Generating evidence to advance state and local decarbonization efforts in the United States

J-PAL's Evidence for Climate Action Project, launched in 2023, aims to generate evidence to identify and advance equitable, high-impact policy solutions to climate change in the United States. In this post, Peter Christensen, Scientific Advisor of the J-PAL North America Environment, Energy, and Climate Change (EECC) sector, discusses the importance of rigorously evaluating decarbonization programming now, outlines the project’s work to build an execute a coordinated research agenda, and invites stakeholders to join this effort.

The United States is currently the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gasses in the world. Structural discrimination has led to vulnerable populations disproportionately experiencing a range of climate change-related hazards, threatening to undo decades of progress in poverty alleviation, both in the United States and worldwide. To address this issue, US state and local governments have been leveraging federal and regional resources to roll out extensive climate action plans. This opportunity to act and prevent the devastating consequences of climate change has motivated me and other researchers to generate rigorous evidence aimed at guiding governments on the best ways to invest their resources.

The J-PAL North America’s Evidence for Climate Action Project brings together 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. Research on climate change is not new, but the demand for evidence on the cost-effectiveness and distributional impacts of climate programs has grown as governments around the world make unprecedented investments of public funds in mitigation efforts. Methodological advances have more recently allowed economic researchers to diagnose specific problems and engage more directly with testing the efficacy of different decarbonization program designs. Over the last few years, I’ve been able to more precisely evaluate, for instance, the price sensitivity of demand for private transport in ride-hailing markets and the first and last mile challenge in public transit. But to effectively combat climate change, we believe the economics research community has a responsibility to coordinate our efforts as we generate evidence on which decarbonization programs and policies are most effective.

Generating a coordinated research agenda and evaluation community for decarbonization

As part of the Evidence for Climate Action Project, I am thrilled to lead the Economics of Decarbonization Working Group, which is composed of over 25 economic researchers interested in using randomized evaluations to test the impact of decarbonization programs and policies. This group is collectively defining a research agenda to communicate priority areas for experimental research and facilitate collaboration with policymakers. The first of a series of papers on this agenda was recently published in Nature.

As part of the project, we are also launching a Climate Action Learning Lab in 2025 to support government leaders in forming partnerships with researchers in the J-PAL network to rigorously evaluate their decarbonization programs. The Lab will provide a series of free, tailored offerings—such as customized workshops, training, and learning community engagements—to assist jurisdictions in building skills and knowledge in evidence generation and use.

We are committed to reducing barriers to research, building a coordinated community of stakeholders to grow together in this work, and contributing to an impactful shared research agenda.

Join the Evidence for Climate Action Project

I invite researchers and policymakers at every level of government and from across the political spectrum to join our efforts. We know that evidence alone is not enough to combat climate change; it must be paired with the efforts of people who have the power to invest in making a difference. While policy priorities may shift with changing political landscapes, we believe that evidence-based approaches can unite stakeholders and advance effective solutions that best serve the needs of our communities.
 

Please subscribe to receive updates on the Evidence for Climate Action Project and contact the J-PAL North America EECC team with questions and for more information.