Energy and the Environment

Energy and the Environment

At the intersection of physical sciences and policy, our researchers work to find solutions for hunger, environmental degradation, emerging energy markets and more.

Research Spotlight

Landscape aerial view of Haikou City, China.

Governing Policy Experiments in Chinese Cities: Lessons on Effective Climate Mitigation

Case studies on Chinese cities indicates that political leadership is critical in achieving progress on decarbonization and that combining policy coherence with local priorities is key to maintaining climate priorities over the long-term.

A worker stands in the foreground of a brick kiln in Bangladesh under a heavily polluted sky.

Reducing Emissions and Air Pollution from Informal Brick Kilns: Evidence from Bangladesh

Researchers offer data-backed interventions that can improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions in "zigzag” brick kilns in Bangladesh while also decreasing fuel costs and increasing brick quality.

An example of a desalination plant in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates.

Thinking Outside the Basin: Evaluating Israel’s Desalinated Climate Resilience Strategy

Israel’s experience demonstrates how inter-basin desalination transfers can strengthen water security and offer a replicable framework for other regions confronting climate-induced scarcity.

Featured Scholars

https://fse.fsi.stanford.edu/people/jennifer_burney

Jennifer Burney

Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies

Deputy Director of the Center on Food Security and the Environment

Jennifer Burney Full Bio

https://fse.fsi.stanford.edu/people/david_lobell

David Lobell

Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies

Director, Center on Food Security and the Environment

David Lobell Full Bio

https://fse.fsi.stanford.edu/people/rosamond_l_naylor

Rosamond Naylor

Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies

William Wrigley Professor of Earth System Science

Rosamond Naylor Full Bio

https://pesd.fsi.stanford.edu/people/frank_wolak

Frank Wolak

Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies

Director, Program on Energy and Sustainable Development

Frank Wolak Full Bio

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Publications

Journal Articles

Improvements in Ecosystem Services From Investments in Natural Capital

PNAS, 2017

Strengthening Protected Areas for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in China

PNAS, 2017

Significance
Following severe environmental degradation from rapid economic development, China is now advancing policies to secure biodiversity and ecosystem services. We report the first nationwide assessment, showing that protected areas (PAs) are not well delineated to protect either biodiversity or key ecosystem services. This serious deficiency exists in many countries. We propose creating a national park system in China to help guide development along a path of green growth, improving the well-being of both people and nature. This involves establishing new, strictly protected PAs for biodiversity and ecosystem services that are highly sensitive to human impacts, as well as a new PA category—in China and ideally worldwide—for integrating biodiversity, ecosystem services, and human activities to achieve sustainable development goals.

Abstract
Recent expansion of the scale of human activities poses severe threats to Earth’s life-support systems. Increasingly, protected areas (PAs) are expected to serve dual goals: protect biodiversity and secure ecosystem services. We report a nationwide assessment for China, quantifying the provision of threatened species habitat and four key regulating services—water retention, soil retention, sandstorm prevention, and carbon sequestration—in nature reserves (the primary category of PAs in China). We find that China’s nature reserves serve moderately well for mammals and birds, but not for other major taxa, nor for these key regulating ecosystem services. China’s nature reserves encompass 15.1% of the country’s land surface. They capture 17.9% and 16.4% of the entire habitat area for threatened mammals and birds, but only 13.1% for plants, 10.0% for amphibians, and 8.5% for reptiles. Nature reserves encompass only 10.2–12.5% of the source areas for the four key regulating services. They are concentrated in western China, whereas much threatened species’ habitat and regulating service source areas occur in eastern provinces. Our analysis illuminates a strategy for greatly strengthening PAs, through creating the first comprehensive national park system of China. This would encompass both nature reserves, in which human activities are highly restricted, and a new category of PAs for ecosystem services, in which human activities not impacting key services are permitted. This could close the gap in a politically feasible way. We also propose a new category of PAs globally, for sustaining the provision of ecosystems services and achieving sustainable development goals.

Journal Articles

Prevalence of anaemia, deficiencies of iron and vitamin A and their determinants in rural women and young children: a cross-sectional study in Kalalé district of northern Benin

Public Health Nutrition, 2017

Journal Articles

Opportunity for marine fisheries reform in China

PNAS, 2017

Journal Articles

Using remotely sensed temperature to estimate climate response functions

Environmental Research Letters, 2017

Journal Articles

Formulating a List of Sites of Waterbird Conservation Significance to Contribute to China’s Ecological Protection Red Line

Bird Conservation International, 2017

White Papers

Agricultural adaptation to climate change in rich and poor countries: Current modeling practice and potential for empirical contributions

Energy Economics, 2016

Journal Articles

Energy and the Environment

Research Spotlight

Governing Policy Experiments in Chinese Cities: Lessons on Effective Climate Mitigation

Reducing Emissions and Air Pollution from Informal Brick Kilns: Evidence from Bangladesh