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From the Margins: How Gender and Kitchens Got Sidetracked in the Energy Debate

02.9.24

Disproportionately affecting women, lack of access to clean fuels for cooking leads to 3.7 million untimely deaths annually from household air pollution.

Gender, Race and Identity

Between a rock and a hard place: The energy transition in Mexico as a consumer

06.16.23

In 2022, Naturgy — Mexico City’s natural gas monopoly — left me without service for three weeks. Working in the renewable energy sector, I knew what to do: end the gas contract and get both an electric stove and a water heater. That is the recipe I share in any energy transition report: “electrify” to […]

Environment and Energy

Busting the Cycle: Forming Clean Energy Markets in Oil-Dependent States

06.20.22

Calls for a green industrial revolution and transition away from greenhouse gas (GHG) emitting forms of energy are anything but novel. The newest to make the call is the International Energy Agency (IEA), which calls in a 2021 report for immediately halting oil and gas development and achieving net-zero emissions from electricity generation by 2040.1 […]

Exxon and the Inevitable Decline of Fossil Fuels

12.21.20

The reality of climate change, and fossil fuels’ inescapable role in it, means the end of the fossil fuel industry is inevitable. But, how we transition away from fossil fuels is just as important as when. 

Skyline of Downtown Dubai with Burj Khalifa from a Helicopter

Event Review, 2018 Annual Harvard Arab Conference: Technology and innovation: Inseparable couple?

01.4.19

Technology and innovation have the potential to ameliorate an impending regional energy crisis while creating space for young people to flourish.

Corruption, red tape and the flagging promise of cheap renewable energy in Mexico, by Carlos Guadarrama

09.12.18

Carlos is an MPAID class of 2018 alumnus. He was an Energy Sustainability Scholarship recipient by the Mexican Federal Government. Before HKS, he lead the Getting Electricity and Dealing with Construction Permits indicators in Spanish-language Doing Business reports at the World Bank.   Saturday, June 2nd, 2018, the day I flew back to Mexico City hoping to finally settle […]

Energy Dependence and Environmental Conservation in Alaska

09.12.17

BY MICHELLE LIU The placards are subtle. I missed the first small signs with dates on the Exit Glacier Trail. I was rushing to hike the Harding Ice Field and I was preoccupied anticipating Alaska’s unpredictable weather and my next eight miles. However, even I noticed placards with random numbers 1891, 1899, 1917…along the rainforest […]

Saudi power lines

Reaching for the sun: Saudi Arabia embraces renewable energy

06.27.17

With an economy long buoyed by oil, Saudi Arabia is beginning to feel the pinch for the first time in decades. The Saudi economy grew at a meager rate of 1.4% in 2016, as the war effort in Yemen and low global oil prices began to take their toll. This forced the government to raise $9 […]

Environment and Energy

Iran’s presidential elections: What next for Rouhani?

06.24.17

He may be a political insider, but Hassan Rouhani ran his 2017 presidential campaign as an anti-establishment candidate. More than 40 million Iranians voted, and despite the close election President Rouhani won a second term in May with 57% of the votes. When the election results were announced, thousands of people spilled into the streets dancing, singing, […]

Democracy and Governance

Science and Diplomacy for Solving Humanity’s Big Issues: U.S Secretary of Energy, Ernest Moniz on Iran

04.23.16

  The Harvard Kennedy School hosted Secretary Ernest Moniz as part of The Robert McNamara Lecture on War and Peace, co-sponsored by the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs on April 14th, 2016. Dr. Moniz focused a large part of his discussion on the Iran negotiations, specifically the role science played in fostering an […]

Environment and Energy

Beyond the Paris Agreement: COP21’s Greatest Victories

12.18.15

BY JOELLE THOMAS “I see no objections. The Paris Agreement for the climate is adopted.” A decidedly stoic Laurent Fabius—President of the COP21 talks—brings down his leaf-shaped gavel. The room erupts in cheering, as exhausted and emotional negotiators from 196 countries take to their feet. Al Gore is beaming. The cries echo along Le Bourget’s […]

Last Chance to Save the World? COP21 in Perspective

11.23.15

BY JOELLE THOMAS Before the attacks in Paris last weekend, French President Hollande had been calling the upcoming climate conference the “last chance to save the world” from catastrophic climate change. These words seem to take on a deeper meaning as Paris, shaken yet resilient, is gearing up to welcome 50,000 people, including 90 heads […]

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