J-PAL North America Evidence for Climate Action Project

A man installs a solar panel on a rooftop on a sunny day.
Generating evidence to identify and advance equitable, high-impact policy solutions to climate change in the United States.

The United States is currently the second largest emitter of greenhouse gasses in the world. Structural discrimination has led low-income populations and people of color to disproportionately experience a range of climate change-related hazards in both the United States and around the world, including air and water pollution, loss of livelihoods, and increased risk of harm from extreme weather events. Reducing US greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is therefore essential to addressing the dual global challenges of poverty and climate change. 

Currently, US state and local governments are leveraging federal resources from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to roll out extensive climate action plans. In the coming years, programs will be enacted across the country to promote decarbonization in areas ranging from transportation and land use, to building and facilities energy, to forests and agriculture. However, more research is needed to understand the impacts of policies and programs seeking to reduce emissions.

Evidence for Climate Action Project

Through the Evidence for Climate Action Project, J-PAL North America aims to generate evidence to identify and advance equitable, high-impact policy solutions to climate change in the United States. J-PAL North America will convene an influential network of government leaders, academic researchers, and other key policy partners to launch successful researcher-practitioner partnerships and rigorously evaluate promising decarbonization programs, especially those funded through the BIL and IRA. 

J-PAL North America is excited to launch our Climate Action Learning Lab as a component of the Evidence for Climate Action Project in 2025. The Lab will provide customized workshops and trainings, connections to academic researchers, and peer learning opportunities to strengthen the long-term capacity of climate leaders to utilize rigorous evidence in advancing effective climate solutions.

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Project Offerings

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Climate Action Learning Lab

We are recruiting a dedicated cohort of state and regional climate leaders to serve as champions for building and using evidence to inform policy. From May–July 2025, the Learning Lab will provide selected state and local jurisdictions with a suite of free, customized training, strategy sessions, peer learning opportunities, and connections to academic researchers to strengthen their long-term capacity to leverage data and evaluation to advance climate solutions that work. Learn more and apply by March 31.

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Economics of Decarbonization Working Group

We have cultivated a team of more than 25 academic researchers across the country who are interested in using randomized evaluation to test the impact of decarbonization programs and policies. The working group is documenting a research agenda that prioritizes policy relevant areas for experimental research, amplifying the agenda through publications and J-PAL events, and engaging in matchmaking and research partnerships with state and local jurisdictions. Are you a researcher who is interested in learning more? Please contact us at: [email protected].

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Matchmaking and partnership building

Through individual meetings and virtual and in-person events, we bring together researchers and state and local government agency staff to identify priority research areas of interest and cultivate viable researcher-practitioner partnerships to launch priority evaluations on decarbonization strategies and programs.

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Evaluation funding and support

We support climate-focused research proposals through our State and Local Innovation Initiative and Social Policy Research Initiative RFPs, offered twice per year to our network of academic researchers. Researchers can also apply for Research Management Support (RMS), short-term, customized, and expert support to help design and launch a randomized evaluation.

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Research results and policy insights dissemination

We summarize and synthesize research findings to inform the development of policies and practices that can help scale up equitable, high impact policy solutions.

Project Team

Leadership

Scientific Advisor - Peter Christensen, University of California, Santa Cruz
 

J-PAL Staff

Erin Graeber - Energy, Environment, and Climate Change (EECC) Sector Lead

Maggie Dennis - Senior Policy Associate

Laura Romero Ayala - Senior Policy Associate

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