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[Episode #84] – Designing Climate Solutions

If you wanted to design a set of policies that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, right now, where would you start? How would you figure out which sectors of the economy to target in order to have the maximum impact? Which policies would you choose? How would you go about designing them?

And which sectors of the economy would you target in order to reduce emissions the most? Transportation, maybe? Improving the efficiency of our buildings? Would you believe those two sectors rank at the very bottom of the list?

In this episode, we interview one of the authors of a new book by Energy Innovation titled Designing Climate Solutions, which is like a how-to manual for climate policy, identifying the major sectors of the economy that we should target to eliminate as much greenhouse gas as quickly as possible, and the specific policies that can achieve those reductions. We guarantee you will find some surprises in this one!

Guest:

 Robbie Orvis is the Director of Energy Policy Design at Energy Innovation and a co-author of their new book, Designing Climate Solutions. Robbie works on the Energy Policy Solutions and Power Sector Transformation programs, where he conducts analysis on which policies can best meet climate and energy goals, including co-leading a project for the Chinese government providing policy guidance for its 13th Five Year Plan and climate strategy. Robbie’s power sector work focuses on policy design for wholesale electricity markets and energy efficiency programs. Robbie holds a Master of Environmental Management from Yale University and a B.S. from UC Berkeley.

On Twitter: @robbieorvis

On the Web:

Designing Climate Solutions page

Robbie’s page at Energy Innovation

Recording date: November 26, 2018

Air date: December 12, 2018

Geek rating: 5