Applications open for Climate Solutions Living Lab

Applications are now being accepted for the Spring 2019 the Climate Solutions Living Lab course and are due no later than Oct. 15. The highly interactive, multi-disciplinary course brings together graduate students from across Harvard to study and design practical solutions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions at Harvard, in neighboring communities, elsewhere in United States, and abroad.

During the course, teams of students will assess, analyze, and develop tools for choosing off-site emissions reduction projects as a means to achieving long-term climate neutrality commitments made by businesses and organizations. Ideas developed by the student teams in the course will be vetted with policy makers, community leaders, and business leaders during the semester. Past projects have included an assessment of hydroelectricity potential in Puerto Rico, innovative solutions for reducing emissions associated with agricultural operations, and options for addressing emissions while balancing social benefit for Alaskan native communities.

Lectures from faculty experts representing most of Harvard’s professional Schools, including the T.H. Chan School of Public Health, John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard Business School, and Harvard Kennedy School will provide legal, economic, scientific, technological, and policy background on topics including: greenhouse gases and air pollution; atmospheric chemistry; health impacts and other co-benefits of greenhouse gas emission reduction; the laws pertaining to air pollution, electricity markets, and their regulation; the siting, permitting, and financing of projects; and data collection techniques.

The course in a unique collaboration between Harvard Law School and the Harvard Office for Sustainability, and was a key recommendation of a faculty advisory group convened to explore ways to meet Harvard’s 2006–16 greenhouse gas reduction goal. Research findings will inform the University’s approach to coupling off-campus emissions reduction opportunities with on-campus efforts in order to meet its ambitious, long-term climate commitment.