Lecture details
Friday, January 9, 2015
14:30-16:00p.m.
B218, PKU ShenZhen
Abstract:
In November 2014, China and the United States signed an ambitious agreement that commits each country to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions over the coming decades. I review the agreement and discuss the current state of U.S. climate policy in light of these new targets. The Obama Administration has proposed executive actions to limit climate pollution, but more effort will be required if the United States is to reach its new goals. Although there is little hope of federal legislation in the next two years, the U.S. could rapidly reduce its emissions if the balance of political power shifts in the future. Meanwhile, states continue to drive the policy conversation on climate and clean energy in the U.S. Perhaps the best news of all is the rapid development of successful businesses in the American wind and solar industries, whose influence at the state and federal levels could help transform the national energy sector.
Biography:
Danny Cullenward joined UC Berkeley as a Philomathia Research Fellow in September 2013, after completing his J.D. at Stanford Law School and his Ph.D. in Environment & Resources (E-IPER) at Stanford University.
Danny was the first J.D./Ph.D. student in E-IPER, where he was a David and Lucile Packard Foundation Stanford Graduate Fellow. His thesis research integrated insights from energy economics and law to support the development of effective, science-based climate policy at the state and federal levels. Working through Stanford’s Environmental Law Clinic, Danny focused on strengthening California’s climate policy through litigation, public comments, and regulatory development processes. With colleagues in engineering and law, he also created new methods for assessing the distributional impacts of national carbon tax legislation on household expenditures.
Before graduate school, Danny worked for MAP Royalty, Inc., an energy investment company in Palo Alto. At MAP, he was responsible for supporting energy education at Stanford, including co-teaching the University’s largest energy class and organizing a field research seminar to visit major energy installations in China. Previously, Danny was a Research Associate with the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development, where he conducted fieldwork on energy policy in China, India, Brazil, and Norway.
He holds a B.S. with interdisciplinary honors in Earth Systems, and an M.S. in Management Science & Engineering, both from Stanford.
