Becoming Killable: White-Tailed Deer Management and the Production of Overabundance in the Blue Hills
Urban Geography
Accelerating Cities’ Net Zero Action
The impact of partnerships and emerging opportunities in financing for city climate action City-university partnerships can be a powerful accelerant to the decarbonization transition, supporting the crucial effort to achieve dramatic emissions mitigation in the coming decade to maintain a sustainable future. The Institute for Sustainable Energy (now the Boston University Institute for Global Sustainability) […]
EPA Methane Emission Controls, Obama vs Trump vs Biden: What Needs to Be Fixed and What Should Be Left Alone
The Trump and Obama emission regulations Biden should fix The failure to adequately regulate major sources of methane emissions from the oil and natural gas industry is a legacy of both the Obama and Trump administrations. In an analysis of methane emission regulation from both presidencies, Institute for Sustainable Energy Energy (now the Boston University […]
Quantifying Scope 3 Emissions Associated with Employee Travel at Boston University
Travel offsets and reduction programs key to Boston University reaching its net-zero goal As part of its Climate Action Plan, Boston University has committed to the goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2040. Employee air travel can account for a large proportion of a university’s Scope 3 emissions, which include emissions […]
The Global Warming Potential Misrepresents the Physics of Global Warming Thereby Misleading Policy Makers
A popular measure of climate change could be misleading A widely used metric in climate policymaking uses over-simplified forecasting methods that can lead to costly mistakes. Institute for Sustainable Energy (now the Boston University Institute for Global Sustainability) Senior Fellow Robert Kleinberg argues that the global community—especially policymakers—should utilize more scientifically rigorous modeling tools to […]
Scenarios, Sustainability, and Critical Infrastructure Risk Mitigation in Water Planning
Planning for water in the context of critical infrastructure With climate change impacting water systems around the globe, the state of water supply planning is facing unprecedented challenges and calls for revamped approaches designed to better prepare for less predictable outcomes. The Institute for Sustainable Energy (now the Boston University Institute for Global Sustainability) has […]
Water Planning in an Age of Change
Enhancing water infrastructure planning to reduce risk Over the past two decades, critical infrastructure planning has emerged as a framework that can help decision-makers understand infrastructure interdependencies and enable individual infrastructure plans to better respond to disruptive events. By examining U.S. water planning methods and how interdependencies of critical infrastructure are driving the need for […]
A Survey of North American City Climate Leaders: The Prospects for Climate Action in the COVID-19 Era
The future of climate action in U.S. cities after COVID-19 The need to rebuild local economies following the COVID-19 pandemic has brought new, urgent challenges for city leaders who are already striving to reverse the impacts of climate change—especially upon vulnerable populations, who disproportionately suffer its effects. To better understand the potential path forward, the […]
Climate of Crisis: How Cities Can Use Climate Action to Close the Equity Gap, Drive Economic Recovery, and Improve Public Health
COVID-19 presents potential social, economic, and climate action benefits In response to events of 2020, including the COVID-19 pandemic, a severe recession, a wave of social protest, and the ongoing imperative to respond to climate change, the COVID & Climate: What’s Next for Cities? research series evaluated how city governments can seize the moment by […]
One Water Demand Management: Rethinking Ratemaking
Balancing demand, affordability, conservation, and equity in water rates As water utilities develop new rate structures to generate adequate revenue to meet increasing demand, integrating demand management and equity measures to support low-income customers can help limit the need for further expansion. To help utilities balance demand, affordability, conservation, and equity in ratemaking practices, the […]