Nicholas Ryan receives NSF CAREER grant for research on carbon abatement

Nicholas Ryan, an Assistant Professor of Economics at Yale and affiliate of EGC, has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER grant to study environmental policy innovations in developing countries. 

The grant of $105K over 5 years was awarded on February 9 under the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program, described by the NSF as “a Foundation-wide activity that offers the National Science Foundation’s most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.” 

Ryan’s project will study the efficacy of several institutions for carbon abatement in developing countries, and how they could be made stronger. The proposal was motivated by the fact that reducing global carbon emissions will require developing countries to use more renewable energy instead of fossil energy – and to date there is no existing model for such growth. 

Over the course of 5 year under the grant, Ryan will work to identify policy tools that can lower the cost of energy for the poor and promote green economic growth that causes less pollution. Ryan’s agenda spans several areas of research, including contracts for private investment in renewable energy and a large-scale experiment on emissions trading.

For more information, see the NSF announcement.