India is in the middle of a historic energy transition. A big part of this is the expected reduction of coal in India's energy mix. Drawing on the economic and political history of the Indian coal industry over the last half century this talk will discuss some of the emerging trends in the industry, and discuss the possible futures of coal in India. While global climate change may be driving the macro narrative around India's energy transition, domestic political and economic considerations will have a much greater bearing on India's coal future for the foreseeable future. The nature of Indian state capitalism, the federalism of power and finance, alternative economic futures for the Indian coal belt and energy security are likely to be strong drivers of India's coal future in the medium term. Invoking the legacy of the late Senator Robert Byrd from West Virginia, this talk will discuss broader ideas of how compensatory policies like the recent JETP proposals may or
Sea level rise poses an existential threat to Jakarta, which faces frequent and worsening flooding. The government has responded with a proposed sea wall. In this setting, I study how government intervention complicates long-run adaptation to climate change. I show that government intervention creates coastal moral hazard, and I quantify this force with a dynamic spatial model in which developers and residents act with flood risk in mind. I find that moral hazard generates severe lock-in and limits migration inland, even over the long run. Link to working paper: https://allanhsiao.com/files/Hsiao jakarta.pdf The David Bradford Energy and Environmental Policy Seminar Series is coordinated by the Center for Policy Research on Energy and the Environment (C-PREE), and co-sponsored by the High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI). This seminar is also co-sponsored by the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, the Department of Economics, and the Griswold Center for Economic
Mr. Bhatia is an attorney, advocate and expert on fiscal matters and public policy with over 25 years of experience championing government / democracy reforms and public and private coalitions to achieve fiscally responsible policy targets, economic development, quality education and renewable energy goals. He is currently the John L. Weinberg/Goldman Sachs & Co. Visiting Professor and visiting lecturer in public and international affairs at Princeton University and a Board Member of the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund. Mr. Bhatia grew up in Puerto Rico with his mother -a Puerto Rican political science professor- and his father – an Indian economist and partition war survivor- who instilled in him core values of honest public service, opportunity for all, diversity, and civil rights. As a public servant, Bhatia served as President of the Senate of Puerto Rico (2013-2017). In this capacity, he worked directly with former US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, Mood
Natasha Iskander is the James Weldon Johnson Professor of Urban Planning and Public Service at New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service. Her research focuses on the ways that immigration and the movement of people across borders can provide the basis for the creation of new knowledge and of new pathways for political change. She is the author of two award-wining books, most recently Does Skill Make Us Human?: Migrant Workers in 21st-Century Qatar and Beyond (Princeton UP 2021), and numerous publications looking at immigration, skill, economic development, and the future of work. The David Bradford Energy and Environmental Policy Seminar Series is coordinated by the Center for Policy Research on Energy and the Environment (C-PREE), and co-sponsored by the High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI). This in-person event is open to the Princeton University community. Members of the public may watch the seminar over livestream at http://mediacentral
Examples from Agent-Based Modeling of Environmental Forcings on Mobility Agent-based modeling – in which system-level outcomes emerge from interactions among individuals and their environment – can provide unique insights in the study of livelihoods decision-making and adaptation responses to climate hazards and shocks. However, finding empirical support for the underlying behavioral assumptions in ABM can be a challenge. Data on decision-making is typically expensive to collect, or in some cases simply not possible – it can be hard to report on things (such as sea level rise, or other compound floods) that one hasn’t experienced yet. In this talk I present results and work in progress on a stakeholder-engaged approach to modeling environmental forcings on migration (applications to Bangladesh and Senegal), with a focus on data gaps in adaptation modeling and the frontier of opportunities (expert elicitation, through participatory methods and high-frequency data collecti