Kowan O’Keefe is a postdoctoral research associate Center for Global Sustainability at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy. His research focuses on using integrated assessment modeling to examine the interactions between Canadian climate policy, external forces and domestic political considerations in pursuit of net zero. Since 2020, he has contributed to several US-focused modeling studies as a member of the US Modeling Team at CGS.
O'Keefe completed his PhD at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy in 2024. His dissertation examined the achievability, prudence and durability of Canada’s net-zero plans. During his doctoral studies, O'Keefe was a Pierre Elliott Trudeau Scholar and a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Doctoral Fellow. O'Keefe also holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and mathematics from Minot State University and a master’s degree in chemistry from the University of Toronto.
- Climate change policy
The Center for Global Sustainability is the analytical lead for America Is All In - a coalition of over 4,000 cities, states, businesses, universities, communities of faith, and others that have pledged their commitment to support the goals of the Paris Agreement. CGS works with U.S. subnational and international partners to deliver analysis that informs how an "all-of-society" climate strategy can drive actionable and feasible policy. CGS informs U.S. climate policy from the local to global through developing integrated modeling and climate scenarios for the federal government, advising on international discussions to ramp up ambition, and collaborating from the bottom up to move the resources necessary to set and achieve ambitious climate goals.
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