Kathryn Harrison is Professor of Political Science. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Western Ontario, Master’s degrees in Chemical Engineering and Political Science from MIT, and a PhD in Political Science from UBC.

Dr. Harrison studies environmental, climate, and energy policy, federalism, and comparative public policy. She is the author of the book Passing the Buck: Federalism and Canadian Environmental Policy and co-author of Risk, Science, and Politics. In addition, she has edited or co-edited several volumes, including Racing to the Bottom? Provincial Interdependence in the Canadian Federation, and Global Commons, Domestic Decisions: The Comparative Politics of Climate Change.

She has published extensively in edited volumes and journals, including in Nature Climate Change, Science, the Canadian Journal of Political Science, the Canadian Journal of Economics, and Global Environmental Politics. Her Google Scholar profile can be found here.

Harrison is a regular commenter in print and broadcast media, and regularly publishes op-eds published in regional and national media. She has advised local, provincial, and national governments, and is currently a member of the BC Climate Solutions Council and chair of the mitigation expert advisory committee of the Canadian Climate Institute.

Harrison was UBC’s acting Dean of Arts from 2016 to 2017, Senior Associate Dean, Faculty and Equity from 2015 to 2018, and Associate Dean, Strategy and Communications from 2008 to 2011. She has served on the editorial/publication boards of UBC Press, Canadian Public Policy, the Canadian Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, and Regulation and Governance.

Dr. Harrison’s awards include Fulbright Fellowships in 1999-200 and 2006-7, a Gilbert White Fellowship at Resources for the Future, the UBC Killam Research Fellowship, the KD Srivastava Prize from UBC Press, the John Vandercamp prize for the best article of the year in Canadian Public Policy, the JCPA-APPAM prize for the best comparative paper at the APPAM annual meeting, the Edward Clarence Dyason Fellowship at Melbourne University, and the UBC Arts Undergraduate Society’s Just Desserts Award for contributions to student life at UBC.

Before beginning an academic career, Harrison worked as an engineer in the oil industry, a public servant for the government of Canada and the US Congress, and a journalist.

Public Scholarship

Selected Op-Eds

Kathryn Harrison, “BC Election: Party Proposals on Climate Action Point in Opposite Directions,” The Conversation, October 2024.

Kathryn Harrison and Simon Donner, “Deniers and doomers are leading the carbon tax opposition,” National Observer, 5 April 2024.

Kathryn Harrison and Karen Tam Wu, “LNG Canada trying to bully governments into subsidizing emissions reductions,” Vancouver Province, 29 January 2023.

Simon Donner and Kathryn Harrison, “Despite calls for more Canadian energy, the sector is headed for long term decline,” Globe and Mail, 7 November 2022.

Kathryn Harrison, “Political Opportunities and Challenges of Canada’s New $9.1 billion Climate Plan,” The Conversation, March 31 2022.

Kathryn Harrison and Simon Donner, “The Climate Crisis Demands Courage, not Optimism,” The Conversation, January 25 2022.

“Canada Finally has a Climate Plan that will Let it Meet its Carbon Targets in 2030,” National Post, 17 December 2020.

“The Paris Agreement Trading Regime: What’s In It and Not for Canada?” Vancouver Sun, Dec. 9 2019.

“What the Carbon Tax Means for You,” National Post, 3 April 2019.

Sample Media Interviews

BC Carbon tax, CHEK tv, 2024: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRkIaz2z6BU

CBC Sunday Magazine on COP28, 2023: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-57-the-sunday-magazine/clip/16025808-climate-conflict-canadas-commitments-world-crisis

Federalism and the climate crisis, The House, 2021: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-64-the-house/clip/15852983-out-many-one-failure-tackle-climate-change

Comparison of party election platforms, live Q and A on CBC, 2021: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/1.6165056

Scholarly Publications

Books

Global Commons, Domestic Decisions: The Comparative Politics of Climate Change (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2010), co-edited with Lisa McIntosh Sundstrom.

Racing to the Bottom? Provincial Interdependence in the Canadian Federation, (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2005). – Edited

Managing the Environmental Union, (Kingston: Queen’s University School of Policy Studies, 2000), co-edited with Patrick Fafard.

Passing the Buck:  Federalism and Canadian Environmental Policy, (Vancouver, UBC Press, 1996).

Risk, Science, and Politics:  Regulating Toxic Substances in Canada and the United States, (Montreal:  McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1994), with George Hoberg.

Select Journal Articles 

“The Political Economy of Fossil Fuel Production in the Post-Paris Era: Critically Evaluating Nationally Determined Contributions,” Energy Research and Social Science 102 (2023): 13095, coauthored with Amy Janzwood.

“The Politics of Intersecting Crises: The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Climate Policy Preferences” British Journal of Political Science, (2022): 1-10, coauthored with Parrish Bergquist, Gabriel De Roche, Matto Mildenberger, and Erick Lachapelle.

“Supply-Side Climate Policies in Major Oil-Producing Countries: Norway’s and Canada’s Struggles to Align Climate Leadership with Fossil Fuel Extraction” Global Environmental Politics 22, (2022): 129-150, coauthored with Guri Bang.

“Carbon tax rebate programs have had limited impacts on the politics of carbon pricing to date,” Nature Climate Change, 12 (2022): 141-147, coauthored with Matto Mildenberger, Erick Lachapelle, Isabelle Stadelmann-Steffen.

“National Climate Institutions Complement Targets and Policies” Science, 374 (2021): 690-3, coauthored with Navroz Dubash et al.

“Political Institutions and Supply-Side Climate Politics: Lessons from Coal Ports in the United States and Canada,” Global Environmental Politics 20 (2020) 51-72.

“International Carbon Trade and Domestic Climate Politics,” Global Environmental Politics, 15 (2015): 27-48.

“Federalism and Climate Policy Innovation: A Critical Reassessment,” Canadian Public Policy 39 (2013): S95-S108.

“A Tale of Two Taxes: The Fate of Environmental Tax Reform in Canada,” Review of Policy Research 29 (2012): 383-407.

“The Comparative Politics of Carbon Taxation,” Annual Review of Law and Society, 26 (2010): 1-23.

“Canada’s Voluntary ARET Program: Limited Success despite Industry Co-Sponsorship,” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 26 (2007): 755-773, coauthored with Werner Antweiler.

“Protecting Endangered Species in the US and Canada: The Role of Negative Lesson Drawing,” Canadian Journal of Political Science, 40 (2007): 367-394, coauthored with Mary Illical.

“The Road not Taken: Climate Change Policy in Canada and the United States,” Global Environmental Politics, 7 (2007): 92-117.

“Incentives for Pollution Abatement: Regulation, Regulatory Threats, and Non-Governmental Pressures,” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 22 (2003): 361-82, coauthored with Werner Antweiler.

“Toxic Release Inventories and Green Consumerism: Empirical Evidence from Canada,” Canadian Journal of Economics, 36 (2003): 495-520, coauthored with Werner Antweiler.

Select Book Chapters

“Carbon Taxation,” in Daniel J. Fiorino, Todd A. Eisenstadt, Manjyot Kaur Ahluwalia, eds..Elgar Encyclopedia of Climate Policy. Edward Elgar, 2024.

“Climate Change and Canada’s Economic Security,” in Aisha Ahmad, ed., Securing Canada’s Future. University of Toronto Press, 2024.

Kathryn Harrison, “Climate Federalism in Canada” in Alan Fenna, Sébastien Jodoin, and Joana Setzer, eds, Climate Governance and Federalism: a Forum of Federations Comparative Policy Analysis. Cambridge University Press, 2023

Kathryn Harrison, “Environmental Policy: Climate Change.” In Paul J. Quirk, ed., The United States and Canada: How Two Democracies Differ, and Why It Matters. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2019

“Natural Resources, Federalism, and the Canadian Economy,” in Peter Loewen, Carolyn Hughes Tuohy, Sophie Borwein, and Andrew Potter, editors, Policy Transformation in Canada: Is Past Prologue?, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2019.

Kathryn Harrison, “The Challenge of Transition in Liberal Market Economies: The United States and Canada,” in Kurt Heubner, ed., National Pathways to Low Carbon Economies, Routledge, 2018.

Kathryn Harrison, “Regulatory Excellence and Democratic Accountability, in Cary Coglianese, ed. Achieving Regulatory Excellence, Washington, DC: Brookings, 2017.

Chapters in Kathryn Harrison and Lisa McIntosh Sundstrom, Global Commons, Domestic Decisions: The Comparative Politics of Climate Change, (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2010)

“Introduction: Global Commons, Domestic Decisions,” c0-authored with Lisa McIntosh Sundstrom.

“The United States as Outlier: Economic and Institutional Challenges to US Climate Policy”

“The Struggle of Ideas and Self-Interest in Canadian Climate Policy”

“Conclusion: The Comparative Politics of Climate Change,”  c0-authored with Lisa McIntosh Sundstrom.

Chapters in Kathryn Harrison, ed., Racing to the Bottom? Provincial Interdependence in the Canadian Federation, (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2005).

“Provincial Interdependence: Concepts and Theories”

“Follow the Leader and Dominoes: Games Provinces Play in Tobacco Taxation”

“Races to the Bottom vs. Races to the Middle: Minimum Wage Setting In Canada,” coauthored with David Green

“Are Canadian Provinces Engaged in a Race to the Bottom? Evidence and Implications”

Reports for Governments and International Organizations

“The Challenge of Federalism for Canadian Climate Policy,” Forum of Federations, 2023.

“Review of “Market Prospects and Benefits Analysis of the Trans Mountain Expansion Project for Trans Mountain Pipeline (ULC)” City of Vancouver Submission to the National Energy Board, November 2015.

“Review of Destination Country Policies with Potential to Impact Demand for Canadian Oil Exports,” May 2015, City of Vancouver Submission to the National Energy Board.

“The Political Economy of British Columbia’s Carbon Tax,” OECD Environment Working Paper 63 (October 2013).

I am currently or have supervised graduate student research on a variety of topics including business-government relations, municipal climate policy, comparative pharmaceutical policy, drinking water protection, renewable energy policy, children’s environmental health, endangered species legislation, and earthquake preparedness.