Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program: Opportunities for Research and Policy Analysis
Event Details
Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program: Opportunities for Research and Policy Analysis
Friday, October 12, 2012
Resources for the Future
First Floor Conference Room
1616 P Street NW
Washington, DC 20036
About the Workshop
This workshop will review EPA’s Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reporting Program and its opportunities for economic, public policy, and management research. This is a large, new dataset that may become a rich source for future research projects. We hope the following sessions will inspire discussion and, ultimately, research based on these data.
Conference Organizers:
Mark Cohen, Vanderbilt University and Resources for the Future (RFF)
Nathan Richardson, RFF
Conference and Research Assistant:
Anne Riddle
The financial support of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is deeply appreciated.
Agenda
8:30 – 9:00 a.m. Registration and Breakfast9:00 – 9:15 a.m. Opening Remarks
Molly Macauley, RFF
Sarah Dunham, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
9:15 – 10:00 a.m. Session 1: Overview of the greenhouse gas reporting program
Basics of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, data released to date, and future plans for the program. Significant time will be allotted for questions from participants.
Panelists:
Anhar Karimjee, EPA
Mark de Figueiredo, EPA
Sean Hogan, EPA
10:00 – 10:30 a.m. Break
10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Session 2: Environmental Disclosures
A review of lessons learned from past environmental disclosure research and implications for similar research based on EPA GHG data.Discussion Questions: What effects do disclosures have, and under what conditions? What avenues for future research are most promising, and which are unlikely to yield useful results? How do the differences between global and local pollutants affect hypotheses about the effect of disclosure? How do hypotheses and research strategies for mandatory GHG reporting programs differ from those for voluntary GHG reporting programs?
Panelists:
Lori Bennear, Duke University
Tom Lyon, University of Michigan
Mike Toffel, Harvard University
Mark Cohen, Vanderbilt and RFF (Moderator) 11:30 a.m - 12:30 p.m.
Session 3: Research Possibilities using GHG Reporting Program Data
A discussion of future economic, public policy, and management research questions that could be answered using the GHG Reporting Program data.
Discussion Questions:
What are priority research areas that the GHG Reporting Program data can help inform? What prior research can be extended using this facility-level data? What data sets are complementary to the GHG Reporting Program data?
Panelists:
David A. Evans and Ann Wolverton, EPA
Gale Boyd, Duke University
Jim Bushnell, University of California, Davis
Hilary Sigman, Rutgers University and RFF (Moderator)
12:30 - 1:45 p.m. lunch talk: Future Possibilities for GHG Reporting Program dataA preview of future GHG Reporting Program data publication tools geared to the research community. Discussion Questions:
What are the data publication needs of the research community? Do the current publication tools and formats meet those needs? What additional data publication and dissemination would be of most value to researchers? What level of aggregation of CBI data would be of interest and for which CBI data elements? Panelists:
Brian B. Cook, EPA
Jennifer Bohman, EPA
Mark de Figueiredo, EPA (Moderator)1:45 - 2:30 p.m.
Session 4: Research Results and Practical Data Issues
A review of research on the GHG Reporting Program data to date. Preliminary results will be presented along with lessons learned about the ease of use, limitations, suggestions for further research and data construction.
Discussion Questions:
What work has been done with the reporting data so far? What extensions of that work are possible? What challenges have emerged, and how can they be overcome? Panelists:
Don Grant, University of Arizona
Mark Cohen, Vanderbilt University and RFF
Jay Shimshack, Tulane University (Moderator)2:30 - 2:45 p.m. Break
2:45 - 3:45 p.m
Session 5: use of data in policy analysis
A discussion of the role and significance of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program data for analyzing real-world policies and programs.
What existing or future policy programs could benefit from or be built on this data? Will states use the data for their own policy needs? Does the reporting data make it easier to analyze and evaluate climate programs? Panelists:
Peter Zalzal, Environmental Defense Fund
Kevin Kennedy, World Resources Institute
Nathan Richardson, RFF (Moderator)3:45 - 4:00 p.m.
Closing Remarks and Open Discussion
Anhar Karimjee, EPA
Mark de Figueiredo, EPA
Participants
Hilary Sigman
