Global Approach
The Institute is unique amongst major US academic research organizations in having established centers in key countries central to the global climate and growth challenge. The University of Chicago’s centers in India, China and Europe enable Institute researchers to build partnerships with government and industry. These real-world partnerships allow the Institute to identify novel ideas, pilot these ideas on the ground, and rigorously measure outcomes on a practical basis not often seen in academia. This has led to improvements in electricity markets, more informed and robust inspections that have strengthened environmental enforcement, better weather forecasting to help farmers adapt to climate change, a new wave of pollution markets at work making the air cleaner, and more.
In India the University has built the most impactful and innovative university-led energy institute in the country. Working directly with government and industry partners in eleven states through more than two dozen projects, researchers and engineers are having a direct policy impact—from making improvements to India’s electricity markets and engineering sensors that monitor water pollution in real-time, to providing farmers with better weather forecasting to help them adapt and creating a new wave of pollution markets to reduce pollution.
The Institute’s global approach is exemplified in the establishment and success of the world’s first market for particulate pollution in the state of Gujarat. This award-winning market has reduced pollution in the pilot city of Surat and is expanding to other cities and states across the country. This work has become a model for policymakers, and institute researchers are now working with a number of Indian government officials to create markets for other air and water pollutants.
In China, the University has fostered frontier climate and environment research that is advancing the conversation on these topics. This work has included research showing pollution’s impact on the life expectancy of Chinese citizens, which helped to kick start China’s “war on pollution”; demonstrating that providing local government officials with incentives for reducing pollution in their districts makes regulation inefficient; and pointing to public appeals—via social media—for the government to take action in reducing pollution as being more effective than private appeals. All of this work is supported by partnerships with premier Chinese academic institutions, including the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), Tsinghua University, and the University of Hong Kong.