Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

U. of I. expert keynote speaker for European climate conference

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – University of Illinois finance professor Don Fullerton will be the keynote speaker at a Nov. 30 global warming conference for European Union tax commissioners in Brussels, Belgium.

Fullerton, an expert on the economic impact of environmental regulations, will outline cost-effective options to reduce carbon emissions as the 27-nation alliance prepares for December talks in Copenhagen on a new global climate treaty.

A former deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department, Fullerton was invited to speak at the conference in Belgium after analyzing climate policy options at an Oct. 2 meeting of EU finance ministers in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The follow-up conference will allow EU officials “to discuss this important and highly relevant subject in a very timely moment of the run up to the international climate change conference in Copenhagen,” said Alexander Wiedow, the director of indirect taxation and tax administration at the European Commission.

Fullerton, a researcher for the U. of I. Center for Business and Public Policy and for the Institute of Government and Public Affairs, also will lead a panel discussion at the Brussels conference, expected to draw about 500 policy makers and stakeholders from across Europe who will ultimately design and implement carbon-reducing policies.

To reduce emissions, he supports economic incentives such as a carbon tax or cap-and-trade system rather than mandates. But he says governments should sell cap-and-trade permits, not give them away.

Fullerton also was a guest of German U.S. Ambassador Klaus Scharioth at a dinner this month at the German Embassy in Washington, D.C., to discuss climate policy. Other guests included U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-Mo., and former Vermont Gov. and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean.

Read Next

Life sciences Portrait of the research team posing together.

Minecraft players can now explore whole cells and their contents

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Scientists have translated nanoscale experimental and computational data into precise 3D representations of bacteria, yeast and human epithelial, breast and breast cancer cells in Minecraft, a video game that allows players to explore, build and manipulate structures in three dimensions. The innovation will allow researchers and students of all ages to navigate […]

Arts Photo of seven dancers onstage wearing blue tops and orange or yellow flowing skirts. The backdrop is a Persian design.

February Dance includes works experimenting with live music, technology and a ‘sneaker ballet’

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The dance department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will present February Dance 2025: Fast Forward this week at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. February Dance will be one of the first performances in the newly renovated Colwell Playhouse Theatre since its reopening. The performances are Jan. 30-Feb. 1. Dance professor […]

Honors portraits of four Illinois researchers

Four Illinois researchers receive Presidential Early Career Award

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Four researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign were named recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on young professionals at the outset of their independent research careers. The winners this year are health and kinesiology professor Marni Boppart, physics professor Barry Bradlyn, chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Ying […]

Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

507 E. Green St
MC-426
Champaign, IL 61820

Email: stratcom@illinois.edu

Phone (217) 333-5010