Research Cluster on Global Climate Policy

Four people in business attire are seated in a panel discussion on stage, with one man gesturing while speaking and the others listening attentively. — On September 20 during Harvard Climate Action Week, the Global Climate Policy cluster presented its report, “Building a Climate Coalition: Aligning Carbon Pricing, Trade, and Development” featuring, clockwise from front center, Catherine Wolfram, Cristina Fróes de Borja Reis, Ignacio García Bercero, Daouda Sembene, and Mari Pangestu (not pictured). Credit: Sarah Bastille Photography

Updates from COP30

By Jessica Barnard

The new Weatherhead Research Cluster on Global Climate Policy made a significant contribution at the thirtieth United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil. As a central venue for negotiating international climate action, COP30 provided the backdrop for the cluster—working within the broader Global Climate Policy Project (GCPP) at Harvard and MIT—to introduce a new framework for international cooperation on carbon pricing, emissions accounting, carbon offsets, and verification systems.

This framework was advanced through the Open Coalition on Compliance Carbon Markets, a new forum designed to promote multilateral coordination on carbon pricing and its interaction with international trade. Coalition participants include Brazil, China, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Mexico, Chile, Canada, Zambia, and Armenia, collectively responsible for approximately 40 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The initiative represents an emerging effort to align national carbon markets and avoid the fragmented landscape created by unilateral border carbon measures.

The project reflects sustained collaboration led by Catherine Wolfram, William Barton Rogers Professor in Energy and Professor of Applied Economics at the MIT Sloan School of Management, alongside GCPP faculty chairs Joseph Aldy and Dustin Tingley. Their analysis shows that a voluntary coalition coordinating carbon prices could substantially reduce global emissions while generating significant resources for climate mitigation and adaptation.

According to Arathi Rao, director of the Global Climate Policy Project, “This declaration marks an important first step. It sends a clear political signal that countries are serious about aligning compliance carbon markets. Brazil’s diplomatic leadership made this possible, bringing many major emitters together to shape the next phase of global climate policy.”

The Weatherhead Research Cluster on Global Climate Policy aims to expand and strengthen GCPP’s work in partnership with Harvard’s Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability and MIT. The collaboration enables engagement across disciplines, fostering new policy ideas, supporting collective action, and providing students and alumni with opportunities to deepen their understanding of international climate governance.