UChicago launches groundbreaking new institute to confront climate change

Balancing the urgent need to confront climate change with society’s need for rising living standards and expanded economic growth is the defining challenge of our time. Fossil fuels are the key driver of this challenge. Their low cost makes them the default energy choice to power growth in many settings, yet failure to sharply reduce carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion is putting the world on a course for disruptive climate change.

To address this challenge, the University of Chicago on Oct. 30 launched the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth, an ambitious effort combining frontier research in economics and climate policy, and key energy and climate technologies, with a pioneering approach to education. The result is a first-of-its-kind institute that will produce new and deeper understandings of the climate challenge as well as practical, effective solutions.

“The University of Chicago is distinctly poised to contribute to the understanding of the challenges of climate and energy, and to offer improved approaches for overcoming these challenges,” said President Paul Alivisatos. “Faculty and students from across our ecosystem have expressed their enthusiasm and commitment to bringing our characteristic UChicago approach to the most difficult problems: asking the hardest questions, taking risks, joining ideas in surprising ways from across disciplines and bringing rigor to every aspect. This approach will inform an integrated set of new education programs which have the power to shape generations of critical thinkers and thoughtful leaders that is so urgently called for.

“This is our moment to leverage our history and distinctive strengths to uncover the ways for humanity to achieve sustainable growth while also addressing accelerating climate change impacts.”

Watch the webcast of the Oct. 30 launch event

The Institute launched with strong momentum, drawing an extraordinary response from donors committed to supporting its full range of research and educational programs. The meaningful investments signal tremendous support for the shared vision of President Alivisatos and the faculty directors. Building on this foundation, the Institute plans to hire 20 new faculty members over the next five years. Faculty searches in the fields of law, political science, economics, materials engineering, and AI are underway—underscoring the Institute’s commitment to bringing a wide range of insights to this deeply interdisciplinary challenge.

“We’re thrilled to launch this new Institute and expand the reach of our faculty’s expertise in critical areas,” Provost Katherine Baicker said. “The Institute’s interdisciplinary, collaborative approach is crucial for addressing the complexities of climate change. It will create a dynamic platform that engages the full breadth of insights across our campus community—from the arts and humanities, to the social sciences, to the biological sciences and beyond. This reflects our commitment as a global research leader to bringing our community’s wide range of knowledge to bear in discovering and driving real-world solutions to the planet’s most pressing problems.”

Michael Greenstone, the Milton Friedman Distinguished Service Professor in Economics, is the Institute’s founding faculty director.

“Families around the world aspire for a better life, and inexpensive energy is key to the growth that unlocks it,” said Greenstone. “The reality is that in many places and settings, the least expensive energy options are the fossil fuels that cause climate change. This can put the goals of managing climate change and growth in conflict, and the Institute’s aim is to find ways to balance these two goals—recognizing that both are critical to our well-being.”

The Institute’s research and programming will be driven by three foundational pillars, each major strengths of the University of Chicago. The Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC) will move into the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth, bringing considerable expertise and experience in energy policy and market design on a global scale, with dedicated research programs in India and China for the past 10 and five years, respectively.

Prof. Shirley Meng, a world-leading battery scientist, will lead the Energy Technologies Initiative pillar of the Institute, which, among its efforts, is driving major advancements in energy storage technologies widely regarded as a holy grail of the energy transition. The Initiative originates at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME) as part of its ongoing work in energy and sustainability.

Prof. David Keith, who joined UChicago in April 2023, will lead the Institute’s Climate Systems Engineering initiative (CSEi). The initiative will produce new ways of thinking about the risks from more than a century of accumulated emissions, and in the process, launch a new and urgently needed field of study encompassing open-systems carbon removal, solar geoengineering, and local interventions to prevent glacial melting.

On the education front, the Institute announced the creation of the Chicago Curriculum on Climate and Sustainable Growth, which will serve as the foundation for a series of new degree programs at the undergraduate and master’s levels at the University of Chicago. Through a 360-degree approach, the curriculum will expose students to the foundational ideas, tradeoffs, and complexities of the global climate and sustainable growth challenge in a way that no other university globally has to date.

“A game change is needed in the climate fight,” said Greenstone. “One that alters understanding of the climate and growth challenge—not just at the University of Chicago but around the world. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to bring the power of the University of Chicago to bear on this challenge. I am deeply honored and excited to lead this new effort.”

The Institute’s distinctive overall approach introduces a wide range of new research and educational programs, which build on a uniquely powerful foundation.

Markets and policy

Building on UChicago’s renowned history of applying economic thinking to tackle major societal challenges, the Institute will work to characterize the climate and sustainable growth challenge and uncover the policies and markets that will help to find a balance between these goals. This research will include a distinctive focus on the world’s developing and emerging economies, which are expected to account for 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions over the remainder of the century—and where the need for growth is especially acute.

This work will be carried out by EPIC, which has fostered field-defining research—led by more than a dozen leading faculty—for more than a decade. EPIC research covers a wide range of areas, from demonstrating how grid expansion boosts renewables and piloting and scaling the world’s first particulate pollution market in India to developing economic valuations of key species like bats and vultures. In addition, EPIC brings several prominent projects to the Institute, including the Climate Impact Lab and EPIC Clean Air Program, which includes its flagship Air Quality Life Index.

“The balance between climate and growth goals varies around the world, and yet greenhouse gas emissions have the same effect on climate change whether they are emitted in Mumbai, Moscow or Memphis,” said Greenstone. “EPIC will focus on understanding these trade-offs in the world’s key countries and identifying policies and markets that can make the climate and growth challenge easier in them. These efforts will build on the track record of success through EPIC-India and EPIC-China, in addition to our work in the United States and other parts of the world.”

Energy technologies

Affordable energy storage is often referred to as the holy grail of the clean energy transition—from accelerating the switch to electric vehicles to balancing intermittent renewable electricity sources on the grid. Recognizing this, the Institute’s Energy Technologies Initiative (ETI) will drive major advancements in energy storage technologies through a combination of basic research and industry partnerships.

Researchers at PME and partners at Argonne National Laboratory collectively make up the nation’s largest cluster of energy technology experts. Argonne is now home to one of just two Department of Energy national battery innovation hubs, the Energy Storage Research Alliance (ESRA), led by Meng, who holds a joint appointment at Argonne.

“The demand for high-performance, low-cost, and sustainable energy storage solutions is on the rise, especially those with potential to deeply decarbonize heavy-duty transportation and the grid,” said Meng. “To achieve this, energy storage technology must reach levels of unprecedented performance, surpassing the capabilities of current lithium-ion technology.”

Meng and her colleagues are working with industry to accelerate translation of the science developed within ETI through the Energy Transition Network (ETN), a recently launched framework led by Meng to engage seamlessly with industry.

“We are building a robust ecosystem to translate critically important science to impact in everyday life.”

Climate Systems Engineering initiative

Guided by UChicago’s core beliefs of free expression and open discourse, the Climate Systems Engineering initiative (CSEi) will explore approaches and technologies that may be needed to manage the greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere, as well as vigorously debate the human and governance challenges surrounding these potential innovations.

Because greenhouse gases take thousands of years to cycle out of the atmosphere, global average temperatures will remain high long after emissions cease. Sea level will continue to rise for centuries as polar ice melts and the heat waves and storms associated with climate change will persist. CSEi is addressing this challenge by exploring technologies to cool the planet through carbon removal and solar geoengineering, and technologies for preventing glacial melting in the intervening years.

Applying insights from systems engineering and climate science, CSEi’s goal is to advance understand of the potential benefits and risks of using these technologies to inform decision makers and to educate students who will face the challenges of managing industrial civilization on a fragile planet. The mix of research topics will evolve as the initiative matures driven by the interests of collaborating researchers and by policy-relevant questions posed by governments and civil society, spanning scientific topics and associated dimensions such as social context, governance, risk, benefit, and ethics.

“The goal of research on climate systems engineering is to learn more, to understand better which of these techniques might work, which might not work, what their risks are, how we could reduce those risks, and how we can inform sensible public policy decisions about these complicated technologies,” said Keith. “Our pursuit of knowledge right now does not commit us to a course of action but gives our children more information with which to make these tough decisions down the line.”

A rich climate ecosystem

The climate and sustainable growth challenge is ever evolving, requiring new ideas, understandings and solutions. Therefore, the Institute will relentlessly work to support the UChicago community as they develop new areas of inquiry, including by seeding new research initiatives.

Reflecting the importance of this part its mission, the Institute is today announcing 11 venture and seed fund recipients. Grant recipients are leading groundbreaking research on everything from dramatically improved weather forecasts that will support climate adaptation to using AI to develop advanced materials for energy technologies.

Additionally, the Institute will create new programs to bridge disciplinary divides, foster collaboration and support students. These include visiting and postdoctoral scholar programs, support for academic workshops and conferences, and a host of opportunities for students such as funding for research assistantships and internships, climate career treks, and much more.

Chicago Curriculum on Climate and Sustainable Growth

The Institute is also introducing the Chicago Curriculum on Climate and Sustainable Growth, which will provide a 360-degree education on the climate and sustainable growth challenge. It will require students to learn about the science of climate change, the economics and policy options, the technologies that are available today and might be tomorrow, the politics, how philosophers have thought about the relationship between humankind and the planet, and more.

A cornerstone of the curriculum will be an experiential learning course that brings students to rural India or sub-Saharan Africa to experience life with little electricity, an energy boom town to see the local economic benefits of energy production, New York City to meet with capital allocators who are ruthlessly focused on private returns to their investments, or national capitals around the world to meet with policymakers. This experiential course will challenge students to hold multiple competing thoughts at once and use their new interdisciplinary tools to understand them.

“To confront one of the greatest challenges of this generation, we must train the citizens, leaders and workforce of tomorrow to have a comprehensive understanding of the problem and personally experience it and its many nuances from many different viewpoints,” said David Weisbach, the Walter J. Blum Professor of Law, who is leading the efforts to create the curriculum. “Only armed with this foundational knowledge and authentic understanding can this next generation succeed in confronting the climate challenge in a way my generation was never able.”

In addition to completing these classes, students will specialize in a particular area of interest (policy or data science, for example). The goal for students is to develop a diverse knowledge base so they will be able to see the climate challenge from its many angles, appreciate the societal and economic trade-offs, and develop an understanding of what is required economically, technically, and politically to confront it. The Institute looks to sponsor an interdisciplinary undergraduate major in addition to master’s programs.

“Throughout its history, the University of Chicago has revolutionized the world of general education, produced field-defining breakthroughs and introduced entirely new disciplines and new ways of applying existing disciplines to novel problems,” Alivisatos said. “From founding the fields of astrophysics, sociology, price theory economics, to newer fields like molecular engineering, University of Chicago faculty have laid the groundwork of modern thought to solve some of society’s greatest challenges and brought those advances out of academia to make lasting societal change. It is this unique legacy that sets the University of Chicago apart and that will allow this new Institute to break down barriers to progress on climate change and create pathways for solutions where none were thought to exist.”

Learn more at the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth website.