In previous essays at my blog, I have described the university-wide initiative we launched at Harvard in 2023, “Reducing Global Methane Emissions,” a research and outreach cluster of the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability. In today’s blog post, I’m providing an update on some of our activities over the first year of this three-year initiative. If you’ve already received this update from a separate distribution list, I apologize for the duplication!  Celebrating Year One of the Harvard Initiative on Reducing Global Methane Emissions Overview The Harvard Initiative on Reducing Global Methane Emissions, supported by the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability at Harvard University, is celebrating its first anniversary. The Initiative, which was launched in July 2023, seeks meaningful and sustained progress in global methane-emissions reductions through research and effective engagement with policymakers, as well as with key stakeholders in business, nongovernmental organizations, and international institutions. Methane-emissions abatement can, in the near term, significantly reduce the magnitude of climate change and its impacts, giving the world time to “bend the curve” on CO2 emissions, conduct research on carbon removal, and, more generally, to implement longer-term strategies to mitigate and adapt to climate change. The Harvard Methane Initiative is one of five ambitious, multidisciplinary, three-year, University-wide climate-research clusters supported by the Salata Institute (with additional clusters to be added soon). As the Initiative celebrates its first anniversary, this update looks back at its interim achievements. A more detailed description of the Initiative can be found here. Research Research lies at the core of the Harvard Methane Initiative, primarily in the form of projects conducted by multidisciplinary teams of Harvard faculty members and other Harvard researchers that is improving our understanding of strategies to mitigate methane emissions. With seven research projects launched in the Initiative’s first year, and 11 research projects added in the Initiative’s second year, we list below some research briefs published by the Initiative, as well as press mentions. Research Briefs: Updating Estimates of Methane Emissions: Rising Emissions in Africa from Rice Agriculture (April 2024) EPA’s Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Methane Emission Rules (February 2024) Methane and Trade: Paving the Way for Enhanced Global Cooperation on Climate Change (July 2023) Updating Estimates of Methane Emissions: The Case of China (May 2023) Research News: Methane Sensors are Finding Dangerous Pollutants in Low-income Neighborhoods (March 2024)Methane Initiative Collaborator Releases Legal Analysis of IRA’s Methane Fee (February 2024) How Regulators Use Satellite Images of Methane (October 2023) Using History to Target Methane Super-Emitters (October 2023) Outreach: Events, Podcasts, and Resources The Harvard Methane Initiative places great importance on communicating the results of its research to key stakeholders. Following are reports on such outreach activities, conducted by the Initiative and collaborating Harvard faculty members. HEEP Director Robert Stavins Moderates Harvard Climate Action Week Panel on “Strategies for Mitigating Global Methane Emissions” (June 2024); article and video recording. Efforts to measure and mitigate the impact of methane emissions were the topic of discussion at a panel convened as part of Harvard Climate Action Week, sponsored by Harvard’s Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability and moderated by Harvard Methane Initiative Director Robert Stavins. The panel consisted of these leading experts: Mark Brownstein, Environmental Defense Fund; Jody Freeman, Environmental and Energy Law Program, Harvard Law School; Adam Pacsi, Methane Policy Advisor, Chevron; and Stephen Wofsy, Harvard Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Science. Reducing Methane Emissions in the Oil and Natural Gas Sector (February 2024). This animated video, narrated by Jody Freeman, Environmental and Energy Law Program, Harvard Law School, explains the U.S. methane-regulatory process. Regulation of methane emissions, especially in the oil and gas sector, is one of the Program’s principal research areas. See the Program’s methane home page here and several other items associated with the Program in this email update. “Analyzing COP 28: A Conversation with Jonathan Banks” (December 2023). “Environmental Insights” podcast hosted by Robert Stavins, Director of the Harvard Methane Initiative. Jonathan Banks is Global Director, Methane Pollution Prevention with the Clean Air Task Force (CATF), where he develops and directs all of CATF’s international efforts to reduce methane pollution from energy, waste, and agriculture. Global and U.S. Methane Emissions Reduction Progress. Jody Freeman, Director of the Environment and Energy Law Program, Harvard Law School, hosted a podcast in December 2023 as part of the Program’s “Clean Law” series, providing an insightful and wide-ranging overview of global and U.S. developments in reducing methane emissions. Harvard Side Event at COP28 on Reducing Global Methane Emissions (November 2023). This video recording of the Initiative’s panel event at the annual UN climate-change conference features James Stock, Professor of Economics and Director, Harvard Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability; Claire Henly, advisor, non-CO2 gases, US Presidential Envoy for Climate; Helena Varkkey, Project Lead, Initiative on Methane Emissions in Malaysia; Daniel Jacob, Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry, Harvard University; Robert Stavins, Director, Harvard Methane Initiative. Harvard Speaks on Climate Change: Satellite Detection of Methane Emissions (December 2023). This video recording features Harvard faculty members Daniel Jacob, Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry; Stephen Wofsy, Professor of Atmospheric and Environmental Science; and James Stock, Professor of Economics and Director, Salata Institute. “Emma Rothschild on Adam Smith, Methane Emissions, and Climate Change” (November 2023). “Environmental Insights” podcast hosted by Robert Stavins, Director of the Harvard Methane Initiative. See also blog post by Stavins summarizing the conversation. Emma Rothschild is the Jeremy and Jane Knowles Professor of History at Harvard University and the co-lead on a project supported by the Harvard Methane Initiative exploring the use of satellite data to inform short histories of global super-emitter sites. “Launching a Harvard Initiative to Reduce Global Methane Emissions” (July 2023). Blog post by Robert Stavins, faculty Director of the Harvard Methane Initiative. Blog titled “An Economic View of the Environment.” Harvard Hosts International Workshop on Remote Sensing of Methane (June 2023). At a workshop hosted by Harvard in September 2023, leaders of the global effort to track methane emissions with satellite technology discussed how to coordinate their technical approaches and other opportunities for collaboration. The workshop was organized by the United Nations Environment Programme’s International Methane Emissions Observatory, with the support of the Global Methane Hub. The Challenge of Aligning Interests in Pennsylvania Methane Cleanup (September 2023). A climate research workshop hosted by the Salata Institute explored solutions to the problem of abandoned oil and gas wells in Pennsylvania and beyond. “Methane and Climate Change Policy: A Conversation with Daniel Jacob” (September 2022). “Environmental Insights” podcast hosted by Robert Stavins, Director of the Harvard Methane Initiative. See also blog post by Stavins summarizing the conversation. Daniel Jacob is the Vasco McCoy Family Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry and Environmental Engineering at Harvard University and one the world’s leading experts on satellite-based detection and attribution of methane emissions. He is an active participant in the Harvard Methane Initiative. Harvard Environmental Economics Program Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business & Government Harvard Kennedy School79 John F. Kennedy Street Cambridge, MA 02138 USA © 2023 The President and Fellows of Harvard College https://salatainstitute.harvard.edu/projects/methanesalata_methaneinitiative@harvard.edu |
