The Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements is a global, multi-disciplinary effort intended to help identify the key design elements of a scientifically sound, economically rational, and politically pragmatic post-2012 international policy architecture for addressing the threat of climate change. It has commissioned leading scholars to examine a uniquely wide range of core issues that must be addressed if the world is to reach an effective agreement on a successor regime to the Kyoto Protocol. The purpose of the project is not to become an advocate for any single policy but to present the best possible information and analysis on the full range of options concerning mitigation, adaptation, technology, and finance. The detailed findings of the Harvard Project are reported in this volume, which contains twenty-seven specially commissioned chapters. A companion volume summarizing the main findings of this research is published separately as Post-Kyoto International Climate Policy: Summary for Policymakers.

'With this book, the Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements provides an excellent analysis of the potential instruments and policies available for a new climate regime. The UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009 is a decisive moment for our ability to address a global challenge together. As the host of the Conference, Denmark plays a critical role in facilitating a global agreement. This book is a valuable tool for the negotiations.'

Lars Løkke Rasmussen - Prime Minister of Denmark and President of the 15th Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change

'Addressing climate change is the defining challenge of our age. If we are to rise to this challenge, an ambitious and comprehensive global agreement must be reached urgently. This book provides an informative and timely analysis of the design options for such a global agreement and its subsequent implementation and will be an essential reference book to inform policy makers in their efforts to develop an architecture which is based on science, economically rational, and politically feasible.'

Stavros Dimas - Commissioner for Environment, European Commission

'A global agreement on climate change is of profound importance for the future of the planet. It must be effective, efficient and equitable. The details of the translation of these principles into practice matter greatly. The work of Aldy and Stavins is of very high quality and a major contribution. It should be read by all those with an interest in or involved with, the Copenhagen Summit of 2009 and beyond.'

Lord Nicholas Stern - I. G. Patel Professor of Economics and Government, London School of Economics and Political Science

'The world desperately needs a global climate change agreement, and this impressive collection of scholarly work highlights the essential challenges facing global leaders, and outlines possible paths to reach such an agreement.'

Eileen Claussen - President, Pew Center on Global Climate Change

'This publication will provide indispensable advice for those responsible for the climate change negotiations at Copenhagen and what follows. The contributors and editors are the world’s foremost experts, with both academic and practical experience in science, economics, law, and diplomacy – and making government structures work. The climate talks involve arguably the most important but also the most complex international negotiations ever conducted. It is therefore essential that the parties have access to the wisdom provided in this volume.'

C. Boyden Gray - Former United States Ambassador to the European Union

'Global climate regime building requires intellectual inputs. This timely volume of highly essential and constructive elements provides a wide readership with an in-depth understanding of equity, sustainability, and efficiency approaches to a successful conclusion of an international climate agreement at the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen, December 2009.'

Pan Jiahua - Director, Research Centre for Sustainable Development, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences