4th Annual Conference on the
Political Economy of Climate and Environment (PECE)
Call For Proposals
We invite applications for the fourth annual conference on the Political Economy of Climate and Environment (PECE), to be held in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on September 2, 2026. The conference is generously sponsored by Harvard University Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability. The conference will take place at the David Rubenstein Treehouse on Harvard University’s campus.
Purpose
Scholars of political economy are increasingly turning their attention to the ways that electoral incentives, interest groups, public participation, government institutions and international organizations affect responses to pressing environmental issues. They are also considering the ways that economic conditions and institutions structure policymaking and the development of interest groups and coalitions around environmental issues. As climate and environmental change accelerate, research in this area is poised to become a central part of the discipline.
PECE aims to consolidate and build connections between scholars working on the political economy of environment and climate. At present, panels and papers on this topic at APSA are distributed between STEP, Public Policy, Political Economy, International Relations, Comparative Politics, and American Politics divisions, among others. With a mini-conference we hope to provide a setting for a more cohesive conversation on these issues and to highlight the work of innovative junior scholars and bring it into conversation with cutting-edge research from more established scholars. We aim to create a set of panels that are balanced across sub-fields, topic areas and presenters’ career stages. We hope that the mini-conference can serve as a locus for the important conversations going on in the discipline around environmental political economy.
Applications
PECE will accept proposals for theoretically-informed and empirically-rigorous papers or pre-analysis plans on any aspect of the political economy of the environment, broadly defined. We are particularly interested in papers that a) examine when and why states, government agencies, and officials act to address climate change, environmental issues and environmental justice; and b) papers that address how the interactions between governments, the public, and interest groups affect environmental outcomes.
Applications to present can be submitted via the link here. To attend without presenting please apply here. We welcome applications from faculty, postdocs and graduate students, and encourage individuals from traditionally underrepresented groups to apply. The deadline for applications is March 15, 2026. Successful applicants will be notified no later than May 1. For more information, please visit our website: www.pece-conference.org
If you have any questions, please reach out to us at pece-conference@gmail.com.
Organizing Committee
Amanda Kennard (Stanford University)
Luke Sanford (Yale University)
Dustin Tingley (Harvard University)