CLIMATE: HOW TO WIN

The policy brief asserts that global climate success depends on the 20 largest emitting nations adopting a small set of high-impact policies across four sectors: electricity, buildings, industry, and transportation. It emphasizes that policy design is critical to avoid inefficiencies and suggests the use of 'Best Practice Networks' (BPNs) to provide technical expertise to governments to ensure these policies are effectively implemented.

• Global climate success is contingent on the 20 largest carbon-emitting countries, led by China and the United States, achieving downward-trending emissions within the next five to ten years.
• Immediate action in the next 15 years is critical to prevent irreversible damage and 'tipping points,' such as methane release from thawing arctic tundra or accelerated ice melt in Greenland and Antarctica that could make coastal cities uninhabitable.
• Effective carbon reduction must be targeted across four primary energy sectors: electricity from renewable resources, near-zero energy buildings, manufacturing processes, and transportation.
• Specific 'killer app' policies are identified for each sector: building codes and appliance standards for buildings; fuel efficiency standards and fleet electrification for transport; renewable portfolio standards (RPS) and decoupling for utilities; and equipment standards for industry.
• Poor policy design can lead to significant failures, such as the U.S. CAFE standards, which the author claims wasted 30 years of improvements and cost the U.S. more than $1 trillion.
• The author proposes the use of Best Practice Networks (BPNs)—such as those pioneered by the ClimateWorks Foundation—to provide governments with the technical expertise and case studies needed to design and implement effective policies.

APA

Harvey, H. (2016). CLIMATE: HOW TO WIN. Energy Innovation. https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Climate_HowToWin-final.pdf

Chicago

Harvey, Hal. CLIMATE: HOW TO WIN. Energy Innovation, 2016. https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Climate_HowToWin-final.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Harvey |first1=Hal |title=CLIMATE: HOW TO WIN |publisher=Energy Innovation |date=April 2016 |url=https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Climate_HowToWin-final.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{harvey2016climate, author = {Harvey, Hal}, title = {{CLIMATE: HOW TO WIN}}, institution = {Energy Innovation}, year = {2016}, month = apr, url = {https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Climate_HowToWin-final.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }