Kelly Levin

Senior Associate, Pillar Lead TRAC Policy

Bio

Kelly Levin is a senior associate with WRI’s major emerging economies objective. She leads WRI’s Measurement and Performance Tracking Project, which builds capacity in developing countries to create and enhance systems that track emissions reductions associated with low-carbon development goals. She closely follows the negotiations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and analyzes related emissions reduction targets and actions. Kelly has conducted an annual review of climate change science for WRI since 2005. She was also the Research Director and lead author of the 2010-2011 World Resources Report, which was dedicated to climate change adaptation, and specifically to how governments can improve decision making in a changing climate.

Kelly pursued her doctoral work at Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, where her research focused on adaptation policies to contend with climate impacts to biodiversity. During her PhD studies, she was also a writer for the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) Reporting Services, covering biodiversity and climate change meetings, including the UN climate change negotiations. Kelly has also worked as a climate policy/technical analyst at NESCAUM (Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management), where she devoted her time to developing a regional greenhouse gas registry in the Northeast and assisting states in the development of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).

Kelly holds a PhD and Master of Environmental Management from Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and a B.A. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Yale College. She has been awarded the Google Climate Science Communication Fellowship and the Academic Council on the United Nations System Dissertation Award, and is a Switzer Fellow, Teresa Heinz Scholar, and Udall Scholar. Kelly’s publications can be found in Climate Policy, Global Environmental Politics, the Journal of Natural Resources Policy Research, International Forestry Review, Policy Sciences, among other journals.

Blog Posts

INSIDER: Understanding the Paris Agreement’s Long-term Goal to Limit Global Warming
by Kelly Levin, Jennifer Morgan and Jiawei Song - December 15, 2015
Climate negotiators who helped craft the new Paris Agreement have long wrestled with language about the long-term goal to give guidance to investors and policymakers on what they need to do and when. There's a complex balancing act involved.
COP21 Q&A: What Is GHG Emissions Neutrality in the Context of the Paris Agreement?
by Kelly Levin, Jiawei Song and Jennifer Morgan - December 11, 2015
In the final days of the Paris climate conference, the idea of greenhouse gas emissions neutrality has emerged as a way to frame the long-term goal to limit the rise in world temperatures. Here are five key questions and answers about this critical concept.
4 Things You Need to Know About Current Trends in Carbon Dioxide Emissions
by Kelly Levin - December 09, 2015
While negotiators huddle at COP21 in Paris, the Global Carbon Project just released its latest assessment of carbon dioxide emissions trends through 2014, showing where emissions are now and where they are headed. Learn about four of the report's key findings.
COP21 Glossary of Terms Guiding the Long-term Emissions-Reduction Goal
by Kelly Levin, Jiawei Song and Jennifer Morgan - December 02, 2015
The glossary of terms guiding the discussion on long-term signals for emissions reductions in the COP21 climate negotiations is complicated, to say the least. Kelly Levin’s guide can help get everyone on the same page.
INFORMAÇÕES INTERNAS: Um glossário para entender as diferentes propostas para uma meta de longo prazo na COP 21
by Kelly Levin, Jiawei Song and Jennifer Morgan - November 26, 2015
A comunidade internacional adotou uma meta para limitar o aquecimento global abaixo dos 2 ºC (3,6° F) acima dos níveis pré-industriais (e considerar 1,5 graus C), para evitar alguns dos piores impactos no clima. Contudo, a meta de 2...
INFORMATION PRIVILÉGIÉE : Un glossaire permettant de comprendre les différentes propositions d'Objectif à long terme à la COP 21
by Kelly Levin, Jiawei Song and Jennifer Morgan - November 26, 2015
La communauté internationale a adopté un objectif qui consiste à limiter le réchauffement global à une température inférieure à 2°C (3,6°F) au-dessus des niveaux pré-industriels (et de considérer 1,5 degré C), de manière à éviter certains des pires impacts...
INSIDER: A Glossary to Understand the Different Proposals for a Long-term Goal at COP 21
by Kelly Levin, Jiawei Song and Jennifer Morgan - November 18, 2015
The international community has adopted a goal to limit global warming below 2°C (3.6°F) above preindustrial levels (and consider 1.5 degrees C) in order to avoid some of the worst climate impacts. However, the 2°C goal does not easily guide every day decision-making because it does not state who needs to act, by how much and by when. So negotiators are considering a second, complementary goal which would operationalize the target to limit warming below 2°C. Many have termed this a “long-term goal” which would aim to send a much clearer signal to the world what pathway key players need to follow to stay below 2°C.
With Latest Climate Commitments, How Much Will the World Warm? It's Complicated.
by Kelly Levin and Taryn Fransen - November 18, 2015
Countries' new climate plans will substantially bend the global emissions trajectory, but they still don't go far enough to limit warming to 2 degrees C and avoid some of the worst climate impacts.
INSIDER: Why Are INDC Studies Reaching Different Temperature Estimates?
by Kelly Levin and Taryn Fransen - November 09, 2015
On Friday, the UNEP Emissions Gap Report joined a series of studies released over the past few weeks assessing how much countries’ recent climate change announcements, or intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs), contribute to combating warming. Collectively, the...
National Climate Plans (INDCs), by the Numbers
by Taryn Fransen, Kelly Levin, Kathleen Mogelgaard and Eliza Northrop - October 30, 2015
More than 150 countries have submitted climate action plans in the lead-up to COP 21 in Paris—but they're not all created equal.

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Kelly Levin

INSIDER: Understanding the Paris Agreement’s Long-term Goal to Limit Global Warming

COP21 Q&A: What Is GHG Emissions Neutrality in the Context of the Paris Agreement?

4 Things You Need to Know About Current Trends in Carbon Dioxide Emissions

COP21 Glossary of Terms Guiding the Long-term Emissions-Reduction Goal

INFORMAÇÕES INTERNAS: Um glossário para entender as diferentes propostas para uma meta de longo prazo na COP 21

INFORMATION PRIVILÉGIÉE : Un glossaire permettant de comprendre les différentes propositions d'Objectif à long terme à la COP 21

INSIDER: A Glossary to Understand the Different Proposals for a Long-term Goal at COP 21

With Latest Climate Commitments, How Much Will the World Warm? It's Complicated.

INSIDER: Why Are INDC Studies Reaching Different Temperature Estimates?

National Climate Plans (INDCs), by the Numbers

Assessing Non-Annex I Pledges

Building a Case for Clarification

Building the Climate Change Regime

Survey and Analysis of Approaches

Climate Science

Major New Discoveries

Remedying Discord in the Accord

Accounting Rules for Annex I Pledges in a Post-2012 Climate Agreement

Comparability of Annex I Emission Reduction Pledges

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Building a Case for Clarification

Survey and Analysis of Approaches

Major New Discoveries

Accounting Rules for Annex I Pledges in a Post-2012 Climate Agreement

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