Robert is a doctoral candidate and researcher working with Steve Davis, within the Department of Earth System Science at the University of California, Irvine. His primary research interests are on coupled human and Earth system interactions, particularly as they relate to climate change, anthropogenic emissions, energy production, agriculture, environmental justice, and conservation. He has held previous research positions at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Center for Environmental Biology, analyzing wildfire aerosol effects on the Earth system and ecological restoration techniques, respectively. Robert’s dissertation work primarily focuses on constraints to climate change mitigation and adaptation that arise from inertia in the power sector as well as the adaptive capacity of agriculture and wildlife.

We show that ambitious climate mitigation scenarios entail drastic, and perhaps un-appreciated, changes in the operating and/or retirement schedules of power infrastructure. For example, in 1.5 or 2°C scenarios, the median age of global coal plants at retirement is <10 years.

Although U.S. annual CO₂ emissions fell by 24% between 2000 and 2018, committed emissions of the U.S. power sector decreased only 12% over the period. This is due to large changes in the age and composition of the U.S. generating fleet: old coal plants were replaced by brand new gas ones that can be expected to operrate for 30-40 years.

With its growing population, industrializing economy, and large coal reserves, India represents a critical unknown in global projections of future CO₂ emissions. As of mid-2016, proposed coal-fired power plants in India are incompatible with its NDC to reduce carbon intensity 33-35% by 2030.