For the first time, the world's largest emerging economies — India, Brazil, China, Indonesia — are simultaneously designing national carbon markets and confronting the same unresolved questions: how to set credible baselines, how to bring nature-based assets into compliance systems, and how to structure the financial instruments that will move private capital into clean energy at scale.
The Yale Economic Growth Center's Climate, Energy, and Growth Conference 2026 brings together leading economists, senior government officials, and practitioners from these countries — alongside experts from established markets in the EU and the United States — to work through these questions together. Conference sessions will include both academic research presentations and direct policy discussion.
Conference Themes
This two-day event examines on Day 1 how major economies are designing compliance carbon markets, covering topics like carbon leakage, border adjustment mechanisms, and the cost of capital for renewables in emerging markets. Day 2 shifts focus to nature-based solutions, exploring how land use and forest conservation can qualify for compliance markets.
Confirmed Participants include:
Seema Jayachandran
Kenneth J. Boudreaux '65 Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, Princeton University
Xiliang Zhang
Professor and Director, Institute of Energy, Environment, and Economy; Tsinghua University
Format and Logistics
The conference will take place over two days at Yale University in New Haven on September 18–19, 2026. Sign up here to attend all or part of the program — we welcome members of the Yale community as well as external guests.
Yale @ Climate Week NYC 2026
Following the conference, Yale Planetary Solutions and the Economic Growth Center will co-host a public panel on September 22, 2026 at the Yale Club in New York as part of Yale @ Climate Week NYC. We will bring together economists and senior policymakers to discuss the state of play in compliance carbon markets and the path toward harmonization across emerging economies. More details on speakers and registration to follow.
Organizers
Rohini Pande
Henry J. Heinz II Professor of Economics and Director of the Economic Growth Center, Yale University
Nicholas Ryan
Associate Professor of Economics, Yale University
Funding
We sincerely thank the following funders for their support to this conference:
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