Sivan Kartha
Senior Scientist
Somerville, MA
skartha@sei-us.org
skype: skartha
+1 (617) 627-3786 x5#
Sivan Kartha is a Senior Scientist at SEI-US and co-leader of SEI's institute-wide research theme Managing Climate Risks. His research and publications for the past 15 years have focused on technological options and policy strategies for addressing climate change. Most recently, he has concentrated on equity and efficiency in the design of an international climate regime. He is one of the authors of the Greenhouse Development Rights framework for burden-sharing in the global climate regime, an approach that places the urgency of the climate crisis in the context of the equally dire development crisis afflicting the world's poor majority.
Sivan's work has been supported by international organizations, government agencies, and environmental organizations. He received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Cornell University in 1993.
Recent Publications by Sivan Kartha
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Biomass in a Low-Carbon Economy: Resource Scarcity, Climate Change, and Business in a Finite World (Policy brief)SEI Policy Brief Author(s): Kemp-Benedict, E. ; Kartha, S. ; Fencl, A.Year: 2012 Research Area(s): Sustainable Futures ; Climate Mitigation Policy Description: This policy brief, based on a report produced through a partnership between the business leaders' initiative 3C (Combat Climate Change) and the Stockholm Environment Institute, gauges the availability of biomass for low-carbon energy and other uses in the context of sustainability and competing demands. It explores four scenarios for future biomass use, depending on the relative emphasis on climate change mitigation, agriculture, or both, and finds that while all of the scenarios require trade-offs, a "Sustainability Transition" that uses biomass for food, energy, industrial materials, and more could yield great benefits, helping address the urgent climate problem while spurring improvements in agriculture to boost food production and result in new agricultural products.More information Download PDF |
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Biomass in a Low-Carbon Economy: Resource Scarcity, Climate Change, and Business in a Finite WorldSEI Project Report Author(s): Kemp-Benedict, E. ; Kartha, S. ; Fencl, A.Year: 2012 Research Area(s): Sustainable Futures ; Climate Mitigation Policy Description: This report, produced through a partnership between the business leaders' initiative 3C (Combat Climate Change) and the Stockholm Environment Institute, gauges the availability of biomass for low-carbon energy and other uses in the context of sustainability and competing demands. It explores four scenarios for future biomass use, depending on the relative emphasis on climate change mitigation, agriculture, or both, and finds that while all of the scenarios require trade-offs, a "Sustainability Transition" that uses biomass for food, energy, industrial materials, and more could yield great benefits, helping address the urgent climate problem while spurring improvements in agriculture to boost food production and result in new agricultural products.More information Download PDF |
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Comparison of Annex 1 and non-Annex 1 pledges under the Cancun Agreements (Policy Brief)SEI Policy Brief Author(s): Kartha, S. ; Erickson, P.Year: 2011 Research Area(s): Climate Equity ; Climate Mitigation Policy Description: This policy brief, which summarizes SEI Working Paper No. 2011-06, of the same title, examines four recent detailed studies of countries' mitigation pledges under the Cancún Agreements, for the purpose of comparing developed (Annex 1) country pledges to developing (non-Annex 1) country pledges. It finds that there is broad agreement that developing country pledges amount to more mitigation than developed country pledges. That conclusion applies across all four studies and across all their various cases, despite the diversity of assumptions and methodologies employed and the substantial differences in their quantification of the pledges. The studies also find that the Annex 1 pledges could be significantly diminished by several factors, such as lenient accounting rules on the use of surplus allowances, double-counting of offsets, and loose accounting methodologies for land use, land-use change, and forestry, and they note that the mitigation pledged globally is consistent with a global temperature rise of greater than 2°C – and possibly as much as 5°C.More information Download PDF |
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Comparison of Annex 1 and non-Annex 1 pledges under the Cancun AgreementsSEI Working Paper 2011-06 Author(s): Kartha, S. ; Erickson, P.Year: 2011 Research Area(s): Climate Equity ; Climate Mitigation Policy Description: This report, based on an analysis conducted for Oxfam International, examines four recent detailed studies of countries' mitigation pledges under the Cancun Agreements, for the purpose of comparing developed (Annex 1) country pledges to developing (non-Annex 1) country pledges. It finds that there is broad agreement that developing country pledges amount to more mitigation than developed country pledges. The studies further note that the mitigation pledged globally is consistent with a global temperature rise of greater than 2°C – and possibly as much as 5°C. Avoiding this much warming would require developed countries to raise their pledges and fulfill them through actual mitigation.Note: This paper was originally published in June 2011 as SEI-US Working Paper WP-US-1107. For a summary of the key findings, download this policy brief. More information Download PDF |
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Comparing climate strategies: Economic optimization versus equitable burden-sharingSEI Working Paper WP-US-1104 Author(s): Ackerman, F. ; Bueno, R. ; Kartha, S. ; Kemp-Benedict, E.Year: 2011 Research Area(s): Climate Economics ; Climate Equity Description: Climate policy addresses a global problem, with costs and benefits distributed unevenly around the world. Questions of efficiency and equity are central to the allocation of costs; they are typically handled either by modeling optimal policies based on economic efficiency, or by setting standards that embody principles of equity. This analysis employs the Climate and Regional Economics of Development (CRED) integrated assessment model to assess the optimal international allocation of effort. The authors compare CRED scenarios to the results of an equity-oriented burden-sharing framework, Greenhouse Development Rights (GDRs), which allocates effort to countries based on their responsibility (emissions) and capacity (income).More information Download PDF |