Required Reading (everyone):

• Handout: J.M. Gilligan & M.P. Vandenbergh, “A framework for assessing the impact of private climate governance,” Energy Research & Social Science, 60, 101400 (2020)..
• Handout: K.S. Nielsen et al., “Improving climate change mitigation analysis: A framework for examining feasibility,” One Earth, 3, 325–336 (2020)..

Reading Notes:

These readings address two important aspects that are neglected in most analyses of climate policy:

1. Gilligan & Vandenbergh write about the obstacles that partisan polarization and political gridlock pose for effective action on climate change and offer ideas for how private-sector initiatives can contribute to making progress even when government remains paralyzed by gridlock. They also introduce a framework for analyzing the effectiveness of private-sector initiatives as well as government regulatory policy.
2. Nielsen et al. dig more deeply into the policy-analysis framework from Gilligan & Vandenbergh and suggest ways that integrated assessment models of climate, energy, and the economy could incorporate more realistic treatments of human behavior and of the political systems and how these more pragmatic approaches to policy analysis could improve reports on potential policy responses to climate change.