The Columbia Economics Review invites teams of 1-4 members to participate in its third annual Competitive Climate environmental policy competition. Teams that advance to the final round of the competition will be informed of their advancement in mid-Janaury, at which point the final round of judging will begin to determine the winners. Cash prizes of $500, $250 and $125 will be awarded to the 1st-, 2nd- and 3rd- place finishers respectively, thanks to the generous support of the Columbia Economics Department. The winning presentations will also be recognized by the The Earth Institute and will be featured in the Spring 2015 edition of the Columbia Economics Review and on the Columbia Economics Department website.

Important Deadlines:

• 14 December 2014: Registration deadline
• 16 January 2015: Submission deadline

Prompt:

On 23 September 2014, global leaders in government, business, finance and civil society met in New York for the U.N. Climate Summit. At this meeting, they announced commitments to action in areas that are critical for decelerating global temperature increases. These eight Action Areas are:

• Agriculture
• Cities
• Energy
• Forests
• Industry
• Resilience
• Transportation

Please select one of the Action Areas above and develop a viable policy proposal that the United States federal government could adopt to help reduce the rate of climate change and environmental damage. Proposals will be judged according to the following criteria:

• An evidence-driven analysis of climate science research along with projections for future environmental and economic costs associated with emissions from the chosen Action Area. [Climate Science, Economics]
• A realistic outline of policies and programs that will effectively address the environmental threat and/or rate of emissions within the chosen Action Area. [Economics, Engineering/Technology]
• A thorough discussion of the primary and secondary economic effects of the team’s proposal. [Economics]
• An analysis of how domestic and international political constraints affect the probability and impact of enacting the team’s proposal. [Political Science, Economics]

Participants must submit:

• A 10-15 minute PowerPoint presentation
• A commentary on the presentation (in any format)
• Written commentary should not exceed 6-8 pages

Registration and submission are due by 11:59pm on the date of the deadline.

Register Now!