Successful Post-Kyoto leadership on climate policy requires three elements: stronger goals, effective implementation, and the participation of the United States and China.
In a presentation at the opening plenary of the ACEEE/CEE 12th annual National Symposium on Market Transformation, Carnegie Energy and Climate Program Director William Chandler suggests achievable climate targets and policies for G8 countries and China. Governments can change climate behavior through four mechanisms: regulation, taxation, spending on R&D and subsidies, and providing information. To reach ambitious climate targets, policy-makers must understand how these tools interact to affect individual and industrial consumption of energy. This, in turn, requires better application of behavioral economics and grassroots organizing.