California in now in its fourth year of drought, and the governor has declared a State of Emergency (http://ca.gov/drought/). The State is the largest, most dynamic and most innovative economy in the US. This webinar will outline how economists assess water scarcity, and specifically evaluate how California is addressing this challenge, and how to make progress.

Participants will learn: how economists analyze water scarcity, and what they prescribe as solutions; some specifics on the California situation and how it is being addressed, and what the future may hold.

Speakers:
Frank Convery and Matthew Zaragoza-Watkins, Environmental Defense Fund

Frank Convery has degrees from University College Dublin and a PhD in forestry economics from the State University of New York. He was Assistant and then Associate Professor of Resource Economics at Duke University. As Heritage Trust Professor of Environmental Policy  at University College, Dublin, Ireland, he led research into the design and implementation of market based instruments to advance environmental and resource policy in Ireland (plastic bag levy, carbon tax, pay by weight for final waste, water pricing). He coordinated the research networks in the European Union on the use of market based instruments (1997-’99) for environmental policy, and on emissions trading (2001-2003). These networks were used to mobilize the best intellectual capacities world-wide, to bring their research to the policy table, and interact with key stakeholders in the worlds of business, member states, the European Commission and Parliament. A series of books and policy briefs were published addressed to the key issues. His personal research has been focused on the European Emissions Trading Scheme; he is a co-author (with Ellerman and De Perthuis) of Carbon Markets: the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme, Cambridge University Press, 2010). He is honorary President of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE) and was selected as European Fiscal Reformer of the Year for 2013.    

Since joining the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) in New York in June 2014 as Chief Economist, he has focused on helping economists at EDF drive a number of agendas, including: Climate: incorporating risk and uncertainty into economic analysis and decision  making, understanding how emissions trading markets can drive abatement efficiently; Energy: using time of use electricity pricing to shape consumption in ways that improve economic efficiency and environmental performance, understanding how regulation of natural gas supply and distribution in the US can be changed so are to improve outcomes for consumers and for the environment; Ecosystems: addressing how supply chains can be mobilized to influence behavior by farmers in regard to fertilizer application so as to improve farm incomes and environmental outcomes, promote habitat exchange to protect species diversity at minimum cost, and the use of water markets to promote efficiency and ecosystem conservation; Oceans: relate the benefits of fisheries conservation off shore, to economic performance on land, in context of climate change and protection of natural capital.   

Matthew Zaragoza-Watkins is the High Meadows Senior Economist, in the Environmental Defense Fund’s (EDF) Office of Economic Policy and Analysis, where he works on transportation economics, environmental regulation of power plants under the clean air act (e.g., the Clean Power Plan) and water markets in the western U.S.  His research is at the intersections of public finance with environmental, energy, and natural resource economics, with an emphasis on designing property rights schemes, efficient markets and policies to curb environmental externalities and efficiently and equitably allocate natural resources.  Themes in his research are optimal policy design for multiple unpriced externalities and agents’ responses to environmental policy.

Since joining EDF in 2014, he has analyzed EPA’s Phase II GHG standards for Heavy-Duty Trucks, developed an economic framework for Ecosystems’ supply-chain work, and designed experiments to study consumer preferences for environmentally friendly products.  Currently, he is working with EDF’s Climate and Legal teams to support the implementation of the Clean Power Plan, and with the Ecosystems team to bring environmentally friendly water markets to the western U.S.  

Previously, Matt was a post-doc with the MIT Center of Energy and Environmental Policy Research, where he worked with a team of researchers to provide recommendations to several states in India on how to design a cap-and-trade system for air particulates, and to the National Development and Reform Commission of China on greenhouse gas policies for their 13th five-year plan.  Prior to that, Matt worked for the California Air Resources Board, where helped to design and implement the AB 32 cap-and-trade program for GHGs.  He holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California at Berkeley, and received his B.S. in Applied Economics and Management from Cornell University.

Introduced by:
Isabella Alloisio, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei

Isabella Alloisio is a senior researcher at Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM), where she is involved in the CLIMIP project, and she is the scientific coordinator and external relations manager at the International Center for Climate Governance (ICCG). She was project manager in the field of energy regulation at the Italian Authority for Energy. She holds a PhD in International Law and Economics from Bocconi University, and she was visiting scholar at the University of California at Berkeley conducting research in the renewable energy field, and PhD researcher at the Centre for Research on Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy (IEFE) at Bocconi University. She has published her PhD in International Law and Economics from Bocconi University, and she was visiting scholar at the University of California at Berkeley conducting research in the renewable energy field, and PhD researcher at the Centre for Research on Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy (IEFE) at Bocconi University. She has published her Phd thesis on the Policy Drivers of Isabella Alloisio is a senior researcher at Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM), where she is involved in the CLIMIP project, and she is the scientific coordinator and external relations manager at the International Center for Climate Governance (ICCG). She was project manager in the field of energy regulation at the Italian Authority for Energy. She holds a PhD in International Law and Economics from Bocconi University, and she was visiting scholar at the University of California at Berkeley conducting research in the renewable energy field, and PhD researcher at the Centre for Research on Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy (IEFE) at Bocconi University. She has published her Phd thesis on the Policy Drivers of Photovoltaic Industry Growth in California, Germany and Japan. She holds a MPhil in International Relations from the University of Geneva, and worked in International Organisations, such as the United Nations and the European Parliament.

Working language: English.
Admission free. Registration is required. For information and registration: events@iccgov.org or 041/2700443 (Giovanna Bettio).

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