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News, ideas, and analysis from J-PAL staff and affiliated professors. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive monthly email updates.

Zambian farmers load truck

Affiliate Spotlight: Kelsey Jack

J-PAL affiliate Kelsey Jack is leading a movement of climate-focused research within development economics and poverty alleviation through her own research and as co-chair of the King Climate Action Initiative.
Chris Knittel lectures in front of a blackboard.

Affiliate Spotlight: Christopher Knittel on researching firm and consumer responses to environment and energy policies

Christopher Knittel is the George P. Shultz Professor and a professor of applied economics at the MIT Sloan School of Management. In this J-PAL affiliate spotlight, Chris sheds light on the research questions he’s pursuing to inform policies on greenhouse gas emissions and carbon co-pollution...
Four people wearing white hazard suits clean up oil on a beach

Rigorously evaluating Europe’s climate change response

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As part of a series on J-PAL’s expanding research on climate change issues, this post highlights the potential for using randomized evaluations to inform evidence-based climate policy in Europe.
clean energy rural india

New King Climate Action Initiative will design, test, and scale solutions to combat climate change and poverty

Today, in partnership with King Philanthropies, we announced the launch of the five-year $25 million King Climate Action Initiative (K-CAI) at J-PAL. The initiative will support innovative research and policy engagement to combat climate change and poverty around the world.
A flooded street

An agenda for climate change research in North America

As part of a blog series on J-PAL’s work related to climate change, this post highlights J-PAL North America’s contributions to the evidence base in environment, energy, and climate change to date and articulates our agenda for catalyzing more policy-relevant research.
A person is standing at the side of the road behind a cart of fruit, while a cloud of smog obscures the background.

Toward evidence-informed climate policy: A reflection on Earth Day 2020

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This Earth Day, amid the coronavirus pandemic, the connections between our health and well-being and that of the planet are more present than ever. COVID-19 and climate change share the dubious distinction of taking the greatest toll on the world’s most vulnerable.

From technology adoption to adaptation: supporting smallholder resilience to climate change

Without adaptation—defined broadly as “preparing for and responding to the disruptive effects of climate change,” it is predicted that 500 million small farms around the world will experience severe impacts on agricultural yields, affecting their income, food security, and well-being.

We now have a Paris Agreement rulebook. Where do we go from here?

At the United Nations Climate Change Conference in December 2018 (COP24), parties agreed to a rulebook that lays out how governments will measure, report and verify emissions under the Paris Agreement. Now countries need to act—and know whether policies and programmes are meeting their climate goals...