Environmental Defense Fund | Supporter/Funder Tags

An international team of researchers in collaboration with climate negotiators from several countries and private sector carbon trading experts are developing a new mechanism for international climate cooperation.

Climate change mitigation costs differ widely across different countries. Countries with high marginal abatement costs are willing to transfer significant resources to increase the speed of transition to zero net emissions in countries with lower marginal costs. Currently there is no effective, credible international mechanism promoting emission reductions in all sectors, but the cooperative approaches of Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement provide space for innovation.

A ‘climate action team’ (CAT) offers a new model to enable host and partner countries to cooperate to genuinely reduce global emissions and enable more ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions in both. It can reassure host countries about the return to their investment in emissions reductions beyond the NDC and leverage private investment. The large scale of a CAT facilitates the demonstration of additionality and the avoidance of carbon leakage. Climate Teams can take advantage of existing national monitoring and reporting frameworks, increasing transparency.

Key resources:

Suzi Kerr

Chief Economist, Environmental Defense Fund

Suzi Kerr is the Chief Economist at Environmental Defense Fund. She was, until May 2019, a Senior Fellow, and from 1998 – 2009 Founding Director, at Motu Research in New Zealand. She graduated from Harvard University in 1995 with a

Catherine Leining

Policy Fellow/Research Analyst, MOTU Economic and Public Policy Research

Catherine Leining has over 26 years of international policy experience with specialisation in climate change mitigation policy. As a Policy Fellow at Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, she leads Motu’s research and engagement programme on “Shaping New Zealand’s Low-Emission

Ruben Lubowski

Chief Natural Resource Economist, Environmental Defense Fund

Before joining the Environmental Defense Fund, Ruben spent five years at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service as a natural resource and agricultural economist and the agency’s specialist on land use. He also developed and managed environmental projects

Oleg Lugovoy

Senior Economic Analyst, EDF

Oleg Lugovoy is a Senior Economic Analyst at EDF. He is an economic modelling expert and economic policy research analyst. He works in close collaboration with Russian and international research think tanks to develop economic models and tools for climate