Summary

I am honored to receive the Sandi Cooper Award for Outstanding Research for Associate Professors for 2026–2027. Thank you CUNY Academy for this recognition.

I greatly appreciate my nominator and referees for their nomination and reference letters. I also thank many colleagues at Baruch College, the Graduate Center, and across CUNY for their support.

About the Award

The Jerome Krase & Sandi Cooper Awards are new awards from CUNY Academy, to be presented each year to associate professors at CUNY in recognition of outstanding research in the humanities or sciences, including social and life sciences. The awardees are selected among a large group of nominees of associate professors from all CUNY campuses and receive university-wide recognition of their work.

CUNY Academy

The CUNY Academy is a CUNY-wide institute, housed at the Graduate Center, for the promotion and support of CUNY faculty research and scholarship. We offer conference travel support, awards for outstanding research, and opportunities to organize and present the research and scholarship of CUNY faculty of all disciplines. CUNY full-time faculty across all campuses are members of the CUNY Academy and can participate in, organize, or suggest events. The CUNY Academy for the Humanities and Sciences was founded in 1981 and is a central feature of university intellectual life.

Releases

Abstract

Accelerating offshore wind power deployment, a critical but underutilized resource for decarbonizing power systems, requires balancing national and local interests. Using China, the global leader in offshore wind, as a case study, here we evaluate how its deployment creates benefits, such as improved energy self-sufficiency, greater resource diversity, enhanced grid reliability, and increased local investment and employment. Our results show that offshore wind can bolster the energy self-sufficiency of coastal provinces, shifting them from net electricity importers to exporters. Furthermore, expanding offshore wind reduces the need for energy storage in a grid with high renewable penetration and drives substantial local investment and job creation. After quantifying uncertainties in policies, technology costs, and electricity demand, we find offshore wind could provide 3–18% of China’s electricity by 2050. Aligning local interests with offshore wind development can facilitate more ambitious targets and accelerate power system decarbonization with limited increases in system costs.

Links

Published paper

Open-access pdf

Fourth Annual Conference on Climate Research, Teaching, and Collaboration

Wednesday, April 15, 2026
9:30 am – 3:30 pm
Information and Technology Building
Rackow Conference Center, Room 750

Multidisciplinary Climate Research and Teaching

We will highlight the innovative climate research of our Baruch and CUNY faculty from the Austin W. Marxe School of Public and International Affairs, Weissman School of Arts and Sciences, and Zicklin School of Business.

Registration

9:30–9:50 am

Welcome

9:50–10 am

Chester Zarnoch, Weissman School of Arts and Sciences, Baruch College, CUNY

Group 1: Research Presentations

10–10:45 am

• Extreme heat, occupational segregation, and disparities in older adult disability, Mara Sheftel, Instructor, Department of Health Behavior, Society and Policy, Rutgers University
• Interdisciplinary Collaboration at the Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay, Brett Branco, Associate Professor, Brooklyn College, CUNY; Director, Science and Resilience, Institute at Jamaica Bay
• The reporting of greenhouse gas emissions: evidence from the GHG protocol scope 2 standard, Svenja Dube, Associate Professor, Stan Ross Dpt. of Accountancy, Zicklin School of Business

Networking Break

10:45–11:15am

Group 2: Research Presentations

11:15 am–12:00 pm

• Student and Community Led Research with the NYC Climate Justice Hub, Katherine Silverman, Assistant Director, Sustainability in the Urban Environment, City College of New York, CUNY
• Watch the label! Consumers’ preferences, willingness to pay and understanding of plant-based food, Patrycja Sleboda, Assistant Professor, Psychology, Weissman School of Arts and Sciences
• Balancing Sustainability, Import Dependence & Economic Opportunity in Global vs. National Solar PV Supply Chains, Gange He, Associate Professor, Marxe School of Public and International Affairs

Lunch

12:00–1:00 pm

Group 3: Research Presentations

1:00–2:00 pm

• Building Sustainability Capabilities through Place-Based, Stakeholder-Embedded Learning: Evidence from a Municipal Living Lab in Crete, Greece, Tania Ploumi, Assistant Professor, Narendra Paul Loomba Department of Management, Zicklin School of Business
• Adaptive Strategies for Collaborative Watershed Management, Yixin Liu, Assistant Professor, Marxe School of Public and International Affairs
• Using 3000 Level Courses to Introduce Students to Graduate Studies: Astrobiology as a case study, Ana Gonzalez-Nayeck, Assistant Professor, Natural Sciences, Weissman School of Arts and Sciences
• Inspiring student resilience and growth through climate education and program leadership, Brian Haggerty, Adjunct Lecturer, Natural Sciences, Weissman School of Arts and Sciences; Visiting Assistant Professor, Mercy University

Networking Break

2:00–2:30 pm

Group 4: Research Presentations

2:30–3:45 pm

• NISAR: Imaging Radar Unveiling the Changing Earth, Kyle McDonald, Professor, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, City College of New York
• Pricing Wildfire Risk in Residential Real Estate—Invasive Grass Fire Cycle, Preston Wong, Adjunct Lecturer, William Newman Department of Real Estate, Zicklin School of Business; PhD Student, CUNY Graduate Center
• Beans and Screens, Potatoes and Plastic: Consumption Studies in Writing 2150, Evelyn Adler, Adjunct Professor, English, Weissman School of Arts and Sciences
• Hudson River Park: A Field-Based Site for Urban Climate Research, Beryl Kahn, Research Coordinator, Hudson River Park Trust
• Seawalls & Bulkheads as Habitat Supports Sara Ellen Durand, Associate Professor, Natural Sciences, LaGuardia Community College, CUNY

Welcome to join us to learn more about climate-related activities at CUNY.

Conference Website

https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/climateconference/

Standfirst

The importance of renewable integration into power grids came to the forefront in 2025. New challenges in stability, storage, artificial-intelligence demand, and policy shifts defined a year that tested whether power systems can become reliable, flexible, and equitable in a net-zero world.

Key Advances

• Global renewable electricity generation exceeded coal generation for the first time.
  
• Investment and research into long-duration energy storage became central to grid decarbonization.
  
• Surging AI demand accelerated interest in firm, low-carbon power sources.

Main text

In 2025, for the first time, renewable electricity generation surpassed coal (Wiatros-Motyka and Rangelova 2025), a symbolic and structural milestone in the history of the power sector. This shift was the result of decades of wind and solar deployment, supported by marked cost declines, industrial policy, and net-zero targets. Yet 2025 also revealed deeper challenges to grid decarbonization—extreme weather, rising electrification, and surging loads from artificial-intelligence (AI) data centers all tested grids and highlighted the growing importance of reliability, affordability, and resilience.

These challenges were brought into sharp focus by the Iberian Blackout, a cascading system failure originating from a voltage disturbance that disconnected gigawatts of solar and wind power in Spain in April 2025. As solar and wind push inverter-based generation to high penetrations, the traditional sources of grid inertia provided by synchronous generators are disappearing. The Iberian event demonstrated that renewable-integration challenges are no longer theoretical; they are unfolding on real power systems serving tens of millions of people. The incident accelerated a global shift toward grid-forming inverters, which can emulate the inertial and voltage-control properties of conventional generators (ICS Investigation Expert Panel 2025). European operators moved toward mandating grid-forming capabilities in new installations, while pilot and demonstration programs were launched in China and the United States. The blackout became a defining moment for grid decarbonization in 2025, underscoring that system stability must be reinforced alongside rapid renewable expansion.

Flexibility constraints also became increasingly visible in electricity markets. Curtailment of wind power in the United Kingdom and Ireland reached 4.6 TWh in the first half of 2025, and Europe experienced nearly double the number of hours with negative wholesale electricity prices compared to the previous year (International Energy Agency 2025a). These signals reflect a structural imbalance between accelerating renewable supply and insufficient system flexibility, demand response, and transmission. Battery storage prices continued to decline, although trade tensions slowed the pace of cost reductions. The lack of utility-scale long-duration energy storage (LDES)—systems capable of delivering ten or more hours of energy—emerged as a defining constraint on deeper decarbonization (Dowling et al. 2020).

LDES commercialization nonetheless advanced in 2025. The first commercial-scale liquid-air energy storage facility in the United Kingdom was connected to the grid, and a 3.6-GW pumped hydropower plant in Hebei province, China, entered its first year of full operation. Multiple companies commissioned thermal-storage pilots and flow-battery demonstrations, testing their performance at grid scale. Policymakers responded as well: China’s 15th Five-Year Plan elevated storage as a core pillar of its “new electricity system”; Ireland’s transmission system operator proposed dedicated procurement mechanisms to deliver 201 MW of storage capacity by 2030; and California’s battery storage capacity reached 16.9 GW, helping tame its well-known duck curve. Across regions, LDES is increasingly viewed as core infrastructure needed to close the gap between variable generation and continuous load.

Policy developments diverged sharply across regions. China’s Nationally Determined Contribution for 2035 commits to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions by 7–10% from peak levels, raising the share of non-fossil fuels above 30% of total energy use, and expanding wind and solar capacity to 3,600 GW—more than six times 2020 levels. The United States, by contrast, withdrew from the Paris Agreement for a second time and adopted an energy-independence strategy focused on expanding fossil-fuel production. Modeling suggests that rollbacks of federal clean-energy subsidies could slow U.S. decarbonization and raise emissions and energy expenditures over 2025–2035 (Jenkins et al. 2025).

Despite policy uncertainty, global clean-energy investment reached a record US$2 trillion in 2025 (International Energy Agency 2025b). Lower-income economies emerged as important engines of renewable growth. Pakistan’s share of solar electricity nearly quadrupled between 2021 and 2024, rising from 3% to 11%. Solar exports from China to low- and middle-income economies surpassed shipments to high-income economies for the first time in early 2025 (EMBER 2025). Europe continued advancing complementary technologies, with industrial-scale green-hydrogen plants moving toward operation and large carbon-capture hubs in Northwest Europe shifting from planning to construction. Together, these developments signal a transition from a generation-centric decarbonization model toward a portfolio approach combining renewables, storage, hydrogen, and carbon capture.

Transmission expansion was another defining theme of 2025. The United States adopted FERC Order No. 1920, mandating long-term regional transmission planning and cost allocation. China continued extending ultra-high-voltage corridors to connect desert solar resources with coastal load centers. Meanwhile, the ASEAN Power Grid and the African Green Grids Initiative gained momentum, both aiming to strengthen regional interconnection and reduce dependence on isolated national systems. These initiatives point toward a future of more interconnected and flexible grids.

Perhaps the most transformative development of 2025 was the emergence of energy for AI as a primary driver of electricity demand. As AI models grow in size and commercial deployment accelerates, the energy footprint of data centers has surged, potentially reaching 12% of U.S. electricity demand by 2028 (Shehabi et al. 2024). This demand wave is reshaping electricity planning and reviving interest in firm, low-carbon baseload power, particularly nuclear energy (Liu et al. 2025). Several technology companies announced direct investments and long-term power-purchase agreements with nuclear plants, signaling a shift from annual “100% renewable” targets toward 24/7 zero-carbon energy strategies. At the same time, AI-driven demand is pushing electricity prices upward, with modelling suggesting consumer power bills increasing 8% nationally and up to 25% in some regions in the U.S., raising concerns about affordability and equity, even as electric-vehicle adoption and managed charging are helping reduce system costs in some regions (Muratori et al. 2025).

By the end of 2025, renewable energy had begun to dominate power systems in several regions. The challenge ahead is scaling this dominance globally while ensuring that decarbonizing grids are reliable, resilient, and intelligent enough to serve rapidly electrifying and digitally intensive economies. Technological progress in grid-forming inverters, long-duration storage, and digital grid management must be matched by ambitious policy reforms, faster interconnection processes, and deeper community engagement. As power systems transmit more electricity from renewables than from coal, aligning technology, investment, and governance will be essential to making renewable integration the backbone of a reliable and affordable net-zero grid—and the foundation for powering the rapidly expanding AI economy.

Acknowledgements

The author thanks the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the ClimateWorks Foundation for supporting research at the Deep Energy and Climate Policy Lab.

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Links

• SharedIt full-text
• Preprint pdf

About 17 Lex Society

Every Baruchian – past, present, and future – passes through the doors of “17 Lex” (17 Lexington Avenue). The campus building, on the corner of 23rd Street, is the site where the Free Academy, the first free public institution of higher education in the nation, once stood. Founded in 2007, 17 Lex Society members are leaders in creating the opportunities necessary to build on our, and your, tradition of changing lives for the better.

简介

本期我们邀请何钢老师来讨论全球清洁供应链的题目。何钢老师是纽约市立大学巴鲁克学院公共和国际事务学院副教授，也是纽约市立大学研究生院和大学中心的博导及人口研究所的兼职教授。他主要从事能源系统、能源和气候政策及能源转型方面的研究和教学。他创建了深度能源和气候政策实验室，致力于为深度减排实现碳中和提供深度分析与深度见解。

01:30 嘉宾学术经历：请您简单介绍下学习和研究的背景。您本科和研究生都学习的是什么专业？为什么感兴趣能源与气候研究？

06:02 什么是清洁能源？什么是清洁能源供应链？

10:17 目前全球清洁能源供应链的图景是什么？现在全球版图长什么样（比如光伏为例）？

12:35 中国在哪些环节有优势？这些优势是如何形成的？中国的学习率为什么比别的国家高？

17:00 技术成本为什么会下降？学习曲线的来源是什么？

参见: Kavlak, G., McNerney, J., & Trancik, J. E. (2018). Evaluating the causes of cost reduction in photovoltaic modules. Energy policy, 123, 700-710.

21:25 学习曲线三要素模型的构建

参见: Quantifying the cost savings of global solar photovoltaic supply chains. John Paul Helveston, Gang He*, and Michael R. Davidson.Nature (2022).

26:25 如何看待和理解中国清洁能源产能过剩论？

32:45 对于南方国家清洁供应链的发展是不是一个机遇？

注：巴基斯坦预计到2026年光伏发电达到20%，参见WRI的pakistan-solar-energy-boom报告

36:18 美国进口光伏的健康和气候收益

参见：Imported solar photovoltaics contributed to health and climate benefits in the United States, Minghao Qiu, Gang He*, Peter Marcotullio, One Earth (2025).

40:10 研究人员如何用模型对政策制定提供见解？

44:44 美国清洁能源制造业如何发展？中国的清洁能源出口未来如何变化？

本期剪辑：觉狐

碳笑风生关注全球和中国的能源转型、气候变化和可持续发展问题，特别是中国实现碳达峰、碳中和的科学、技术、政策、政治、经济、社会和文化问题。大家可以在小宇宙播客、喜马拉雅、QQ音乐、Podcast等平台收听我们，我们同步更新的微信公众号“环境科学与政策”会有更多的专业讨论。大家也可以通过留言或在微信公众号“环境科学与政策”联系我们。 开场、转场、结尾音乐来自The Podcast Host and Alitu: The Podcast Maker app.

引用文献

• John Paul Helveston, Gang He, and Michael R. Davidson. 2022. “Quantifying the cost savings of global solar photovoltaic supply chains”. Nature. 612: 83-87. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05316-6.

• Qiu, Minghao, Gang He, and Peter Marcotullio. 2025. “Imported solar photovoltaic contributed to health and climate benefits in the United States”. One Earth, 8: 101467. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2025.101467.

• Kavlak, Goksin, James McNerney, and Jessika E. Trancik. 2018. “Evaluating the Causes of Cost Reduction in Photovoltaic Modules”. Energy Policy 123: 700–710. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.015.

相关文章

Imported solar photovoltaics contributed to health and climate benefits in the United States

We estimate that imported solar panels in the U.S. displaced 305 TWh of fossil generation, avoided 178 million tons of CO₂, and prevented…

Oct 8, 2025

Minghao Qiu, Gang He, Peter Marcotullio

Advancing a just, resilient, and sustainable clean energy supply chain

The global clean energy supply chain stands at a critical intersection of immense benefits and pressing challenges.

Dec 5, 2023

Gang He, Daniel M Kammen, Muhammad Husni Mubarok, Shoon So Oo

Quantifying the cost savings of global solar photovoltaic supply chains

Globalized supply chains have saved solar installers in the U.S., Germany, and China $67B from 2008–2020, and solar prices will be 20–30% higher in…

Oct 26, 2022

John Paul Helveston, Gang He, Michael R. Davidson

No matching items

Abstract

Global supply chains have played a central role in driving down solar photovoltaic (PV) costs and accelerating deployment globally, but their broader societal benefits are underexplored. Here we quantify the climate, air quality, and health impacts of imported solar panels in the United States between 2014 and 2022. We find that 1 kW of imported solar capacity yields an average of $180 in annualized climate and health benefits, offsetting nearly half the PV module cost in 2020. This imported capacity displaced fossil generation by 305 TWh, avoided 178 million tons of CO₂, and prevented an estimated 595 premature deaths between 2014 and 2022. While these advantages are unevenly distributed across regions and demographic groups, residents in non-importing states also benefited from them. These findings provide critical evidence for policy debates on clean energy trade, showing that imported solar capacity delivers substantial public health and climate gains beyond direct cost savings.

Links

Published paper

Preprint pdf

Zenodo data and resources

Release summary

Infographic

Summary

This year’s report updates the analysis presented in the 2023 Production Gap Report, profiling the plans and projections of 20 major fossil fuel-producing countries, representing a mix of the world’s largest producers, large producers with readily available data, and producers with strongly stated climate ambitions.

Links

Check the official release.

Production Gap Report 2025 full report PDF

Main findings

• Since the 2023 analysis, governments now plan even higher levels of coal production to 2035 and gas production to 2050. Planned oil production continues to increase to 2050.
• To meet Paris Agreement goals of holding warming to well below 2°C while pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C, the world must now undertake steeper and faster reductions in fossil fuel production to compensate for lack of progress so far. Meanwhile, governments expanding fossil fuel infrastructure waste public funds on development destined to become stranded assets.
• Achieving these reductions will require deliberate, coordinated policies to ensure a just transition away from fossil fuels. While a few major fossil-fuel-producing countries have begun to align production plans with national and international climate goals, most still have not.

Contributors

Related Posts

UNEP releases the Production Gap Report 2023

Gang joins a global expert team that contributed to the Production Gap Report 2023

Nov 8, 2023

SEI, Climate Analytics, E3G, IISD, UNEP

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Links

Baruch News, Baruch College Faculty Included in World’s Top Scientist List

🎉 Congratulations to #MarxeFaculty Deborah Balk @CIDR_NYC, @j_jgreene, and @DrGangHe, along with six other #BaruchFaculty members, for being named to @Stanford University and Elsevier’s “World’s Top 2% Scientists” list for 2024! 🌍✨

👉🔗 https://t.co/fdUPQIZoRR pic.twitter.com/7UVra18g7S

— Marxe School (@BaruchMarxe) October 28, 2024

Source: Marxe School

About World’s Top 2% Scientists

Stanford University’s list of “World’s Top 2%” scientists is based on a 2% or above percentile rank, or the top 100,000 by c-score (with and without self-citations). This prestigious list identifies the world’s leading researchers, representing approximately 2% of all scientists worldwide. It encompasses standardised data on citations, h-index, and a wide range of bibliometric indicators. Researchers are classified into 22 scientific fields and 174 sub-fields, drawing from Scopus data provided by Elsevier through ICSR Lab.

Learn more here.

Summary

Escalating construction expenses threaten to derail global progress on atomic energy. China offers lessons on how to rein in costs. Over the past two decades, China has been the main country to substantially and consistently expand its nuclear fleet. Here we compiled and analyzed a dataset on the construction costs of nuclear power plants in China. We find that the construction costs of Chinese nuclear power plants have been declining since 2000, and the cost of building a nuclear power plant has been halved. China’s deliberate, staged effort to build domestic supply chains and standardized reactor designs has been key to this success. Coordinated regulatory structures and long-term policy commitments have also been important. As countries rush to expand nuclear capacities, they must combine affordability with safety, scalability, investor confidence and public trust. Without this, nuclear power will remain an expensive bet the world can ill afford.

Links

Published paper

SharedIt full-text

Preprint pdf

Press release

Supplementary information pdf

Source data

• Power plant level investment costs (overnight construction costs)
• Power plant indigenization rate (domestic content rate)
• Harmonized nuclear power plant costs across countries (U.S., France, China)

Nature Portfolio summary in Chinese

Nature press release

Comment: China Offers Clues to Break Nuclear Power’s ‘Cost Curse’

While historically the nuclear industry has faced a ‘cost escalation curse’, as witnessed in the U.S. and France, China has halved and stabilized these expenses over the past two decades, according to a Comment piece published in Nature this week.

Shangwei Liu, Gang He, Minghao Qiu, and Daniel Kammen compiled and analysed a data set on the construction costs of nuclear power plants in China drawn from a wide range of publicly available sources. They attribute this success to a strategic blend of stable regulations, domestic supply chain development, and standardized reactor designs. China’s centralized nuclear regulatory structure, long-term policy commitments, and rapid project execution have enabled it to build reactors in nearly half the time of recent Western counterparts. These findings have important implications for policymakers seeking a nuclear energy resurgence, “As countries rush to expand nuclear capacities, they must combine affordability with safety, scalability, investor confidence and public trust. Without this, nuclear power will remain an expensive bet the world can ill afford”, they conclude.

The Economist and The New York Times reproduced our chart

LinkedIn

Third Annual Conference on Climate Research, Teaching, and Collaboration

Thursday, Mar. 6 10 am–4:30 pm Information and Technology Building Rackow Conference Center, Room 750

Multidisciplinary Climate Research and Teaching

We will highlight the innovative climate research of our Baruch and CUNY faculty from the Austin W. Marxe School of Public and International Affairs, Weissman School of Arts and Sciences, and Zicklin School of Business. Presenters will share their research about the many ways in which climate change is impacting our lives. A Dean’s Panel will highlight interdisciplinary coordination. Hear from Jessica Lang, Dean, Weissman School of Arts and Sciences; Sherry Ryan, Dean, Marxe School of Public and International Affairs; and Bruce Weber, Dean, Zicklin School of Business.

Registration

9:45–10:10 am

Welcome

10:10–10:15 am

Linda Essig, Provost, Baruch College, CUNY

Chester Zarnoch, Weissman School of Arts and Sciences, Baruch College, CUNY

Group 1: Research Presentations

10:15–11:15 am

• Refining Carbon Isotope Proxies for Paleo pCO₂: Advances and Challenges in Climate Reconstruction, Ana Gonzalez-Nayeck, Assistant Professor, Natural Sciences
• The Role of Disturbance in Ant Behavioral Biodiversity and Invasive Potential, Sarah Bengston, Assistant Professor, Natural Sciences
• From the Classroom to Alice’s Rabbit Hole in Wonderland: Curious Nature Exhibit, Sochuiwon Priscilla, PhD Candidate, CUNY Graduate Center
• Celebrating Five Years of the Susan Locke Seminar, Chester Zarnoch, Professor, Natural Sciences

Break

11:15–11:30 am

Group 2: Research Presentations

11:25 am–12:10 pm

• Permaculture, Potatoes, and Peas: Climate and Culture Considerations in Writing 2150, Evelyn Adler, Adjunct Professor, English
• Toward a Political Ecology of Insect Conservation in Agricultural Landscapes, Ben Iuliano, Doctoral Lecturer, Natural Sciences
• The Power of Framing: How Labeling Influences Plant-Based Food Choices in the U.S., Patrycja Sleboda, Assistant Professor, Psychology

Deans’ Panel: Interdisciplinary Collaboration

12:10–1:15 pm

Moderator: Samantha McBride, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Public Affairs

• Jessica Lang, Dean of the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences
• Sherry Ryan, Marxe Dean
• Bruce Weber, Dean, Zicklin School of Business

Lunch

1:15 –2:10 pm

Group 3: Research Presentations

2:10–2:55 pm

• Extreme Weather and Mortality of Vulnerable Urban Populations: An Examination of Temperature and Unclaimed Deaths in New York City, Frank Heiland, Professor, Public Affairs and Selen Özdoğan, PhD Student, Economics, CUNY Graduate Center
• Disaster Displacement in the U.S., Deborah Balk, Professor, Public Affairs and Jenna Tipaldo, PhD Student, Environmental and Planetary Health Sciences, CUNY School of Public Health
• Establishing a Weather Station Network in India Covering Eight States – Public Diplomacy in Action, Neal Phillip, Professor & Chairperson and Paramita Sen, Lecturer, Chemistry, Earth Sciences, and Environmental Sciences, Bronx Community College

Break

2:55–3:05 pm

Group 4: Research Presentations

3:05–4:05 pm

• Health and Climate Benefits of Solar Photovoltaic in European Countries and the Role of Imports, Gang He, Assistant Professor, Public Affairs

• Understanding The World Bank’s Role in Climate Finance, Asli Leblebicioglu, Associate Professor, Public Affairs

• Saving the Environment Through Corporate Governance: “Real ESG” as a Cure for Democracy’s Failings, David Rosenberg, Associate Professor, Law

• Climate and the Food-Energy-Water-Waste Nexus: From the Viewpoint of Waste, Samantha McBride, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Public Affairs

Closing Remarks

4:05–4:15 pm

Chester Zarnoch, Weissman School of Arts and Sciences

Welcome to join us to learn more about climate-related activities at CUNY.

Conference Website

https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/climateconference/

About the EES Program

From its inception in 1983, the Ph.D. Program in Earth and Environmental Sciences has identified itself with “promoting teaching and research in the study of the earth.” With faculty in atmospheric sciences, environmental sciences, environmental psychology, geography, and geology, the Earth and Environmental Sciences program at the CUNY Graduate Center spans a broad array of subjects focusing on the earth, its environments, human activities, and the linkages between them.

Our students have the unique opportunity to study both the physical and human environments simultaneously, or to focus on specific subjects within the program’s specializations. The faculty has a strong commitment to education and research in Environmental and Geological Sciences, Environmental Psychology, and Geography.

Source: https://www.gc.cuny.edu/earth-and-environmental-sciences

Session

Climate Change Impacts and Responses: Assessment, Politics and Policy

Thursday, November 21, 2024: 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM

Gaylord National Harbor, National Harbor 15

Abstract: Climate change presents a multifaceted challenge, impacting energy systems, urban infrastructure, and financial policies. This panel brings together three papers offering comprehensive insights into the assessment, politics, and policy responses to climate change impacts. Paper 1 examines the effects of climate change on the supply-demand match (SDM) in global wind and solar energy systems. Using state-of-the-art climate models, the paper reveals significant reductions in SDM across various regions by the end of the century, emphasizing the need for early adaptation measures in the energy sector. Paper 2 assesses the effectiveness of current conservation projects and funding allocation in meeting the water needs of the Colorado River Basin, particularly in light of ongoing droughts and climate change. Analyzed 593 projects across thirteen programs, the paper shows that while the majority of funds went to municipal projects, it did not result in high amounts of estimated water savings compared to other categories. Paper 3 studies urban stormwater flooding and policy solutions, focusing on marginalized populations in Chicago. Through socio-institutional network analysis and economic assessments, the paper highlights the importance of coordinated efforts at both local and national levels to address flooding disparities and integrate green infrastructure for sustainable urban development. Paper 4 investigates the carbon emission reduction effect of green financial policies in China. By analyzing data from green finance reform and innovation pilot cities, the paper uncovers significant reductions in carbon emission intensity, particularly through industrial structure optimization and green technology innovation, with regional variations in policy effectiveness. These papers collectively contribute valuable empirical evidence and policy implications for understanding and mitigating the complex impacts of climate change on energy systems, urban resilience, and sustainable finance.

Organizer: Gang He, CUNY-Baruch College

Panel Chair: Gang He, CUNY-Baruch College

Discussant:

Mallory Flowers, University of Rhode Island

Emre Hatipoglu, KAPSARC School of Public Policy

Presentations

ID# 52932 Climate Change Impacts on Planned Supply–Demand Match in Global Wind and Solar Energy Systems

Laibao Liu¹, Gang He², Mengxi Wu³, Gang Liu⁴, Haoran Zhang⁵, Ying Chen⁶, Jiashu Shen⁴ and Shuangcheng Li⁴, (1)The University of Hong Kong, (2)CUNY-Baruch College, (3)The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, (4)Peking University, (5)University College London, (6)University of Birmingham

ID# 54815 Addressing Water Scarcity in the Colorado River Basin: Review of Conservation Policies

Paloma Avila, Mehdi Nemati, Daniel Crespo and Ariel Dinar, (1)University of California, Riverside

ID# 52935 Urban Stormwater Flooding: Policy Solutions Addressing Chicago’s Marginalized Sub-Populations

Darren Christopher, Caleb Hadley, Ron Henderson, Hao Huang, David Lampert, Michael Sansone, Matthew A. Shapiro, Brent Stephens and Maria Villalobos Hernandez, Illinois Institute of Technology

ID# 52937 Carbon Emission Reduction Effect of Green Financial Policy: Empirical Evidence from the Green Finance Reform and Innovation Pilot Zones in China

Ting Guan, School of Government and Lishan Fu, Beijing Normal University

Poster

Health and Climate Benefits of Imported Solar Photovoltaic in the United States

Minghao Qiu¹, Gang He², Peter Marcotullio³, (1)Stony Brook University, (2)CUNY-Baruch College, (3)CUNY-Hunter College

Friday Poster Reception

Friday, November 22, 2024: 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM

Gaylord National Harbor, Potomac AB

Relevant work

Climate change impacts on planned supply–demand match in global wind and solar energy systems

Up to 32% or 44% of non-Antarctic land areas for wind or solar…

Jul 24, 2023

Laibao Liu, Gang He, Mengxi Wu, Gang Liu, Haoran Zhang, Ying Chen, Jiashu Shen, Shuangcheng Li

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Abstract

Phasing out coal is essential for climate mitigation but can result in job losses. Although growing literature has reported green job opportunities (e.g., solar technicians) as a potential solution to the displacement of coal sector workers, the extent to which green jobs are easily accessible, regarding co-location and skill requirements, remains unclear. Here, we explore this issue in the context of China’s coal phaseout toward the 2060 carbon neutrality target. Using a coal power plant retirement model of 3,765 coal power units, we find that coal power plant workers must travel long distances (178–242 km) to reach a green job site. When further considering job skill qualifications, in total, fewer than 15% of these workers can easily access green jobs. Postponing the coal phaseout might further exacerbate the job transition challenge. Upstream industries of the renewable energy sector (e.g., electrical machinery), which can be located closer to coal power plants and have better job skill matching, can help alleviate the challenging prospect.

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