If there was ever a good time to have an AEA conference theme like “Speaking Truth to Power,” it is now. My name is Scott Chaplowe, and as the Director of Evidence, Measurement and Evaluation at the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) for Climate Change, I am reminded of this every day.
This post is about a session at the upcoming AEA conference in Cleveland called, Evaluation, Truth and Accountability – the Case of Climate Change Mitigation. Few contemporary issues are as much a battleground for truth and power as climate change. I think the AEA also recognizes this too, and we are honored that they selected the session to be on the conference’s Presidential Strand.
Our planet has become undeniably warmer, and the scientific evidence for the human causes is unequivocal. To this date, 181 countries have ratified the Paris Agreement on climate change, and with the increased recognition of global warming, funding and programing is also increasing.
How can evaluation help support the growing response to climate change? Our AEA session will examine this, drawing upon three separate, independent evaluations of climate mitigation programs funded by the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF).
One paper in the session from Ross Strategic and another from Mathematica Policy Research will share lessons from evaluations of climate mitigation efforts targeting cities, where 55% of the world population currently resides (and almost two-thirds of the global population is estimated to reside by 2050). A third paper from two evaluators, one from Penn State Law and the School of International Affairs and the other from the University of Melbourne, looks at the evaluation of climate litigation used to enforce climate laws and impose penalties on climate pollution. Policy and regulations are just paper if they are not enforced, which is why climate litigation is critical.
The evaluation of climate mitigation is complex, and there is no magic recipe (approach) to achieve it. If you are in Cleveland, drop in to learn more about this very relevant issue and some innovative solutions from evaluation to help speak truth to power in climate change work.
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