Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions - January 7, 2016

Upcoming Events

January 22

Durham, NC

After the Climate Talks: What to Expect from the Paris Agreement on Global Climate Change

February 14

Washington, D.C.

Climate Change and Agriculture: Revisiting the Evidence and Potential Solutions

February 25

Arlington, VA

Transforming Agriculture: Blending Technology and Tradition

For information on other upcoming events, visit the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions website.

Featured Multimedia

Clean Power Plan: Considerations for Mass-Based States

In the News

Coastal Review Online, N.C. Experts See Hope in Climate Deal

Charlotte Observer, Green Energy Advocates to March Over Carbon Plan

NPR, As GOP Debates Climate Change, Corporate Lobbyists Wish for Action

Forbes, How A Global Carbon Price is Slipping In the Back Door

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Guide to Blue Carbon Finance

A study developed by the Nicholas Institute, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and others provides guidance on supporting coastal wetland programs and projects using climate finance and other financial mechanisms. Among those emphasized: payments for ecosystem services, the use of insurance schemes, and debt-for-nature swaps.

Policy Brief Considers Mass-Based Plans

A new Nicholas Institute policy brief explores the implications of including or excluding new sources in mass-based state plans to comply with the Clean Power Plan. It finds that covering new sources may make compliance harder or easier, depending on assumptions about future electricity demand and the resources to meet it, and that doing so would provide a consistent economic signal to existing and new sources with similar emissions profiles. In contrast, excluding new sources may lead to power market distortions.

Report: 21st Century Water Management

The latest report from the 2015 Aspen-Nicholas Water Forum explores water and big data to illuminate how the emergence of large, but dispersed, amounts of data in the water sector can best be utilized to improve the management and delivery of water for a more sustainable future.

Guidebook a Resource for Federal Agencies

Following release of new policy guidance directing federal agencies to begin incorporating ecosystem services in federal planning and decision making, the National Ecosystem Services Partnership, an initiative of the Nicholas Institute, introduced updates to its online Federal Resource Management and Ecosystem Services Guidebook. The guidebook now highlights content from the paper "Best Practices for Incorporating Ecosystem Services into Decision Making" and new examples from the National Park Service showcasing its exploration of ecosystem services in decision making.

Staff to Teach Spring Courses

Educating the next generation of environmental leaders is one of the many ways that the Nicholas Institute helps bridge the gap between science and policy. Staff members are teaching more than a half dozen courses at Duke during the spring 2016 semester: Natural Resources Law; Renewables and the World's Poor; Energy, Environment, and the Law; Special Topics in Environmental Regulation; Putting Ecosystem Services Markets into Practice; Applied Environmental Policy Entrepreneurship; and Federal Fisheries Policy.

Intellectual Community Planning Grants

Nicholas Institute researchers are among those to receive an Intellectual Community Planning grant to collaborate with others at Duke on a project tied to faith, environment, and public policy.

The Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions helps decision makers create timely, effective, and economically practical solutions to the world's critical environmental challenges.

Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Duke University,

P.O. Box 90335, Durham, NC 27708.