Population Dynamics of Climate Change

Climate change is the global social problem of the day—and of the days ahead. To develop and accelerate efforts to mitigate the worst population effects of climate change in a world where temperate rises exceed 2 or even 3 degrees Celsius, and to strengthen communities’ capacities to adapt to already-occurring and future-worsening extreme weather events, population science must engage climate science. Fortunately, climate science seeks such engagement, and the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies offers the ideal home for it.

The Center’s new research focal area on the Population Dynamics of Climate Change aims to build the foundation for world-leading, multidisciplinary research on the population causes and effects of climate change.

Substantively, the Center supports answering urgent questions about:

1. the effects of disasters like Hurricane Katrina on migration, fertility, aging, and mortality
2. the social-demographic processes creating barriers and opportunities in energy transition
3. the integration of epidemiology into climate modeling
4. the sociologically heterogeneous effects of climate mitigation and adaptation policies.

Operationally, in line with the general strategy of the Center, plans are being developed to support critical periods and turning points across the scholarly life course, including (a) offering workshops on the integration of climate and demographic methods for thesis writers and dissertators, (b) hosting research seminars that connect emerging scholars with leaders in the field, (c) building an intellectual network through an affiliate program, and (d) supporting the development and execution of cutting-edge, grant-funded research. Ideally, such extramural support would enable us to host or perhaps co-sponsor postdoctoral fellows and visiting scholars with allied Harvard Centers. As a whole, the Center’s Population Dynamics of Climate Change research focal area is responding to calls from climate scientists—as reflected in the IPCC’s recent Assessment Reports—for research that combines insights from population dynamics and climate dynamics scholars.

While our strategy is forward-looking, we are building on the research programs of these leading faculty members.