Biography

Rock Ethics Institute Faculty Fellowship Project

Equity and Justice Priorities in Climate Policy Implementation: Examining Efforts towards Sustainable Environmental Stewardship through Low-carbon Energy Transitions 

ABSTRACT

This project will investigate if and how equity and justice priorities influence the implementation of climate policy by examining the case of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). Using stakeholder analysis and descriptive and causal inference, it will identify how the implementation of a regional cap-and-trade program in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States has remedied or perpetuated injustices in exposures to environmental harms by race and socioeconomic status. The findings will be used to develop materials for implementation decision-makers to promote equitable and just social outcomes from climate policies designed for sustainable environmental stewardship. 

Emily Pakhtigian is an environmental and development economist. Her research examines human-environmental interactions and how households respond to environmental risks such as poor water quality, unimproved sanitation, and air pollution.

Her research interests include environmental health, water and sanitation, air pollution, human capital accumulation, and sustainable development. In addition, Pakhtigian studies the social, economic, and health impacts of energy transitions.