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In this Energy Policy Seminar, Shangwei Liu, Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Belfer Center's Environment and Natural Resources Program and Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, shares findings from a commentary in Nature to explain how China has been able to reduce its construction costs - and what other countries can learn.

Videos Energy Policy Seminar Repository

Sun, Jul 13, 2025

Pricing is one of the most impactful actions in meeting transportation policy outcomes. If pricing is implemented as a per mile basis, all vehicles pay the same rates and travelers can choose to drive less and save money with associated health, safety, and congestion benefits. Additionally, while many pricing policies impose new costs with the goal to fill revenue gaps, existing driving costs can also be “repriced” by converting fixed costs to variable costs. Repricing policies convert fixed costs such as insurance premiums, vehicle taxes, and registration fees to variable costs by charging them on a per mile basis. Repricing parking and congestion pricing also show potential. Learn more about these strategies and real-world examples.

Videos Transportation Repository

Mon, Jul 7, 2025

The latest installment of Harvard Voices on Climate Change features HBS’ Peter Tufano, Baker Foundation Professor, and Ishita Sen, Assistant Professor of Business Administration, as they explore how climate change is transforming insurance markets. From rising premiums and insurer retreat to questions of financial risk and equity, the conversation examines how the insurance sector is responding to climate impacts—and what it means for households, businesses, and policymakers.

Videos Harvard Voices on Climate Change Repository

Tue, Jun 10, 2025

Clean Transportation Series Hear from transportation agencies that are siting transmission, clean energy generation, and battery storage on their properties and rights-of-way to reap environmental and financial benefits and improve grid reliability.

Videos Transportation Repository

Tue, Jun 3, 2025

HACE welcomed Professor Cass R. Sunstein (College '75, HLS ’78), Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard Law School, for a discussion of his latest book, Climate Justice: What Rich Nations Owe the World—and the Future. This event was hosted in partnership with the Salata Institute and touched on the social cost of carbon and other themes in the book, as well as actions that Harvard Alumni can take locally and across the nation.

Videos Alumni Repository

Wed, May 21, 2025

It has been a dizzying few months as the Trump administration upends climate policy across the nation and around the world – attacking climate science, defunding research, sacking federal workers, and pushing the boundaries of the law. The Salata Institute held a virtual press conference on May 14, 2025, where Harvard experts answered journalists' questions on the legal, energy, health, and scientific dimensions of Trump’s climate-impacting moves.

Videos Repository

Thu, May 15, 2025

In light of recent executive actions and proposed budget cuts by the Trump administration—particularly targeting climate and environmental science programs at agencies like NOAA, NSF, NASA, EPA, and DOE—this discussion brings together two prominent science policy experts to provide context regarding the history and future of federal science funding. John Holdren, former science advisor to President Obama, and Maria Zuber, former MIT Vice President for Research, who has served in leadership roles on the National Science Board and the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), share their insights. Moderated by Harvard’s Dan Schrag, also a former PCAST member, the discussion explores recent funding decisions, broader policy implications, and prospects for future government support of science, with time for audience questions.

Videos Repository

Wed, May 14, 2025

Join us for a book talk with former Harvard Environmental Fellow Matthew P. Johnson and discussants Gabriela Soto Laveaga, Professor of the History of Science and Antonio Madero Professor for the Study of Mexico; Victor Seow, John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences; and Dustin Tingley, Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy. During the later twentieth century, Brazil's right-wing military dictatorship built a vast network of hydropower dams that became one of the world's biggest low-carbon electricity grids. Weighed against these carbon savings, what were the costs? Hydropower in Authoritarian Brazil unpacks the social and environmental impacts and the implications for a just energy transition.

Videos Repository

Wed, May 14, 2025

This webinar explores the critical role of nature-based solutions in transportation. Beginning with the social science perspective on these solutions, the session delves into real-world applications, including the Port Authority's recently completed Climate Risk Assessment and its influence on their upcoming Capital Plan. Attendees also learn about ecosystem restoration efforts and insights from indigenous perspectives, as well as gain valuable knowledge on nature-based strategies for coastal resilience.

Videos Transportation Repository

Tue, May 6, 2025

Harvard's Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability presents an engaging presentation and discussion on the critical role of ecological restoration in tackling the global climate and nature crises. Hear insights from a leading for-profit company in the sector, as we explore the global market for nature-based solutions. The event will highlights key achievements and lessons learned from the first three years of re.green, alongside the challenges faced in scaling the company's impact and the broader sector.

Videos Repository

Fri, Apr 25, 2025

In this Energy Policy Seminar, Basil Seggos, partner at the law firm Foley Hoag, will explore the question: can our state leaders re-emerge as a bulwark on environmental protection?

Videos Energy Policy Seminar Repository

Thu, Apr 24, 2025

"Captured Futures: Producing the inevitability of solar geoengineering" with Dr. Jeroen Oomen, Assistant Professor at the Urban Futures Studio at Utrecth University. Based on his upcoming Captured Futures: Rethinking the Drama of Environmental Politics (with Maarten Hajer, e-book out late April 2025), Jeroen Oomen argues that ever larger, ever riskier, and ever more speculative technological ‘solutions’ now maintain the legitimacy of politics as usual. Increasingly, interventions such as solar geoengineering appear as a political necessity to maintain the suggestion that climate politics can still succeed – inhibiting both political and scientific deliberations about the feasibility and desirability of these technological inventions.

Videos SGRP Repository

Tue, Apr 22, 2025

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Breaking the Cost Escalation Curse of Nuclear Power

Pricing and Repricing Leveraging pricing signals to achieve policy outcomes

Harvard Voices on Climate Change: Can Insurance Keep Up with Climate Change?

Energy Transition Technology in Transportation Rights Of Way

HACE Earth Month Programming: Professor Cass R. Sunstein

Ask Harvard Faculty | Climate Policy Under Trump: What We've Learned and What We're Watching

The Future of the U S Climate and Environmental Science Funding

Hydropower in Authoritarian Brazil: An Environmental History of Low-Carbon Energy, 1960s-1990s

Nature Based Solutions for Transportation Resilience

The Business Case for Nature Opportunities, Achievements and Challenges in Restoring Native Tropica

Environment at a Crossroads: Can States Lead as the Feds Retreat?

Captured Futures: Producing the inevitability of solar geoengineering