequalities. But the idea has also gained supporters from both political parties, with Democrats and Republicans mulling the idea as recently as last fall. Economists, meanwhile, are largely united in their belief that carbon pricing is the key to transitioning to a low-carbon future by changing behaviors and incentivizing innovation.

Join EPIC for a deep dive conversation into carbon pricing, and how a policy could be structured to help consumers, the climate and energy security. The event will include bp’s head of state government affairs and third-party advocacy, Phil Cochrane, as well as EPIC’s 2021-2022 policy fellows Heather McTeer Toney, vice president of community engagement for the Environmental Defense Fund, and former Congressman Carlos Curbelo (R-FL), who proposed a carbon tax-gas tax swap when he was in Congress. The event will be moderated by EPIC’s journalism fellow, Lisa Friedman, climate policy reporter for The New York Times.

Has Carbon Pricing’s Moment Arrived?

Developing countries represent a large source of potential future carbon emissions as they seek to rapidly industrialize their economies. Yet, if the world is to hold future warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, these countries must identify a cleaner model of growth that relies on low- or zero-carbon fuels instead of fossil energy.

This tension between maintaining access to inexpensive energy and addressing climate change was on full display last fall when countries met at the COP26 international climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland. India, already the world’s third-biggest emitter, committed that half of its energy come from clean sources by 2030. At the same time, the country pushed for a key change to the final agreement: weakening language from a “phase out” of coal to a “phase down.” India is part of a cohort of countries seeking aid from richer nations to help them make the transition away from fossil fuels.

How can developing countries balance their need for reliable energy with goals to transition away from fossil fuels? Are there signs of progress? And, what responsibility do developed nations bear for helping developing countries confront climate change?

On May 10, EPIC hosted a conversation on climate policy in the developing world with Indian Member of Parliament Priyanka Chaturvedi, former U.S. Deputy Climate Envoy Jonathan Pershing, program director of environment at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and EPIC Director Michael Greenstone. The event was moderated by EPIC’s journalism fellow, Lisa Friedman, climate policy reporter for The New York Times.

https://epic.uchicago.edu/events/event/can-the-world-phase-out-fossil-fuels-a-look-at-climate-policy-in-the-developing-world/

Can the World Phase Out Fossil Fuels? A Look at Climate Policy in the Developing World

After half a decade of low oil prices, things have changed pretty dramatically in recent months. Global benchmark oil prices are touching $120 a barrel this week, and gasoline prices in parts of the U.S. are topping out close to $7 a gallon. High prices have become a massive headache for policymakers already worried about rising inflation as the economy tries to restart following two years of pandemic shutdowns.
While it is easy to point to Russia’s war in Ukraine and the US and European embargo of Russian oil as the primary cause of high prices, the reality is that the oil market crisis is far bigger and more complex than the Russian situation alone. So how did we get here? What resolves this crisis? And ultimately, what does this mean for the transition to a green economy?
To help answer those questions, EPIC’s Executive Director Sam Ori recently sat down with Jeff Currie, global head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs. At Goldman, Jeff spends much of his time researching the oil market and forecasting oil prices to help guide investment strategies. Under his leadership, the commodities research team consistently ranks number one. Jeff is a CNBC Analyst of the Year and all around commodity market guru. And, he got his PhD from the University of Chicago.

What’s Really Causing High Oil Prices (And How Long Will They Last)?

Personalized Law

Presented by Omri Ben-Shahar, Professor of Law, the Leo and Eileen Herzel Professor of Law, Kearney Director of the Coase-Sandor Institute for Law and Economics

Omri Ben-Shahar spoke about his recent co-authored book, Personalized Law. The book presents a vision of a brave new world, where each person is bound by their own personally tailored law. “Reasonable person” standards would be replaced by a multitude of personalized commands, each individual with their own “reasonable you” rule. Skilled doctors would be held to higher standards of care, the most vulnerable consumers and employees would receive stronger protections, age restrictions for driving or for the consumption of alcohol would vary according to the recklessness risk that each person poses, and borrowers would be entitled to personalized loan disclosures tailored to their unique needs and delivered in a format fitting their mental capacity. Should we welcome this transformation of the law? Does personalized law harbor a utopic promise, or would it produce alienation, demoralization, and discrimination? The lecture asks how personalized law can be designed to deliver precision and justice and what pitfalls the regime would have to prudently avoid.

This event was recorded on June 8, 2022.

2022 Emeritus Luncheon

About a year ago, President Biden laid out his climate agenda. That agenda has since been roughly split into two Congressional actions: An infrastructure bill that passed last summer with bipartisan support, and the Build Back Better Act that still sits with the Senate.  Recently, EPIC Policy Fellow Heather McTeer Toney, vice president of community engagement for the Environmental Defense Fund, and EPIC Journalism Fellow, Lisa Friedman, a climate policy reporter for The New York Times, sat down to talk about where things stand with climate change in the United States.  Key to the discussion was the fact that the communities on the frontlines of climate impacts—often poor and minority communities—are seeing the money trickle down from the infrastructure bill and those communities are putting that money to work in building resiliency. In their eyes, Heather McTeer Toney said, we are already “building back better.”

Climate on the Frontlines

In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Ryan Kellogg, a professor at the Harris School of Public Policy and affiliated faculty at the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago. Kellogg discusses why carbon pricing, long the preferred emissions-reduction tool for most economists, actually may not be as efficient as other policy options. Kellogg and Raimi explore how economic theory has led many to favor carbon pricing, and why the conventional wisdom on carbon pricing may turn out to be wrong in the real world.

References and recommendations:

“Carbon Pricing, Clean Electricity Standards, and Clean Electricity Subsidies on the Path to Zero Emissions” by Severin Borenstein and Ryan Kellogg; https://www.nber.org/papers/w30263

“Superpower: One Man’s Quest to Transform American Energy” by Russell Gold; https://www.russellgold.net/superpower

Upending Conventional Wisdom on Carbon Pricing in the Power Sector, with Ryan Kellogg

The United States just took a big step in confronting climate change with the passing and signing of the Inflation Reduction Act, arguably the largest single investment in U.S. climate policy to date. It’s historic. But the bill passed with only Democratic support. Republicans, who rejected to the use of the reconciliation process to pass the bill, were unanimously opposed. Was there a realistic pathway to securing Republican votes? And what can be expected if Republicans take one or both Houses of Congress this November?
 
To help unpack those questions and more, New York Times climate reporter and EPIC Journalism Fellow Lisa Friedman sat down with former Republican Congressman Carlos Curbelo, who proposed a carbon tax bill and co-founded the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus while in Congress. Carlos is a policy fellow at EPIC this year.

Republicans & Climate Change: A Conversation with Carlos Curbelo

At the Energy Policy Institute, we love our charts. That’s why we’re bringing you analysis of today’s top trends and policies grounded in the latest evidence off the charts.

The Roadmap: Do Energy Efficiency Programs Work? Lessons for Policymakers

Off The Charts Energy Podcast

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