The University of Michigan is leading research, analyzing new technologies, and convening and expanding programs and partnerships around critical topics pertaining to sustainable business practices, environmental policy and climate action, and emerging economic trends.
From helping Michigan communities plan for renewable energy use to examining the broader discourse between climate change and national politics, U-M experts are assessing innovative environmental policies, business practices, and economic trends. Some of our key partnerships and initiatives include: the Erb Institute, the Center for Local, State and Urban Policy, the Urban Collaboratory, and the Urban Energy Justice Lab (UEJ). Find U-M experts in sustainability and environmental science, across fields and academic units.
The President’s Commission on Carbon Neutrality, charged with recommending scalable and transferable strategies for U-M to achieve net-zero emissions, has released its preliminary draft recommendations for public comment. The draft report includes a collection of steps that U-M could take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the Flint, Dearborn and Ann Arbor campuses, including Michigan Medicine.
Methane is the primary component of natural gas, a greenhouse gas with 34 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide. More than one percent of methane in the U.S. supply chain escapes into the atmosphere, much of which is caused by degraded pipes and loose-fitting components during distribution of natural gas. Ford School professor Catherine Hausman’s research has been cited as the primary influence of a law that passed in Washington state to address the problem.
As part of a nine-member National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) Working Group, Barry Rabe, U-M Professor of Environmental Policy, recommended near-time actions to address climate change to the next Administration.
It’s no secret that business pokes its head into policymaking and government mingles in the market, even as the sides eye each other with suspicion. What surprised U-M professor Andy Hoffman was how little the relationships between them and their influences upon each other were being covered in business schools.
Forest restoration is a crucial element in strategies to mitigate climate change and conserve global biodiversity in the coming decades, and much of the focus is on formerly tree-covered lands in the tropics. A new study finds that nearly 300 million people in the tropics live on lands suitable for forest restoration, and about a billion people live within 5 miles of such lands.
When pursuing carbon neutrality, it’s often easy to focus on the technical, whether energy efficiency standards of new buildings, electricity procurement options, or how to power campus vehicles. For two research teams supporting the President’s Commission on Carbon Neutrality, these strategies, though crucial, represent one side of a coin.
