Edward A. Parson

Dan and Rae Emmett Professor of Environmental Law
Faculty Director, Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment

  • B.Sc. University College, University of Toronto, 1975
  • M.Sc. University of British Columbia, 1981
  • Ph.D. Harvard University, 1992

Edward A. (Ted) Parson is Dan and Rae Emmett Professor of Environmental Law and Faculty Director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the University of California, Los Angeles. Parson studies international environmental law and policy, the societal impacts and governance of disruptive technologies including geoengineering and artificial intelligence, and the political economy of regulation. Parson leads the AI Pulse program at UCLA Law, and organized the 2019 Summer Institute on AI and Society. His articles have appeared in scientific and scholarly journals in a wide range of fields, including Science, Nature, Climatic Change, Future, Issues in Science and Technology, the Journal of Economic Literature, and the Annual Review of Environment and Resources. His most recent books are The Science and Politics of Global Climate Change (with Andrew Dessler) (3rd ed. Cambridge, 2019), and A Subtle Balance: Evidence, Expertise, and Democracy in Public Policy and Governance, 1970-2010 (McGill-Queens University Press, 2015). His 2003 book, Protecting the Ozone Layer: Science and Strategy (Oxford), won the Sprout Award of the International Studies Association and is widely recognized as the authoritative account of the development of international cooperation to protect the ozone layer.

Parson has led and served on multiple advisory committees, for the National Academy of Sciences, the U.S. Global Change Research Program, and other national and international bodies. His work was influential in establishing the World Commission on Climate Overshoot, for which he serves as a senior advisor. He was formerly Joseph L. Sax Collegiate Professor of Law and Professor of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan, and spent twelve years on the faculty of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. In addition to his academic positions, Parson has worked and consulted for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Office of Technology Assessment of the U.S. Congress, the Privy Council Office of the Government of Canada, and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). He holds degrees in physics from the University of Toronto and in management science from the University of British Columbia, and a Ph.D. in Public Policy from Harvard. In former lives, he was a professional classical musician and an organizer of grass-roots environmental groups.

Bibliography

  • Books
    • The Science and Politics of Global Climate Change: A Guide to the Debate (with A.E. Dessler). 3rd ed. Cambridge University Press (2019). Book Info 
    • A Subtle Balance: Evidence, Expertise, and Democracy in Policy and Governance, 1970-2010 (edited by E.A. Parson). McGill-Queens University Press (May 2015).
    • Global-Change Scenarios: Their Development and Use (with V. Burkett, K. Fisher-Vanden, D. Keith, L. Mearns, H. Pitcher, C. Rosenzweig, M. Webster). Synthesis and Assessment Product 2.1b, US Climate Change Science Program (2007).
    • Protecting the Ozone Layer: Science and Strategy. Oxford University Press (2003). (Harold and Margaret Sprout Award, International Studies Assoc., 2004).  Order from Oxford University Press | Order from Amazon
    • Governing the Environment: Persistent Challenges, Uncertain Innovations (edited by Edward A. Parson). University of Toronto Press (2001). (Also published in French translation as Gérer l’environnement, les Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 2001). | Order from Amazon
    • Climate Change Impacts on the United States. US Global Change Research Program, Cambridge University Press (2001). National Assessment Synthesis Team (member of collective author).  Two volumes: “Foundation” and “Overview.”  Order "Foundation" from Cambridge University Press | Order "Overview" from Cambridge University Press | Order "Foundation" from Amazon | Order "Overview" from Amazon
    • Learning to Manage Global Environmental Risks: a Comparative History of Social Responses to Climate Change, Ozone Depletion, and Acid Rain (edited by W.C. Clark et al.). MIT Press (2001). Vols. 1 and 2. Social Learning Group (member of collective author).  Order Vol. 1 from MIT Press | Order Vol. 2 from MIT Press | Order Vol. 1 on Amazon | Order Vol. 2 on Amazon
  • Articles, Chapters, And Reviews
    • Toward a better solar geoengineering debate (with S. Jinnah, H.J.Buck, J.Moreno-cruz, S.Nicholson), Nature Climate Change (under review 2022).
    • Scenarios for Modeling Solar Geoengineering (with D.G. MacMartin, D. Visioni, B. Kravitz, J.H. Richter, T. Felgenhauer, W.R. Lee, D.R. Morrow, Sugiyama), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (forthcoming 2022).
    • Radical Climate Adaptation in Antarctica (with Charles R. Corbett), 49 ECGLQ 77 (2022). Full Text
    • Solar Geoengineering Research and Climate Risks: Toward Symmetric Precaution (Guest Editorial), 374 Science 795 (November 11, 2021). Full Text
    • Solar Geoengineering: Scenarios of Future Governance Challenges (with J.R.Reynolds), 133 Futures (Oct. 2021). (Introductory article for special collection of six articles edited by Parson and Reynolds)  Full Text
    • Solar Geoengineering Governance: Insights from a Scenario Exercise (with J.R.Reynolds), 132 Futures (September 2021). (Concluding synthesis article for special collection of six articles edited by Parson and Reynolds) Full Text
    • Large-scale Carbon Dioxide Removal: The Problem of Phasedown (with Holly J. Buck), 20(3) Global Environmental Politics (August 2020). Full Text
    • Nonstate governance of solar geoengineering research (with J.L. Reynolds), 160 Climatic Change 323-42 (2020). Full Text
    • Evaluating the efficacy and equity of environmental stopgap measures (with Holly J. Buck, L.J.Martin, O.Geden, P.Kareiva, L.Koslov, W.Krantz, B.Kravitz, J.Noël, C.J.Preston, D.L.Sanchez, L.Scarlett, & S. Talati), Nature Sustainability (2020). Full Text
    • Assess Geoengineering Proposals in the Context of Climate Risks, Environmental Law Forum 55 (Nov/Dec 2018).
    • Judging new technologies by intention and character: role and limits, Issues in Science and Technology (Winter 2018).
    • Climate policymakers and assessments must get serious about climate engineering, 114(35) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) 9227-9230 (Aug. 2017).
    • Carbon-cycle versus solar interventions: should they be treated differently in research and assessment?, 33(4) Issues in Science and Technology (Summer 2017).
    • Social Control of Technological Risks: The Dilemma of Knowledge and Control in Practice, and Ways To Surmount It, 64 UCLA Law Review Discourse 464 (2016). Full Text
    • Climate Engineering in Global Climate Governance: Implications for Participation and Linkage, 3(01) Transnational Environmental Law 89-110 (2014). Full Text
    • Market Instruments for the Sustainability Transition (with Eric L. Kravitz), 38 Annual Review of Environment and Resources 415-40 (2013). Annual Review | Abstract
    • End the Deadlock on Governance of Geoengineering Research (with David W. Keith), 339 Science 1278-79 (March 15, 2013).
    • Climate Engineering Research, Issues in Science and Technology (Summer 2013). Forum Comment on Long and Scott.
    • International Governance of Climate Engineering (with Lia N. Ernst), 14 Theoretical Inquiries in Law 307 (2013). Full Text
    • Sequential Climate Change Policy (with D. Karwat), 2 Wiley Interdisciplinary Review: Climate Change 744-56 (2011). Wiley
    • Research on Global Sun Block Needed Now (with D.W. Keith and M. Granger Morgan), 463 Nature 426-27 (Jan. 28, 2010). Full Text
    • Ontario Electricity Policy: The Climate Challenge, in Current Affairs: Perspectives on Electricity Policy for Ontario, Chapter 2 (edited by D. Reeve, D. DeWees, and B. Karney, University of Toronto Press, 2009).
    • Useful Global Change Scenarios: Current Issues and Challenges, 3(4) Environmental Research Letters 045016 (Oct.-Dec. 2008). ERL | Full Text
    • Review Essay: The Big One, 74 Journal of Economic Literature 147-64 (2007). Reviewing Catastrophe: Risk and Response, by Richard Posner.  JEL | Full Text
    • Reflections on Air Capture: The Political Economy of Active Intervention in the Global Environment, 74 Climatic Change 1-11 (2006). Climatic Change| Full Text
    • Grounds for Hope: The Assessment of Technological Options to Manage Ozone Depletion, in Assessments of Regional and Global Environmental Risks: Designing Processes for the Effective Use of Science in Decision-Making (edited by A. Farrell and J. Jäger, Resources for the Future Press, 2005). Order from Amazon | Full Text
    • Environmental Health Implications of Global Climate Change (with R. Watson, J. Patz, D. Gubler, and J.H. Vincent), 7 Journal of Environmental Monitoring 834-43 (Dec. 2005). JEM
    • Book Review, 37 Canadian Journal of Political Science 439-41 (2004). Reviewing Restoration of the Great Lakes: Promises, Practices, Performances, by M. Sproule-Jones.
    • Seeking Truth for Power: Information Strategy and Regulatory Policy-Making (with C. Coglianese and R. Zeckhauser), 89 Minnesota Law Review 277-341 (2004). Full Text
    • Collective Silence and Individual Voice: the Logic of Information Games (with R.J. Zeckhauser, and C. Coglianese), in Collective Choice: Essays in Honor of Mancur Olson 49-70 (edited by J. Heckelman and D. Coates, Springer-Verlag, 2003). Order from Amazon | Full Text
    • Climate and the Water, Forests, and Salmon of the Pacific Northwest (with E.A. Parson, P.W. Mote and ten other authors), 61 Climatic Change 45-88 (Nov. 2003).
    • Understanding Climate Impacts, Vulnerabilities, and Adaptation in the United States: Building a Capacity for Assessment (with E.A Parson, R.W. Corell and ten other authors), 57 Climatic Change 9-42 (Mar. 2003).
    • The Technology Assessment Approach to Climate Change, 84 Issues in Science and Technology 65-72 (Summer 2002). Full Text
    • Implementing the Climate Regime’s Clean Development Mechanism (with R.B. Mitchell), 10(2) Journal of Environment and Development 125-46 (June 2001). JED (Subscription required)
    • Environmental Trends: a Challenge to Canadian Governance, Chapter 1, in Governing the Environment: Persistent Challenges, Uncertain Innovations 3-29 (edited by Edward A. Parson, University of Toronto Press, 2001).
    • Persistent Challenges, Uncertain Innovations: A Synthesis, Chapter 9, in Governing the Environment: Persistent Challenges, Uncertain Innovations 345-80 (edited by Edward A. Parson, University of Toronto Press, 2001).
    • Leading While Keeping in Step: Canadian Management of Global Atmospheric Risks, Chapter 10 (with A.R. Dobell, A. Fenech, D. Munton, and H. Smith), in Learning to Manage Global Environmental Risks: a Comparative History of Social Responses to Climate Change, Ozone Depletion, and Acid Rain 235-57 (edited by W.C. Clark et al., MIT Press). Social Learning Group. Also secondary author on four other chapters in volume.
    • Socioeconomic Context for Climate Impact Assessment, Chapter 3 (E.A. Parson and M.G. Morgan, with A. Janetos, L. Joyce, B. Miller, R. Richels, and T. Wilbanks), in Climate Change Impacts on the United States. A Report of the National Assessment Synthesis Team, US Global Change Research Program 93-107 (Cambridge University Press, 2001).
    • Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change for the Pacific Northwest, Chapter 9 (with P.W. Mote, A. Hamlet, N. Mantua, A. Snover, W. Keeton, E. Miles, D. Canning, K.G. Ideker), in Climate Change Impacts on the United States. US Global Change Research Program 247-80 (Cambridge University Press, 2001).
    • Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change for Alaska, Chapter 10 (with L. Carter, P. Anderson, B. Wang, and G. Weller), in Climate Change Impacts on the United States. US Global Change Research Program 283-312 (Cambridge University Press, 2001).
    • Environmental Trends and Environmental Governance in Canada, 26 Canadian Public Policy S123-S143 (Aug. 2000). Full Text
    • Joint Implementation of Greenhouse Gas Abatement Under the Kyoto Protocol’s “Clean Development Mechanism”: Its Scope and Limits (with K. Fisher-Vanden), 32 Policy Sciences 207-24 (Sep. 1999).
    • The Montreal Protocol: The First Adaptive Global Environmental Regime?, in Protecting the Ozone Layer: Lessons, Models, and Prospects (edited by P.G. LePrestre, J.D. Reid, and E.T. Morehouse, Jr., Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1998). Order from Amazon | Full Text
    • Games and Simulations (with D.W. Keith), in Human Choice and Climate Change (edited by S. Rayner and E. Malone, Battelle Press, 1998). Full Text
    • Fossil Fuels without CO2 Emissions (with D.W. Keith), Science 282 (5391) 1053-54 (6 Nov. 1998). Science | Full Text
    • Informing Global Environmental Policy-making: A Plea for New Methods of Assessment and Synthesis, 2(4) Environmental Modeling and Assessment 267-79 (1998). EMA
    • Integrated Assessment Models of Global Climate Change (with K. Fisher-Vanden), 22 Annual Review of Energy and the Environment 589-628 (1997). Annual Review
    • International Environmental Negotiations: The Current State of Empirical and Analytical Study, 13 Negotiation Journal 161-83 (April 1997). Full Text
    • International Protection of the Ozone Layer, in Green Globe Yearbook: 1996 (edited by H.O. Bergeson and G. Parmann, Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Oxford University Press, 1996). Order from Amazon
    • What Can You Learn From a Game?, in Wise Choices: Games, Decisions, and Negotiations (edited by R. Zeckhauser, R. Keeney, and J. Sebenius, Harvard Business School Press, 1996). Order from Amazon | Full Text
    • Three Dilemmas in the Integrated Assessment of Climate Change, 34 Climatic Change 315-26 (1996). Climatic Change
    • Integrated Assessment and Environmental Policy-Making: In Pursuit of Usefulness, 23 Energy Policy 463-75 (1995). Energy Policy | Full Text
    • Sustainable Development as Social Learning: Theoretical Perspectives and Practical Challenges for the Design of a Research Program (with W.C. Clark), in Barriers and Bridges to the Renewal of Ecosystems and Institutions 428-60 (edited by L. Gunderson, C.S. Holling, and S. Light, Columbia University Press, 1995). Order from Amazon | Full Text
    • Cooperation in the Unbalanced Commons (with R. Zeckhauser), in Barriers to the Conflict Resolution 212-34 (edited by K. Arrow, R. Mnookin, L. Ross, A. Tversky and R. Wilson, Norton, 1995). Order from Amazon | Full Text
    • Equal Measures or Fair Burdens: Negotiating Environmental Treaties in an Unequal World (with R. Zeckhauser), in Shaping National Responses to Climate Change 81-114 (edited by H. Lee, Island Press, 1995). Order from Amazon
    • Von dem Peripherie ins Zentrum der Aussen politik? Die internationale Umweltpolitik, in Amerikanische Weltpolitik nach dem Ost-West-Konflikt (edited by M. Dembinski, P. Rudolf, and J. Wilzewsk, Nomos Verlag, 1994).
    • Protecting the Ozone Layer, in Institutions for the Earth (edited by P.M. Haas, R.O. Keohane, and M.A. Levy, MIT Press, 1993). Order from Amazon
    • Assessing UNCED and the State of Sustainable Development, Proceedings of the American Society of International Law 508-13 (1993). Full Text
  • Policy-Advisory And Popular Articles
    • Max – A Thought Experiment: Could AI Run the Economy Better Than Markets?, AI Pulse (Feb. 11, 2020). SSRN
    • Functions of Geoengineering Research Governance (with Jane Long), UCLA School of Law Public Law & Legal Theory Research Paper No. 19-42 (2019). Full Text
    • Artificial Intelligence’s Societal Impacts, Governance, and Ethics: Introduction to the 2019 Summer Institute on AI and Society and its Rapid Outputs, UCLA: The Program on Understanding Law, Science, and Evidence (PULSE) (Sept. 26, 2019). 2019 Summer Institute on AI and Society. SSRN 
    • Could AI drive transformative social progress? What would this require? (with Robert Lempert, Ben Armstrong, Evan Crothers, Chad DeChant and Nick Novelli), UCLA: The Program on Understanding Law, Science, and Evidence (PULSE) (Sept. 26, 2019). 2019 Summer Institute on AI and Society. SSRN 
    • Artificial Intelligence in Strategic Context: an Introduction (with Richard Re, Alicia Solow-Niederman and Elana Zeide), UCLA: The Program on Understanding Law, Science, and Evidence (PULSE) (Feb. 8, 2019). SSRN
    • Controlling Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Transport Fuels: The Performance and Prospect of California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (with Julia Forgie, Jesse Lueders, and Sean B. Hecht), Pritzker Briefs, Policy Paper No. 10 (June 2018). Full Text
    • Geoengineering ethics, XXXIV(2) Issues in Science and Technology (Winter 2018). Forum
    • Solar geoengineering: Science fiction – or savior? (with David Keith), Toronto Globe and Mail (Dec. 8, 2017).
    • Starting the Dialog on Climate Engineering Governance: A World Commission, Fixing Climate Governance Series Policy Brief No. 8 (Aug. 2017). Full Text
    • Climate policymakers and assessments must get serious about climate engineering, 114(35) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 9227-9230 (August 2017). Opinion
    • Climate engineering, XXXIII(4) Issues in Science and Technology (Summer 2017). Forum
    • Report on the Forum on U.S. Solar Geoengineering Research (edited by Elizabeth Burns, David Keith, Edward Parson, and Gernot Wagner, Washington, D.C., March 2017). Full Text
    • Less focus on collective action, more on delayed benefits and concentrated opponents. Policy Brief, Centre for International Governance Innovation.  April 2015. Paper
    • Controlling Greenhouse-Gas Emissions from Transport: the performance and promise of California’s Low-Carbon Fuel Standard (with Jesse Lueders and Sean Hecht). Emmett Institue, UCLA Law, May 22, 2015. Paper
    • Fiscal and Regulatory Approaches to Limiting Greenhouse Gases, Briefing to Meeting on Breaking the Climate Change Deadlock, Paris, March 2008.
    • Synthesis Report, Launch Workshop, The 3E Initiative. Report of first meeting, Merrickville Ontario. 1-3 Nov. 2007.
    • Report of Planning Meeting, Canada Low-Carbon Project, Calgary, July 16, 2007.
    • How to Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions: A Guide for Policy-makers in Canada and Elsewhere. Part 1: National Policies; Part 2: Internation Action. Briefing Note for Planning Meeting, Canada Low-Carbon Project. May 24, 2007.
    • An L-14 Leadership Initiative Within the UN Climate-change Process, Briefing Note Prepared for Side event at Clinton Global Initiative, May 11, 2007.
    • Moving Beyond the Kyoto Impasse, New York Times A23 (July 31, 2001). Opinion
    • A Breakthrough in Climate-Change Policy? (with D. W. Keit), Scientific American 78-79 (Feb. 2000).
    • International Ozone Agreements: Response to Comments by Ian Rowlands (with O. Greene), 37(3) Environment 3 (April 1995).
    • The Complex Chemistry of the International Ozone Agreements (with O. Greene), 37(2) Environment 16 (March 1995).
    • Appraising the Earth Summit (with P. Haas and M. Levy), 34(8) Environment (Oct. 1992).
    • A Summary of the Major Documents signed at the Earth Summit and Global Forum (with P. Haas and M. Levy), 34(8) Environment (Oct. 1992).
    • A World Atmosphere Fund (with A.R. Dobell), Policy Options (Nov. 1988).
  • Technical Reports And Working Papers
    • Moratoria for Global Governance and Contested Technology: The Case of Climate Engineering (with Megan Herzog), UCLA School of Law, Public Law & Legal Theory Working Paper Series No. 16-17 (2016). Full Text
    • The International Policy Environment for Carbon Capture and Sequestration, Report to National Energy Technology Laboratory, US DOE, April 2003.
    • Implementing Joint Implementation: Developing a Management and Performance System for the Kyoto Protocol’s "Clean Development Mechanism" (with R.B. Mitchell), ENRP Discussion Paper E-98-06.. Harvard University (June, 1998).
    • Explaining the Form of Assessments: Why do we get the assessments we do? (with S. Agrawala, A. Patt, R. Keohane, R. Mitchell, L. Botcheva, W. Clark, E. DeSombre, J. McCarthy, and E. Shea), ENRP Discussion Paper E-97-12.. Harvard University (1997).
    • Global Environmental Assessment (with W.C. Clark and N. Dickson), ENRP Discussion Paper E-97-15.. Harvard University (1997).
    • Joint Implementation and its Alternatives: Choosing Systems to Distribute Mitigation and Finance (with K. Fisher-Vanden), ENRP Discussion Paper E-97-03.. Harvard University (1977).
    • A Global Climate Change Policy Exercise: Results of a Test Run, July 27-29 1999, Working Paper WP-96-90.. International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Austria (August 1996).
    • Thematic Guide to Integrated Assessment Models of Global Climate Change (with K. Fisher-Vanden). Socio-economic Data and Analysis Center, NASA Mission to Planet Earth, 1966.
    • Climate Treaties and Models, Background Study, Office of Technology Assessment, US Congress, Washington DC, June 1994.
    • Negotiating Climate Cooperation: Learning from Theory, Simulations, and History (Harvard University, May 1992). Doctoral dissertation in Public Policy.
    • The Transport Sector and Global Warming, Disc. Paper G-90-07, Harvard Global Environmental Policy Project. (Appeared in abridged form as the transport sector chapter in Changing by Degrees, OTA's Feb. 1991 Report on Global Climate Change)
    • Midwest-Northeast Transmission: A Partial Solution to Acid Rain? Discussion Paper E-88-05, Energy and Environment Policy Center, Harvard University.