Aseem Prakash

University of Washington | UW

Decarbonization policies are being stymied by political conflict. Local communities might oppose decarbonization infrastructure such as solar farms, mines, or transmission lines if they view these projects as imposing high costs on them in relation to their benefits. To decarbonize, the automobile industry seeks to shift from the internal combustio...

The proliferation of country and state-level net zero-emission commitments, rising energy costs, and the quest for energy security in the wake of the Ukraine crisis have renewed the debate about the future of energy sources. As opposed to elite discourse, the energy policy preferences of the public remain less explored. While many public opinion su...

Decarbonization creates a global public good but imposes costs on specific communities such as those employed in the fossil fuel supply chain. “Just Transition” (JT) policies that compensate cost-bearing communities are expected to build political support for decarbonization. In developing countries, JT policies are often financed by foreign aid an...

Some climate groups have employed disruptive but non-violent tactics to draw public attention to the slow progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In 2022, a new disruptive tactic emerged: vandalizing art and museums. In this Brief Communication, we describe the key findings which are based on an exhaustive search of media articles and social...

What motivates members of the U.S. House of Representatives to support legislative action (LA) on climate issues? Although the U.S. Congress has passed very few climate bills in the last 20 years, there has been a substantial number of LAs in the form of votes on bills, resolutions, and amendments. Because climate issues might not get legislative t...

Climate advocates and finance industry titans suggest firms’ climate policies have economic payoffs. We examine whether stock markets reward firms that have joined the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), a voluntary climate program that verifies firms’ emission reduction pledges. Our analysis of S&P 500 companies’ quarterly stock prices for 20...

Evidence is mounting that the 1.5 °C goal of the Paris Agreement is unrealistic. But, contrary to many in the scientific community, major NGOs have remained steadfast in their support for this target. We argue that this is because “unrealistic” or aspirational targets can serve important political objectives, including becoming focal points for coa...

Can moral appeals motivate individuals to choose less carbon-intensive diets? In a survey-embedded forced-choice conjoint experiment involving 1520 US respondents, we asked participants to compare two menus across six dimensions: (1) burger/sandwich patty type and its corresponding carbon footprint value, (2) calories, (3) protein, (4) price, (5) i...

Milton Friedman famously argued that the social responsibility of business is to maximize shareholder wealth. Friedman’s view is challenged by the proponents of corporate social responsibility who suggest that firms should consider the interests of all stakeholders, and not just shareholders. Following the stakeholder approach, BlackRock’s CEO Larr...

Renewable energy (RE) facilities provide a global public good of climate mitigation but impose local costs such as landscape disruption and harming the rural character. Because of their land-intensive nature, utility-scale RE facilities tend to be located in rural areas with plentiful and cheap land. In the U.S., about every fourth county (729 of 3...

Climate change is fundamentally a political problem; it is not merely a technical or economic challenge but rather an arena for sharp conflicts over the distribution of gains and losses and the associated ethical challenges. However, as Keohane (2015), Javeline (2014), and Green and Hale (2017) noted in PS: Political Science & Politics and Perspect...

In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the national average gasoline price in the U.S. rose sharply. In response, President Biden wanted Congress to temporarily suspend the 18.4 cents per gallon federal gasoline tax. However, critics pointed out that gas tax suspension could: (1) undermine U.S. climate policy goals by encoura...

The voluntary and civil society sector plays important roles in climate policy, mitigation and adaptation, especially given the pervasive government and market failures in this policy domain. Does the quality and quantity of scholarship published in nonprofit-focused journals reflect the topic’s importance? This article reviews voluntary sector sch...

The livestock sector accounts for 14.5% of global greenhouse emissions. Using an online survey experiment (n = 1200) in Italy, we examine respondents’ willingness to support a public petition for a meat tax sponsored by a nongovernmental organization (NGO) after priming them with information on the environmental impact of meat and an embedded moral...

Although ideas about preventive actions for pandemics have been advanced during the COVID-19 crisis, there has been little consideration for how they can be operationalised through governance structures within the context of the wildlife trade for human consumption. To date, pandemic governance has mostly focused on outbreak surveillance, containme...

Maintaining peace and conserving biodiversity hinge on an international system of cooperation codified in institutions, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine brings recent progress to a crossroads. Against this backdrop, we address some implications of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for the governance of biodiversity conservation both within and beyond Ru...

Across the world, governments have enacted policies to discourage fossil fuel use. Scholars have explored whether carbon pricing policies, such as carbon taxes and cap-and-trade, reduce emissions. In the present study, we examine whether carbon pricing spurs climate innovation. In doing so, we test the Porter−Linde hypothesis, which suggests that f...

The 2015 Paris Agreement outlined the goal to limit temperature increases below 2°C, preferably to 1.5°C. In response, several countries have announced net-zero emission pledges (NZEP). The credibility of these pledges varies because countries have committed to different target years. Moreover, some pledges outline sectoral as opposed to economy-wi...

Environmental protection efforts commonly make use of two types of government interventions: command and control policies (C&C) and market-based instruments (MBIs). While MBIs are favored for their economic efficiency, visible prices on pollution may generate political backlash. We examine whether citizens are more likely to support policies that t...

Climate issues widely feature in policy discussions, but it is not clear if voters reward politicians who champion climate policies. In some countries, candidates and parties with an explicit climate agenda have done well in elections (Switzerland and Germany being recent examples) while in other cases, voters have either ignored climate issues or...

Do visible industrial accidents damage firms’ reputations and depress their stock market returns, and do these penalties spill over to other firms in the industry? On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico leased by BP exploded and sank, causing 11 deaths and the largest marine oil spill in US history. We exami...

This paper explores whether perceptions about distributive inequity shape public support for energy transition policies. The introduction of electric vehicles (EVs) is an important policy priority for the decarbonization of road transportation. Because high sticker prices restrict EV sales, governments offer consumers EV subsidies. However, some ar...

Some politicians employ harsh rhetoric demanding that government deny public services such as food, housing, and medical care to immigrants. While nonprofits assist immigrants in this regard, their work is sustainable only if private donors support them. Using a survey experiment, this article examines whether donors’ willingness to support a chari...

This paper examines whether US cities’ membership in voluntary climate clubs improves the municipal bond ratings issued by S&P, Moody’s, and Fitch. We suggest that only clubs focused on climate adaptation could help cities signal their resilience to climate risks and their ability to service their municipal bonds. Yet, club membership is only a sig...

The decarbonization of the electricity sector is leading to a substantial increase in the demand for wind energy. Will tribal nations, which account for 7.8% of utility-scale wind capacity, benefit from this policy shift? To examine why tribal nations vary in translating wind energy potential into wind installed capacity, we have constructed an ori...

Bangladesh faces a severe rural to urban migration challenge, which is accentuated by climate change and the Rohingya crisis. These migrants often reside in urban slums and struggle to access public services, which are already short in supply for existing slum dwellers. Given the inadequacy of governmental efforts, nonprofits have assumed responsib...

Aviation emissions account for about 2.5% of global carbon emissions, and by 2050 their share could rise to 22%. This review article explores how climate scholars view the role of structural (policy-or business-focused) or agentic (individual-focused) approaches in reducing these emissions. From a structuralist perspective, aviation emissions requi...

Aviation emissions account for about 2.5% of global carbon emissions, and by 2050 their share could rise to 22%. This review article explores how climate scholars view the role of structural (policy-or business-focused) or agentic (individual-focused) approaches in reducing these emissions. From a structuralist perspective, aviation emissions requi...

On December 9-10, President Biden will hold a virtual Democracy Summit to double down on U.S. commitments to defend democracy. Yet, beyond grand statements, what can the Biden Administration realistically hope to achieve from the Summit? After all, prior U.S. efforts to promote democracy abroad have largely failed. A key reason is that American dem...

We examine public support in Japan for overseas climate adaptation assistance via foreign aid and accepting immigrants. Using a survey-embedded conjoint experiment (N=2,815), we focus on seven attributes of an adaptation policy package: (1) the continent in which the country is located; (2) the types of extreme weather event this country faces; (3)...

We examine public support in Japan for overseas climate adaptation assistance via foreign aid and accepting immigrants. Using a survey-embedded conjoint experiment (N=2,815), we focus on seven attributes of an adaptation policy package: (1) the continent in which the country is located; (2) the types of extreme weather event this country faces; (3)...

Institutional arrangements are key for problem-solving; therefore, pandemics require a strong governance response. While a plethora of ideas about prevention actions for pandemics have been advanced, there has been relatively limited consideration for how those can be operationalized through governance macro structures, particularly within the cont...

Policy processes are affected by how policymakers assess public support for a policy. But is public support for a given policy itself affected by characteristics of the policy process, such as cooperation or confrontation amongst policy actors? Specifically, if different branches of government hold conflicting positions on a given policy, do clashe...

Political problems are impeding the realization of the net-zero emissions by 2050 target. It is clear that mitigation alone will not be able to deliver on it. In any case, the recognition of “net” in net-zero acknowledges that carbon capture will play a role in achieving the 2050 target. So, instead of quietly smuggling it in in the policy mix, why...

We published a commentary today: "Pew Reports Widespread Support For Low-Emission Lifestyles. Will Individuals Then Cut Down On Air Travel?" As per a recent Pew survey, 80% of respondents are willing to adopt low-emission lifestyles. Is this cheap talk or people are actually willing to walk the climate talk? We suggest testing this in the context...

Climate change requires switching to electricity from fossil fuels. The discussion tends to focus on how to generate electricity using renewables, but less on how to move it reliably to consumers. Storms, which will become more frequent and severe, lead to power outages. Without a reliable electricity supply, life will shut down. With EVs, we will...

We published a commentary in response to Larry Fink’s proposal for annual $100 billion for climate mitigation aid. Fink’s argument is that developing countries do not have the resources to decarbonize, overseas institutional investors can help but fear political risks. He suggests that $100 billion aid can reduce these risks, without clarifying how...

The reappointment of Jerome Powell for another term as the Fed Chairman is very much in news. One complaint his critics have is that Powell is insufficiently committed to "mainstreaming" climate issues in Fed decision making. Sandra Ahmadi and I published a commentary on "Climate Change and Price Stability Mandates at Central Banks" that examines t...

An extensive literature identifies conditions under which markets and states work efficiently and effectively towards their stated missions. When these conditions are violated, these institutions are deemed to show some level of failure. In contrast to the study of market and government failures, scholars have tended to focus on non-governmental or...

This paper examines whether U.S. cities’ membership in voluntary climate clubs improves the municipal bond ratings issued by S&P, Moody’s, and Fitch. We suggest that only clubs focused on climate adaptation could help cities signal their resilience to climate risks and their ability to service their municipal bonds. Yet, club membership is only a s...

We published a piece on forbes.com entitled, U.S. Climate Agenda In The Aftermath Of The Afghanistan Withdrawal. Could American unilateralism on Afghanistan affect Biden’s climate agenda? One may be tempted to say no, because climate change and Afghanistan are unrelated issues. However, if Afghanistan continues to swamp the U.S. news cycle with th...

New York and Seattle are holding Mayoral elections but candidates are not talking about climate change. This is surprising because both are liberal cities with a sizable climate constituency. Moreover, both cities have experienced the impact of extreme weather events. We suggest that climate issues will get traction when their local consequences ar...

Many would think of wildfires, droughts, floods, and now the IPCC report as "focusing events" that would lead to new and vigorous climate policy. Yet, there is a sense of climate lethargy. There is also policy confusion. Biden wants OPEC to increase oil production because gas prices are too high. Issues such as Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan wil...

Branson and Bezos are in a strange space competition. The problem is that space tourism that they want to promote is a carbon intensive and an elitist activity. And at the same time, they seek to be recognized as climate leaders. With the effects of climate change grimly visible everywhere -- droughts, forest fires, water shortages, hurricanes and...

There is overwhelming consensus about the science of climate change. Climate politics, however, remains volatile, driven by perceptions of injustice, which motivate policy resistance and undermine policy legitimacy. We identify three types of injustice. The first pertains to the uneven exposure to climate change impacts across countries and communi...

Dutch Courts have found Shell to be liable for emissions consumers generate when they use gas and diesel, and asked for drastic reductions. Chevron's shareholders want to company to assume responsibility for such emissions as well. ExxonMobile's shareholders elected 2 new directors (over the objections of the management) that support climate issues...

Many parts of the world are suffering from unprecedented heat waves. Urban areas are particularly vulnerable, especially the neighborhoods that lack canopy cover. This where poor and underprivileged households often reside. To correct tree inequity, we propose that firms that seek climate leadership should commit to correcting the tree inequity in...

Exogenous shocks such as pandemics have a profound influence on how citizens think about their country. We explore how the successful handling of COVID‐19 shaped South Korean citizens' perception of their country. Empirically, we compare data from surveys conducted in August 2019 and April 2020. Using regression on matched samples, we find a signif...

We highlight a mechanism for the coproduction of research with local communities as a means of elevating the social relevance of the geosciences, increasing the potential for broader and more diverse participation. We outline the concept of an “Equitable Exchange” as an ethical framework guiding these interactions. This principled research model em...

Bangladesh faces a severe rural to urban migration challenge, which is accentuated by climate change and the Rohingya crisis. These migrants often reside in urban slums and struggle to access public services, which are already short in supply for existing slum dwellers. Given the inadequacy of governmental efforts, nonprofits have assumed responsib...

Cloé Zhao’s movie Nomadland (based on Jessica Bruder’s novel) is receiving rave reviews. It also has important implications for the climate debate. The movie vividly reveals the economic challenges from economic shocks arising from business cycles and globalization. As the world moves away from fossil fuels – which it should – the ensuing economic...

March 22 was World Water day. It seems major conflicts of the future will be around water. Inequities in water access are a serious issue -- and will become more serious due to climate change. Water distribution has an important political angle -- as is any issue concerned with the allocation of a scarce resource. Here is a commentary Sijeong Lim a...

Political polarization is shaping the shouting match over India’s new farm laws. For BJP supporters, these laws give farmers the freedom to decide where and to whom they sell their crops. The opposing camp insists that the new farm laws reflect Prime Minister Modi’s dictatorial tendencies and allow big businesses to take over the farming sector. Ne...

Zero-emission is now the lodestar for climate policy. It is inspirational and evocative. It helps political mobilization by identifying a measurable target to assess policy progress. But is it achievable? Just as goals without budgets are delusions, the zero-emission target without a supply chain is a sound bite. Moreover, might a singular focus on...

A key obstacle to nuclear energy as a decarbonization policy is the public perception of risks of radiation leaks from reactors. In particular, the “not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY)" syndrome suggests that individuals oppose nuclear reactors in their neighborhoods because they overestimate their risks. Arguably, such perceptions would be acute for those...

ifty years ago, Milton Friedman made the case that socially responsible firms should focus on a single objective: maximizing profits for their shareholders. Should, then, managers support climate actions in response to stakeholders’ (as opposed to shareholders') pressure? Eighty percent of companies listed on the S&P 500 now voluntarily report on t...

India has enacted new laws that lift restrictions on where and to whom farmers can sell their crops. Why are then Indian farmers protesting? The reason is that farmers perceive the new system to be risky and favoring big corporations. They fear that if new laws make family-owned farms unviable, they will not be able to find jobs elsewhere, given th...

McKinsey Scott has donated $4.2 billion to 384 nonprofit organizations. Jeff Bezos donated $791 million to 16 organizations. These donations reveal their different priorities and approaches. Scott supports equity-focused organizations with low access to philanthropic capital. Bezos supports well-resourced environmental non-profits. These donations...

President-elect Biden announced today that John Kerry, the former Secretary of State, will serve as his Special Presidential Envoy for Climate. As the Climate Envoy, Kerry will be involved in global policy, but without much influence over domestic legislation. This could undermine his effectiveness in the international sphere. Further, he could dup...

The 2020 elections raise red flags for climate policy. This was supposed to be a climate election but turned out to be a “COVID-19 versus the economy” election. Exit polls suggest that Democrats and Republicans are divided on the urgency to tackle the climate crisis. Science about climate change is settled, but politics is not. Biden’s “Build Back...

We published this commentary today. The Bezos Earth Fund (BEF) is giving away $791 million to well-established climate NGOs doing important work. However, if BEF wants to change climate action’s playbook, it needs a new theory of change that tackles the key barrier to climate action. Funding these NGOs does not achieve this objective. Here is a com...

Laws restricting foreign funding to domestically operating nongovernmen-tal organizations (NGOs) have proliferated in developing countries. This is puzzling because Western powers support the norm that NGOs are critical for democracy and development, recommend governments partner with NGOs, and sometimes use trade sanctions to encourage adherence t...

Climate change is leading to increased severity and frequency of heatwaves that hurt some groups more than others. Those who suffer the most are the poor who, ironically, have small carbon footprints. In this commentary, we outline why low-income households suffer more and how changes in data reporting could increase the visibility of climate inequ...

Different countries have proposed COVID-19 recovery packages, with and without climate conditionalities. China, inspite of its leadership in the renewable sector, continues to support the fossil fuel industry. In a Monkey Cage commentary published this morning, Hanjie Wang, Nives Dolsak, and I explain why this might be so. We suggest that climate p...

Public support for policy instruments is influenced by perceptions of how benefits and costs are distributed across various groups. We examine different carbon tax designs outlining different ways to distribute tax revenues. Using a national online sample of 1,606 U.S. respondents, we examine support for a $20/ton carbon tax that is: (1) Revenue Ne...

Amazon announced its latest climate investment, the purchase of the right to rename Seattle's Key Arena as the Climate Pledge Arena. The arena renaming announcement comes at an interesting time. Early this week, Amazon released its 2020 Sustainability Report, where it noted a 15% increase in emissions since last year. Moreover, Amazon is getting b...

People want action on climate change, as the recent Pew Poll reveals: 65% of respondents believe the government is doing too little to tackle climate change, while 73% (including 55% of Republicans) want governments to tax corporations based on their emissions. Corporations are clearly hearing this message. Amazon released its 2020 Sustainability R...

This is a brief piece on Oliver Williamson's contributions to our understanding of firms' decisions on undertaking some activities themselves, while subcontracting others to outside vendors. For Williamson, firms grow due to technological imperatives. His work also informs the political debate on how to regulate tech platforms. See here: https://w...

There is bipartisan support for national parks. The US Senate is considering the Great American Outdoors Act (S. 3422) to permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and clear the maintenance backlog in national parks. Many states want their federal lands to be designated as national parks. All this is excellent; national parks are the c...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/prakashdolsak/2020/05/30/have-banks-become-climate-advocates-interpreting-shareholder-votes-and-lending-policies-regarding-the-fossil-fuel-sector/#612ff2443812

Because COVID-19 problems remain severe, public opposition to social distancing policies is muted. Deference to scientific expertise is visible. Though not without detractors, the words of Dr. Deborah Birx and Dr. Anthony Fauci carry a lot of weight. Indeed, President Trump was compelled to walk back on his "Reopen by Easter" pronouncement. But as...

The contrast between the rapid response to Coronavirus and policy waffling on climate change reveals how citizens think of risk and how this shapes their willingness to incur costs for the collective good. Further, it suggests that politicians respect science when its recommendations serve their political ends. https://www.forbes.com/sites/prakash...

Climate change is fundamentally a political problem. It requires a political solution, namely taking care of the needs of the sectors that will bear the cost of transition to a low carbon economy. While government policies will certainly help, private philanthropy can play an important role. Via the Earth Fund, Jeff Bezos has a tremendous opportuni...

Our future is urban, yet air quality in cities is increasingly toxic, causing millions of premature deaths each year. In the wake of last year’s Clean Air Cities Declaration, this Voices asks, how and where should we focus efforts to improve air quality in cities?

What drives a developing country's government to provide access to clean drinking water in urban and rural areas? Because creating water infrastructure is expensive, practicality and efficiency considerations might motivate governments to locate such infrastructures in urban areas with high population density. In contrast, we provide a political ex...

https://theconversation.com/restoring-the-reputations-of-charities-after-scandals-130639 Like companies, schools and other institutions, nonprofits care deeply about their reputations. Good reputations can help them attract volunteers, funding and staff. Because the opposite is also true, revelations about bad or even illegal actions can have seri...

Microsoft has challenged the high tech industry to become climate leaders. It has committed to ambitious targets, particularly in the realm of greening the supply chain. It has acknowledged its historical emissions, and it has pledged to remove them from the atmosphere. However, it continues to assist fossil fuel firms in expanding the supply of fo...

Amazon is a global icon. It thinks long term and disrupts industries. It should show continued leadership by working with its employees to address the climate crisis. This may also renew and strengthen its social license to operate. https://www.forbes.com/sites/prakashdolsak/2020/01/29/the-business-case-for-climate-leadership-amazons-social-license...

Complex policy problems such as climate change that spill over multiple issue areas or jurisdictions often require new policy approaches because sectoral (or territorial) policies are not designed to tackle the issue of policy spillovers. Yet, cross-sectoral policies upset the status quo and invite a political backlash from departments and individu...

Laws that restrict foreign funding to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) can depress voting through two mechanisms. First, they can signal a democracy recession. Consequently, citizens might fear rigged elections where their vote will not influence who forms the next government. Second, by denying funding to NGOs, these laws can undermine NGOs’ a...

The state of Washington saw a “blue wave” in the November 2018 midterm elections. Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell was reelected with 58.4% of the vote. In the House of Representative elections, Democrats snatched the 8th Congressional district from Republicans. And yet, the carbon tax initiative (I-1631) lost, securing only 43.5% of the vote. A n...

We examine why India's Supreme Court has selectively intervened to enforce environmental laws. While the Indian Judiciary has substantial political insulation, judges recognize the need for tactical balancing to preserve the legitimacy of their institution. We examine four cases: judicial interventions to check water pollution from tanneries and to...

Environmental clubs have proliferated across sectors and issue areas. We examine the diffusion of the chemical industry’s Responsible Care® (RC) program. Much of the work on the diffusion of clubs has focused on the demand side: why firms join these clubs despite the costs of doing so. There is some work focusing on the supply side: why actors esta...

We examine Twitter data to assess the impact of media exposes on the reputations of two international nonprofits, Oxfam and Save the Children (STC). Using a random sample of 6794 Tweets, we study the daily gap between positive and negative sentiments expressed towards these organizations. The “unweighted gap” and the “weighted gap” (weighted by the...

Climate action has two pillars: mitigation and adaptation. Mitigation faces collective action issues because its costs are focused on specific locations/actors but benefits are global and nonexcludable. Adaptation, in contrast, creates local benefits, and therefore should face fewer collective action issues. However, governance units vary in the ty...

Garrett Hardin’s Tragedy of the Commons put forward underdeveloped arguments that continue to be reflected in simplistic debates about the drivers and implications of demographic dynamics. It’s time to embrace the complexity that Hardin lacked in order to develop better-informed policy.