Weatherhead Research Cluster on Global Climate Policy

This research cluster is designed to help strengthen and scale the work of the Global Climate Policy Project, in collaboration with the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability and MIT.

Addressing climate change requires global collective action, underpinned by international institutions, frameworks, and policies. However, current climate action is moving too slowly—due to unwieldy policy structures and obstacles presented by multipronged core missions, among other reasons.

This research cluster aims to accelerate the pace and scale of climate action by identifying and developing new global policy initiatives that address the challenges at hand. We leverage experts across many fields at Harvard and MIT to generate policy ideas, galvanize action, and engage students and alumni toward a deeper understanding of international climate coordination.

Generating Policy and Institutional Innovations: Our cluster explores an array of global climate policy and institutional designs that would enhance global coordination. We have initially identified the following potential topics where international coordination could help to align political and economic incentives to implement policy and institutional approaches that meaningfully and durably address climate change:

• Climate finance and economic development: Flow and management of investment capital from higher to lower-income countries; technology transfer; South-South cooperation on green development; and potential role for the voluntary carbon market to facilitate investment
• Energy: Recovery and management of strategic materials, including critical minerals; geopolitics of energy supply and demand; and infrastructure transitions
• Adapting to a changing climate: Migration; information provision (e.g., global insurance markets); and implications for global health
• Trade: Border adjustment policies; shipping and aviation; and industrial policy and tariffs
• Carbon removal: Preservation of global carbon sinks; emerging technologies such as direct air capture; role in preventing or ameliorating climate change
• Geoengineering: Governance; stratospheric aerosol injections; marine cloud brightening; and ocean fertilization
• Translating Ideas into Action: We aim to engage policymakers and stakeholders on international climate policy on the proposals developed through our work. We plan to host convenings in Cambridge and in national capitals, as well as events at New York Climate Week, the annual UN climate change negotiations, and similar venues, for constructive dialogue among scholars and stakeholders. Through a targeted strategy, we plan to amplify our policy proposals and briefs through media engagement—interviews, op-eds, social media—in addition to direct outreach to policymakers.
• Engaging Students and Alumni: Alongside policy proposals, our cluster engages students through interdisciplinary courses on global policy challenges, case studies, and other teaching materials for undergraduate and graduate courses—alongside crucial research assistantships and independent research programs. Our cluster leverages Harvard and MIT’s vibrant alumni network, many of whom work at international organizations like the World Bank and IMF, or in finance and trade ministries, in soliciting feedback on proposals.