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Policy Briefs

Illuminating Current Debates on Climate through Academic Insight: The Policy Brief Series

Drafted by economists who have shared their latest research in our Young Scholars’ webinar series, the Policy Briefs analyze key debates related to addressing climate change. The authors apply their expertise to elucidate the intricacies of reducing greenhouse gas emissions (“mitigation”) and adapting to current and expected climate impacts. By contextualizing recent scientific findings within policy conversations, the series illuminates evidence-based pathways for climate action. Both timely and thoughtful, the Policy Briefs aim to elevate discussions beyond rhetoric to the substantive domain of academic research.

Regulating ESG Disclosure

Marina Emiris (National Bank of Belgium), Joanna Harris (University of Chicago) and François Koulischer (University of Luxembourg) use new data on securities holdings in Europe to test these channels, focusing on the introduction of ESG disclosure rules for mutual funds.

The Role of Corporate Bond Markets in Financing the Green Transition

Yasmine van der Straten (University of Amsterdam) looks at how corporate bond investors price green innovation in the presence of climate transition risks and which investors have a higher demand for bonds issued by emission-intensive firms that are transitioning to greener technologies,

Systemic Climate Risk

Honorable Mention from the 2024 E-Axes Forum Research Committee
Tristan Jourde (Banque de France) and Quentin Moreau (The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) introduce a market-based framework for assessing how extreme climate risks affect the financial sector and for monitoring exposures to both physical and transition risks in near real time.

The Distributional Consequences of Climate Change: Housing Wealth, Expectations, and Uncertainty

Jeffrey Sun (University of Toronto) explores how changing and uncertain climate change expectations have the potential—through housing prices—to dramatically reallocate wealth across areas and between the rich and the poor.

When the Best is the Enemy of the Good: Minimizing the Impact of Political Constraints on Climate Policy Costs

Adam Bauer (University of Illinois Urbana-Campaign, World Bank), Stéphane Hallegatte (World Bank), and Florent McIsaac (World Bank) develop a modeling framework to understand how political constraints change the least-cost approach to achieving climate objectives.

The Double-Edged Sword of Firm’s Net Zero Commitment on the Carbon Risk Premium

Honorable Mention from the 2024 E-Axes Forum Research Committee
Keith Jin Deng Chan (HKUST) and Wilson Tsz Shing Wan (HKUST) demonstrate that a company’s net-zero commitment can increase or decrease the carbon risk premium associated with its equity, depending on the latter’s transition readiness.

The Optimal Design of Green Debt

Winner of the 2024 E-Axes Forum Research Prize
Adelina Barbalau (Alberta School of Business) and Federica Zeni (World Bank) develop a theoretical framework for understanding how to structure debt contracts to curb greenwashing while maximizing environmental outcomes.

The Economics of Biodiversity Loss

Olivier Wang (New York University) develops an ecologically-founded model that captures how biodiversity affects economic activity. This model structure allows the authors to characterize ecosystem fragility—how sensitive ecosystem services are to further biodiversity loss.

Sovereign Debt Sustainability, Carbon Budgets, and Climate Damages

Caterina Seghini (Banque de France) examines how mitigation costs and climate damages affect the debt limits of advanced economies

The Optimal Design of Climate Agreements

Thomas Bourany (University of Chicago) proposes a novel approach to tackle global warming through an optimized climate club model. The research suggests implementing a carbon tax of $100 per ton of CO2 and moderate tariffs of 50% on non-members, potentially reducing emissions by 33% and increasing global welfare by 5%.
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Joint Statement on the New Common Quantified Goal (NCQG) of Climate Finance and Its Delivery on the 1.5°C Paris Agreement Goal

We call for an urgent revision of the New Common Quantified Goal of Climate Finance. We are on a current 2.8°C trajectory, and 2°C Goal of the Paris Agreement is not good enough. It is vital to small island nations, and the world, to deliver on the Paris Agreement goal of 1.5°C. Every 0.1°C counts.

COP29: The Economic Case for a New Common Quantified Goal of Climate Finance (NCQG) at Scale

Patrick Bolton (Imperial College London) and Alissa M. Kleinnijenhuis (Cornell University, Imperial College London) assess the importance of New Common Quantified Goal (NCQG) in order to meet the Paris Agreement's goals and appropriately update the Nationally Determined Contributions. Importantly, they show that climate finance at scale for developing countries is not just equitable, but also in developed countries’ economic interest.

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