How Voters Can Assess New Climate Plans
While the U.S. government has announced its intention to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, most presidential candidates and many states have proposed climate plans of their own. How might voters determine if any of these plans can seriously address climate change?
Nov 14, 2019 GreenBiz.com
A Better Way to Think About Scooters
Unleashed in Santa Monica, California, last September, Bird and its competitors are now in 30 American cities and counting. Cities are responding to the scooter takeover with new regulations and increased law enforcement. But if officials rely only on 20th-century tools to integrate these 21st-century scooters into their cities, they will miss a big opportunity.
Aug 28, 2018 Los Angeles Times
When It Comes to Climate, Look for Vulnerabilities in Policy, Not Science
Federal policymakers have picked up on the concept of red teaming — actively seeking out one's own vulnerabilities. While red teaming may not make sense for climate science, it does offer great benefits when weighing climate policy options.
Aug 4, 2017 The Hill
Navigating the Uncertain Path to Decarbonization
Deep decarbonization can reduce the risk of climate change, and it offers opportunities to reimagine energy, transportation, and infrastructure. But it could also fail in many ways. Diverse, independent actors need a shared understanding of its complexity and deep uncertainty to design a solution to this challenge.
Jul 11, 2017 The RAND Blog
The Big Bet: Withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement
America's formal withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement could have far-reaching consequences for U.S. global leadership on many issues, not just on efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Jun 2, 2017 Inside Sources
Decision-Making Under Uncertain Climate Change: A Response, and an Invitation, to Bret Stephens
It is difficult to determine what actions balance society's goals where there is deep uncertainty about the consequences. The decisionmaking under uncertainty methodology provides tools to acknowledge uncertainty, avoid overconfidence, promote deliberation, and help craft consensus on sensible approaches to climate change.
May 9, 2017 Society for Decision Making Under Deep Uncertainty
With Trump in the White House, States Could Step Up on Climate Change
The new administration has expressed skepticism about climate change. But states may choose to pursue their own climate change initiatives.
Nov 26, 2016 Fox News Channel
Infrastructure Design Must Change with Climate
Until recently, infrastructure engineers could use data on past weather to predict future climate. But this is no longer an option. More and more, engineers must consider the effects of climate change. Failure to do so would threaten public safety.
Aug 12, 2016 Orange County Register
COP21: Ambition and Momentum
Negotiators in Paris achieved a historic breakthrough by adopting a fundamentally different, and likely more effective, institutional framework to address climate change. It builds on two concepts missing from past attempts to forge a global treaty: voluntary participation and adaptive policymaking.
Dec 17, 2015 The RAND Blog
COP 21 Not a Silver Bullet on Climate Change
The Paris climate conference cannot provide the engine that will drive a solution to the world's climate change challenge. Rather, it can best serve as a mediator that will help guide and structure the swirling, bottom-up process of radical change that is the best hope of preserving Earth's climate.
Nov 24, 2015 The RAND Blog
Climate Targets: Values and Uncertainty
Policymakers know that the risks associated with climate change mean they need to cut greenhouse-gas emissions. But uncertainty surrounding the likelihood of different scenarios makes choosing specific policies difficult.
Aug 11, 2015 Nature Climate Change News and Views
Future of Coastal Flooding
President Obama's executive order that directs federal agencies to plan and build for higher flood levels as they construct new projects in flood-prone regions will affect hundreds of billions of dollars of future public works projects. In an ideal world, planners would estimate the benefits and costs for each project, taking into account everything from the details of the local landscape to the potential for adaptive responses over time.
Feb 25, 2015 The Hill
U.S.-China Global Warming Deal Could Signal Shift on Climate Change
The U.S.-China agreement on limiting greenhouse gas emissions represents a significant and welcome shift in the international approach to addressing climate change. For the first time, a large developing country has agreed to limit its greenhouse gas emissions -- a crucial step since these countries have become the world’s largest sources.
Dec 9, 2014 U.S. News & World Report
New Coal Plant Rules Need Sustained Support to Succeed
Stopping climate change will require the United States and the rest of the world to virtually eliminate emissions over the course of the 21st century. Getting anywhere close to zero emissions demands sustained political and public support, driven by an energy production sector given enough incentives to make carbon reduction succeed.
Jun 30, 2014 The Sacramento Bee
Planning for Superstorms, Wildfires, and Deep Uncertainty
The path to climate change preparedness should start at the intersection of resilience and robustness — that is, building resilient communities with the individuals and organizations within those communities making robust decisions, ones designed to work well over a wide range of ever-changing conditions.
Apr 18, 2013 The RAND Blog
Evidence for Climate Change Is Overwhelming
In case after case, the theory that best fits the data is the one that also leads inexorably to the conclusion that human influence is one of the most important forces currently changing the climate, writes Robert J. Lempert.
Mar 8, 2012 Palisadian-Post
Climate Scientists Should Wear Adam Smith Ties
If it were really possible to explain millions of years of Earth data with a theory that doesn't also imply a recent human influence on the climate, some ambitious, self-interested team of scientists somewhere in the world would seek scientific renown by doing so, writes Robert Lempert.
Mar 30, 2011 Bloomberg Government
Redesigning the International Approach to Climate Change
Limiting climate change requires a revolution in the way the global economy generates and consumes energy. It is becoming increasingly clear that the current diplomatic approach should be redesigned to meet this immense political, technical, and social challenge, writes Robert J. Lempert.
Jul 1, 2010 The Huffington Post
Missed Opportunities in Johannesburg
Published commentary by RAND staff: Missed Opportunities in Johannesburg in United Press International on October 22, 2002.
Oct 22, 2002 United Press International
