The COVID-19 crisis has disrupted consumption, production and government policy-making. This post and the accompanying paper argue that, despite these challenges, if one were to adopt or strengthen carbon pricing—either carbon taxes or cap & trade—during the COVID-19 crisis would be the time to do it. While carbon pricing has been on the mouths of […]

Read More Carbon Pricing and COVID-19

At this moment, countries worldwide face three main crises: the COVID-19 pandemic, a looming economic crisis, and a liberal democracy crisis, often exemplified by the rise of populism. What role can we expect the climate change crisis to play in the publics’ mind in times like these? This is an important question to ask for […]

Read More How to engage people with climate change in times of COVID-19, economic distress and rising populism

Many countries and corporations are in the process of establishing net-zero GHG emission targets. One estimate suggests that such targets are in place or under discussion in countries representing over half of the world economy. This policy response to climate science, catalysed for many by the IPCC Special report in 2018 on Global Warming of […]

Read More Modelling net-zero emissions energy systems requires a change in approach

Increasing discontent from many – embodied in the gilets jaunes protests in France and around the world – shows that the ambitious policies necessary to tackle the climate emergency require public support and approval to succeed. Governments hold back from introducing ambitious climates measures out of fear of a potential public backlash. Citizens’ assemblies are […]

Read More It’s not what you say about climate change, it’s how you say it…

Climate change brings both challenges and opportunities for economic growth in oil producing countries, which are highly reliant on oil-export revenues. On one hand, if not managed properly, climate change affects both non-oil and oil-based economic sectors. Non-oil economic sectors such as agriculture, food security, water, fisheries, tourism, and infrastructure are already negatively affected by […]

Read More What are the challenges and opportunities for factoring climate action into the UAE’s and Oman’s economic diversification strategies?

COVID-19 has thrown the interconnected and complex systemic nature of our global society into stark relief.  It has also sparked many questions within the international climate change community of practice around the lessons of the pandemic for the climate crisis. In a paper for Climate Policy with Dr Brett Cohen, ‘Approaching climate mitigation policymaking in […]

Read More Responding to climate mitigation policymaking as a complex policy problem: the role of approach

We know that climate change causes more extreme weather – such as longer and more frequent droughts and more powerful hurricanes – and we know that this creates havoc in the societies affected. Risk pooling is amongst the measures that have been pointed to as a way of warding off the consequences of climate change. […]

Read More Addressing loss and damage through Parametric Insurance Schemes

The Climate Strategies and Climate Policy Blog is full to the brim with blog posts providing important scientific insights on how to fight climate change. Why does so little of this vast knowledge about what to do ultimately make it into real policy? In our recent outlook piece in Climate Policy, we argue that scientists […]

Read More Giving climate policy advice that makes a difference: targeting government agencies