Environment, Energy, and Climate Change
Climate change disproportionately affects people living in poverty and threatens to reverse decades of progress in global poverty alleviation. However, there is a critical lack of research on the real-world impacts of climate solutions. Leaders around the world need more evidence on the effectiveness of technological and policy innovations to implement solutions that address climate change and poverty.
In addition to supporting policymakers in applying evidence from randomized evaluations to their work, sector chairs and staff write policy insights that synthesize general lessons emerging from the research, condense results from evaluations in policy publications and evaluation summaries, and fund new research and scale-ups at the nexus of climate change and poverty alleviation through the King Climate Action Initiative.
In the news
If we can vaccinate the world, we can beat the climate crisis
J-PAL co-founders Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo write that rich countries' willingness to follow through on their promises to deliver Covid-19 vaccines to poorer countries and drastically reduce global vaccine inequity will test whether rich countries can be trusted to tackle global climate...
In the news
Punjab inks pact to launch emissions trading
In partnership with J-PAL and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, the Punjab government is developing an emissions trading scheme to reduce pollution in the state.
Blog
King Climate Action Initiative’s first round of projects: Testing and scaling climate solutions
J-PAL's King Climate Action Initiative announced the results of its first competition aimed at identifying innovative solutions at the intersection of poverty and climate change, serving as a critical first step in building a longer playbook of evidence-based and cost-effective climate change...
Case study
Strengthening third-party audits to reduce pollution
Evidence from a randomized evaluation informed the scale-up of a pollution audit policy in Gujarat, India.
Policy insight
Encouraging residential energy efficiency
Programs that encouraged investments in residential energy efficiency had limited returns in several impact evaluations in real-world settings. Relatively small impacts on energy savings coupled with low take-up meant that encouraging these investments through information campaigns and subsidies was...
In the news
A Breath of Fresh Air
J-PAL affiliated professor Nicholas Ryan, along with J-PAL's King Climate Action Initiative (K-CAI), are working with environmental regulators in Gujarat to measure the impact of cap-and-trade emission reduction strategies in India.
In the news
Cash for Carbon: Paying People to Conserve Trees Works, Study Finds
In this article and video, J-PAL affiliate Seema Jayachandran discusses her randomized evaluation of a payments for ecosystems program in Uganda.
Blog
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.
