Our City Could Become One of the World’s Greenest, but It Won’t Be Easy
by Paul Greenberg and Gernot Wagner

My columns, essays, books, as well as research and teaching materials like case studies.
by Paul Greenberg and Gernot Wagner
Speeding up the adoption of already proven and scalable technologies, and exposing the many hidden costs associated with fossil fuels, is a necessary goal. Achieving it will require new policies to guide investments in the right direction, and techno-optimists ought to be the loudest advocates.
In Davos treffen sich die Menschen, die das Geld und die Macht haben, wirklich etwas für das Klima zu bewegen: zum Beispiel, indem sie dringend nötige Investitionen in neue Technologien forcieren, oder indem sie die noch teure Technik als erste anwenden. Sie können es sich leisten.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission is considering a proposal to require some companies to disclose information relating to the risks they face from climate change. But the agency is coming under pressure to scrap or water down the proposal because of a recent Supreme Court decision.
In the face of a massive financing gap for climate-change mitigation and adaptation in developing countries, everyone accepts the need for more "creative" measures to unlock and redirect private capital. But proposals like carbon credits must be understood merely as stepping stones, rather than as lasting solutions.
Academics need to stop talking about climate change in ways that obscure its true dangers.
With more governments embracing industrial policies to transform their economies, picking the right technologies to subsidize will become a key challenge. To navigate the minefield of entrenched interests, techno-hype, and political pressures, policymakers must embrace a mix of openness and caution.
Although businesses and investors stand to make a lot of money if they can properly navigate the new risk environment, no one seems to have a good explanation for why we are where we are. Climate risks, in particular, have been systematically underestimated, and thus mispriced, for decades.
California is finally poised to lift parking requirements across the state. Here’s why that would be a huge win for the climate.
While no legislation is perfect, the US Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 will be a game changer for the transition to clean-energy sources, both in America and around the world. By doubling down on forward-looking industrial policy, the US is suddenly poised to give Europe, China, and others a run for their money.
by Gernot Wagner
“Diversifying risk is nigh impossible when it affects the entire planet.”
U.S. and European companies vulnerable to the clean energy transition have seen their stock prices go very different ways since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine highlights the crisis and opportunity of the energy transition
Building dense, mixed-use and largely car-free neighborhoods cuts carbon — and the benefits don’t stop there.
To ditch fossil fuels for good, we must combine a range of technologies and approaches.
Book excerpt
The regulations’ benefits outweigh their costs. That means we’re not maximizing their potential.
New carbon removal funds show the private sector is stepping up on climate, and that’s reason for optimism.
Hint: Reducing them isn’t the answer.