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
After the U.S. withdrew from the Paris Agreement in 2017, CGS led the analysis of commitments from the more than 4,000 cities, states, businesses, universities, communities of faith, and more who pledged to support the goals of the Paris Agreement in their own capacity. Since the U.S. officially rejoined the Paris Agreement in March 2021, CGS has continued working with U.S. subnational and international partners to deliver analysis that informs how an "all-of-society" ambitious and achievable U.S. 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.
Learn More about U.S. ProgramSchool Authors: Alicia Zhao, Kowan O’Keefe, Claire Squire, Kiara Ordonez Olazabal , Matthew Binsted, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui
Other Authors: Adriana Bryant
School Authors: Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Maria Borrero, Christoph Bertram, Jenna Behrendt, Audrey Rader, Mel George, Jiehong Lou, Andy Miller, Tiruwork Berhanu Tibebu, Kowan O’Keefe, Xinyue Li, Mengye Zhu, Claire Squire, Nathan Hultman, Xiangwen Fu, Alicia Zhao
Other Authors: Dmitry Churlyaev, Jordan Snarski, Bhavika Buddi, Alexandra Kreis
School Authors: Alicia Zhao, Kowan O’Keefe, Matthew Binsted, Camryn Dahl, Claire Squire, Kiara Ordonez Olazabal , Steven J. Smith, Nathan Hultman, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui
Other Authors: Shannon Kennedy, Adriana Bryant, Jordan Snarski, Dmitry Churlyaev
School Authors: Kowan O’Keefe, Gokul Iyer, Kathleen Kennedy, Alicia Zhao, Haewon McJeon, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Yang Ou
School Authors: Alicia Zhao, Kowan O’Keefe, Matthew Binsted, Haewon McJeon, Claire Squire, Steven J. Smith, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Gokul Iyer, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Adriana Bryant, Mengqi Zhang, Yang Ou
School Authors: Alicia Zhao, Kowan O’Keefe, Matthew Binsted, Haewon McJeon, Claire Squire, Steven J. Smith, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Gokul Iyer, Nathan Hultman, Camryn Dahl
Other Authors: Shannon Kennedy, Adriana Bryant, Mengqi Zhang, Yang Ou
School Authors: Kathleen Kennedy, Alicia Zhao, Steven J. Smith, Kowan O’Keefe, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Camryn Dahl, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Bradley Phelps, George Hurtt, Lei Ma, Patrick O’Rourke, Yang Ou, Camille Wejnert-Depue, Shannon Kennedy
School Authors: Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Jenna Behrendt, Andy Miller, Christoph Bertram, Mel George, Maria Borrero, Alicia Zhao, Gokul Iyer, Kathleen Kennedy, Jiehong Lou, Haewon McJeon, Kowan O’Keefe, Mengye Zhu, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Matthew Zwerling, Michael Westphal , Alexandra Kreis, Dillon Walton, Aldana Joel Canton, Shiqi Chen, Yingtong Li, Shannon Kennedy
School Authors: Gokul Iyer, Haewon McJeon, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Kowan O’Keefe, Alicia Zhao
Other Authors: Yang Ou, Mengqi Zhao, Yang Qiu, Daniel H. Loughlin
School Authors: Kathleen Kennedy, Alicia Zhao, Steven J. Smith, Kowan O’Keefe, Bradley Phelps, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Camryn Dahl, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Shannon Kennedy, Sarah Dodds
School Authors: Alicia Zhao, Kowan O’Keefe, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Haewon McJeon, Nathan Hultman, Camryn Dahl
Other Authors: Shannon Kennedy, Maria Borrero, Kyle Clark-Sutton, Grace Deye, John Feldmann, Kevin Kennedy, Miguel Moravec, Dimitri Nilov, Sujata Rajpurohit, Joaquin Rosas, Claire Squire
School Authors: Alicia Zhao, Kowan O’Keefe, Haewon McJeon, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Kathleen Kennedy, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Kyle Clark-Sutton, John Feldmann, Kevin Kennedy, Jake Meisel, Dimitri Nilov, Sujata Rajpurohit, Shannon Kennedy
School Authors: Alicia Zhao, Haewon McJeon, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Gokul Iyer, Kathleen Kennedy, Nathan Hultman, Kowan O’Keefe
Other Authors: Tom Cyrs, John Feldmann, Kevin Kennedy, Sujata Rajpurohit, Lainie Rowland, Shannon Kennedy
School Authors: Nathan Hultman, Leon Clarke, Haewon McJeon, Alicia Zhao, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Kowan O’Keefe
Other Authors: Kevin Kennedy, Wendy Jaglom, Erin Bridgwater, Randall Mendell, Haley Leslie-Bole, Lanie Rowland, Emily McGlynn, Tansy Massey-Green, Tom Cyrs, John O'Neill, Rebecca Gasper, John Feldmann, Shannon Kennedy
School Authors: Nathan Hultman, Leon Clarke, Haewon McJeon, Alicia Zhao, Jenna Behrendt, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Kowan O’Keefe
Other Authors: Kevin Kennedy, Tom Cyrs, John O'Neill, Wendy Jaglom , John Feldmann, Nathan Hultman, Leon Clarke, Haewon McJeon, Alicia Zhao , Jenna Behrendt, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui
School Authors: Nathan Hultman, Leon Clarke, Haewon McJeon, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Alicia Zhao, Kowan O’Keefe
Other Authors: Pete Hansel, Emily McGlynn, John O'Neill, Celeste Wanner
School Authors: Nathan Hultman, Leon Clarke, Haewon McJeon, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Alicia Zhao, Kowan O’Keefe
Other Authors: Pete Hansel, Emily McGlynn, John O'Neill, Celeste Wanner
