The Harvard Initiative on Reducing Global Methane Emissions will host a panel event at Climate Week NYC on September 25, focusing on recent research by Harvard faculty membrs. The Initiative is a research cluster of the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability at Harvard University.

Details:

Thursday, September 25, 2025; 10:30 am – 12:00 pm, followed by an informal lunch

Click here to register

The event will be held in Midtown Manhattan. You will be sent the location after registering, along with a QR code, which you will need to enter the venue.

Methane-emissions abatement can significantly reduce the magnitude of climate change and its impacts – especially in the near term – serving as an important complement to strategies that often take longer to develop, implement, and realize benefits, such as decarbonizing the economy, advancing carbon removal technologies, and strengthening adaptation efforts.

This panel event will examine opportunities for reducing methane emissions in the oil and gas sector – and the costs of doing so. It will focus, in particular, on recent research conducted by Harvard faculty estimating abatement costs of methane-emissions reduction. (For more on this research see discussion paper and brief here.)

Speakers:

Robert Stavins, Director, Harvard Methane Initiative; professor of environmental economics. Professor Stavins will provide an overview of the Initiative and set the stage for the event.

Ilissa Ocko, Senior Climate Scientist, Spark Climate Solutions. Dr. Ocko will provide a high-level, cross-source status report on the science and policy of methane-emissions reduction and methane removal.

Joseph Aldy, professor of environmental and energy economics at Harvard University. Professor Aldy will present his recent research – with Robert Stavins and others – on abatement costs for methane in the oil and gas sector.

Deborah Gordon, Senior Principal for Methane and Oil and Gas Climate Solutions with RMI, will then respond to the presentation of research and provide an experience-based assessment of opportunities in the sector.