Irving Mintzer

Author

Confronting Climate Change

Dr. Irving Mintzer is an internationally recognized expert on the impacts of energy technologies and climate change on human societies and natural ecosystems. A consultant to transnational corporations as well as multilateral financial institutions, Irving recently completed a review of worldwide private sector investment activity in clean energy technologies and energy efficiency systems for the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. He is currently working with the California Energy Commission (CEC) to analyze the implications of alternative transportation policies designed to accelerate market penetration of advanced vehicle technologies and alternative fuels in California, and to understand the impact of such policies on the state’s electric power and natural gas industries. He is also working with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to develop the list of Early Actions that will generate early credits for emissions reductions under the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB 32) and the Market Advisory Committee of CalEPA to design the California Cap-and-Trade Program that will be central to the implementation of AB 32. With his colleague, Amber Leonard, Irving recently facilitated a major multi-stakeholder dialogue for the Ministry of Mines and Energy of Brazil and coordinated a scenario analysis of the future of Brazil’s federal program for bringing universal access to electricity to remote, up-country areas of the Amazon region. Actively engaged in the international debate on energy, environment, and economic growth for the last 20 years, Irving has been an invited expert in the negotiations leading to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, a participant in the Response Strategies Working Group of the intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and an expert observer in the deliberations of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for the Framework Convention on Climate Change. Along with Amber Leonard, he is the editor of two books on the Climate Convention and has published numerous articles on issues of economic, environmental, and energy policy in such journals as Energy Policy; Environmental Policy and Law; the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists; the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management; Environmental Science and Technology; and Issues in Science and Technology.