Projecting global and regional environmental and economic change under different policies aimed at climate and air pollution mitigation and economic development

The Joint Program assesses global changes under climate, air pollution, and economic development policy scenarios.

Today’s climate challenge requires policies designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, but such policies will be effective only if they are realistic and without unintended consequences.Toward that end, our research aims to delineate the economic and climatic impacts of different policy decisions.To inform decision‑makers about the benefits and costs of different approaches, we are continuing to study carbon pricing, carbon taxes, emissions trading systems (ETS), Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) and other strategies in the U.S., Europe and China, and expanding our coverage to other regions such as Africa, South America and Asia. We are also projecting emissions pathways aimed at achieving short-term (NDCs) and long-term Paris Agreement goals (2°C, 1.5°C), net zero emissions and other climate targets.

Our air pollution studies evaluate climate policy co-benefits for improved air quality, and environmental and health impacts of specific climate and/or air pollution policies. These include focused studies of the impact of policies on aerosols, PM2.5, ozone and mercury.

Finally, we evaluate potential impacts of economic development policies on managed resources.

To learn how your organization can benefit from funding our research, please visit the Joint Program Sponsorship page.