News

COP27: Princeton Student Blog
Nov. 8, 2022
The 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) is taking place in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt from November 6-18, 2022. This year, Princeton is sending a delegation of graduate students, researchers, and faculty to attend the proceedings. 

At…

Linking Energy and Wastewater Infrastructure a Triple Win for Climate, Water, and Operating Costs
Nov. 3, 2022
Author
Written by Keely Swan, Center for Policy Research on Energy and the Environment

Coal-fired power plants are the second largest water user in China, requiring large volumes of freshwater for processing coal and cooling, and contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions. Meanwhile, wastewater treatment plants generate millions of tons of sludge that must be disposed of and reclaimed water that can be reused for other…

Chronic Underfunding and Delays in Protecting Species Hinder the Endangered Species Act
Oct. 12, 2022
Author
Written by Columbia Climate School and Keely Swan, Princeton School of Public and International Affairs

Since its passage in 1973, the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) has been the strongest law to prevent species extinctions in the United States, and has served as a model of conservation policy to other nations. However, the law has resulted in relatively few successes in helping species recover. Out of more than one thousand species that have…

Carbon Dioxide Emissions More Costly to Society Than Previously Thought
Sept. 1, 2022
Author
Written by Resources for the Future, with Keely Swan, C-PREE
A multi-year study of the social cost of carbon, a critical input for climate policy analysis, finds that every additional ton of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere costs society $185—far higher than the current federal estimate of $51 per ton.

After years of robust modeling and analysis, a multi-institutional team led by…

Princeton Energy and Climate Experts Weigh in on the Impact of the Inflation Reduction Act
Aug. 25, 2022
Author
Written by Molly Seltzer, Office of Communications

The Inflation Reduction Act, passed in the Senate and House of Representatives and signed into law by President Biden last week, is the largest bill ever to address climate change, along with its provisions for healthcare and tax programs.

According to 

Fighting Climate Change is Wildly Popular, but Most Americans Don’t Know that Other People Feel the Same Way
Aug. 24, 2022
Author
Written by Molly Seltzer, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Just after the U.S. Congress passed the nation’s most substantial legislation aimed at battling climate change, a new study shows that the average American dramatically underestimates how much their fellow…

STEP PhD Student Brian Lee Receives Best Student Publication Award from National Taiwan University
Aug. 11, 2022
Author
Written by Keely Swan, Center for Policy Research on Energy and the Environment

Brian Lee, a PhD student in the Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy (STEP) cluster of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, was recently awarded the 2021-22 Best Student Publication Award in the College of Bioresources and Agriculture at National…

Blog: Recapping the Bonn Climate Change Conference (SB56)
July 13, 2022
Author
Written by Lisa Thalheimer, C-PREE Postdoctoral Research Associate

From 6 to 16 June 2022, the Bonn Climate Change Conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was held in Bonn, Germany. This smaller and more technical pre-conference — officially the fifty-sixth session meeting of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation …

Supreme Court Limits EPA’s Ability to Regulate CO2
June 30, 2022

In a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled to limit the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.

The decision for the case, West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency

Saving Paradise: Why We Must Protect Global Lands Now
June 10, 2022
Author
Written by B. Rose Huber, Princeton School of Public and International Affairs

Protecting land and water is essential to preserving habitats for wildlife and mitigating harmful climate change effects. This is why many countries — as well as the U.S. federal government and state of California, have pledged to protect 30% of all land and water by 2030, also known as the “30x30” initiative.

Achieving this target at…