The Caribbean hurricanes of 2017 made clear that many of the islands’ power systems are woefully unprepared to withstand the increasingly severe weather events that climate change is generating. Perhaps no island exemplified this inadequacy better than Puerto Rico; one month after hurricane Maria barreled into the island, approximately eighty percent of its population was […]
On October 31st, the Guarini Center hosted an event in collaboration with the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, as well as Tesla Inc., to examine opportunities and obstacles to deploying renewable energy powered microgrids in the Caribbean region. The workshop brought together experts from international development organizations, non-profit institutions, academia, […]
Wednesday, September 20, 5:00-6:30pm NYU School of Law Snow Dining Room, 4th Floor 40 Washington Square South New York, NY 10012 REGISTER HERE Carbon pricing has an important role to play in providing a broad signal to shift the world’s economies in order to reach the objectives of the Paris Agreement. A recent report of […]
Authors: Richard Stewart, Michael Oppenheimer and Bryce Rudyk The Paris Agreement cemented a new framework for global climate policy based on the voluntary and non-legally binding emission reduction actions by both developed and developing countries. The building blocks strategy for climate action discussed in this Special Issue is well adapted to and strongly complements this […]
Since the adoption of the utility business model in the early 20th century, governments have relied on extending their national transmission grids to supply electricity to remote populations. Many countries in Latin America have followed this model. In the few cases where grids were not extended, electrification has been achieved by installing local diesel generation. […]
Authors: Bryce Rudyk and Danielle Spiegel-Feld For many Small Island Developing States (SIDS) the cost of producing electricity from imported fossil fuels is so high and the cost of renewable energy technology has fallen so significantly that transitioning towards renewable energy is likely to produce cost savings. A recent workshop at NYU School of Law, […]
Authors: Michael Oppenheimer, Bryce Rudyk, Richard Stewart The likely future global climate regime, based on nationally determined, non-legally binding commitments, is not by itself likely to produce emissions reductions sufficient to prevent dangerous climate change. There is, however, already significant mitigation occurring outside the context of the UNFCCC that could potentially be scaled up to fill the gap. This […]
This Policy Brief provides an updated analysis of the delivery of Fast Start Finance as of the start of the 19th Conference of the Parties (COP 19) in Warsaw, Poland. Download the policy paper here.
Authors: Richard Stewart, Michael Oppenheimer and Bryce Rudyk This article presents an innovative institutional approach to supplement and ultimately strengthen the lagging United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process for negotiating a climate treaty that commits major emitting and developed countries to greenhouse gas emissions limitations. The Durban Platform for Enhanced Action does […]
Authors: Richard Stewart, Michael Oppenheimer and Bryce Rudyk This essay proposes an innovative institutional strategy for global climate protection, quite distinct from but ultimately complementary to the UNFCCC climate treaty negotiations. Our “building block” strategy relies on a variety of smaller-scale transnational cooperative arrangements, involving not only states, but also sub-national jurisdictions, firms, and civil […]
