Climate Change Policy
Increasing emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and other heat-trapping gases generated by human activity are believed to contribute to global warming. These so-called greenhouse gases (GHGs) have varied effects on the atmosphere, as measured by their potential ability to raise the earth's temperature over time.
We possess capabilities in engineering and economics that are necessary to assist government and industry in the U.S. and abroad with efforts to stabilize the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and to predict and assess the effects of climate change.
Climate Change Engineering
We help characterize GHG emissions and identify reduction strategies for industry. Our engineers prepare site-specific inventories of global warming gases and study the processes that generate them. We develop potential solutions through combinations of pollution prevention approaches -- process changes to reaction conditions, chemical substitution, and changes to chemical usage patterns -- and tail-end treatments to remove GHGs from waste gases or react GHGs to yield end products that are less damaging to the environment. We prepare reports that identify options and compare the relative merits of alternative solutions, including cost of implementation.
Our scientists also act as impartial, third-party entities to audit company claims of GHG emissions and emission reductions using standard protocols. Firms that participate in voluntary GHG reduction programs may contract with us for an independent assessment of progress toward goals in such programs.
Engineering-Related Research Highlights
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Developing control processes to facilitate carbon dioxide removal from gasification streams
- Evaluating the technical feasibility and costs of reducing trifluoromethane (HFC-23) emissions
- Developing a protocol for inventory and uniform reporting of greenhouse gas emissions
- Conducting life-cycle assessment for solid waste management
Climate Change Economics
Our economists have developed economic models of GHG mitigation through terrestrial carbon sequestration in agriculture and forests. The U.S. government has used these models in international climate change negotiations and the formation of domestic policy alternatives for climate change mitigation.
Economics-Related Research Highlights
Our economists and water quality modelers have collaborated to model the benefits of changes in land use driven by GHG policy. Among the highlights in climate change research at RTI are the following:
- Developed a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model, ADAGE, which simulates the economic effects of GHG baseline and mitigation scenarios across regions and sectors and over time
- Developing economic models of carbon sequestration to inform the development of international and domestic climate policy
- Evaluating the effects of climate change on forest ecosystem productivity, land use, and timber markets in the Southeast U.S.
- Co-developing a software tool to evaluate the biophysical and economic consequences of carbon sequestration projects in the Mississippi River Valley
- Modeling the joint benefits of GHG mitigation and water quality improvements from policy incentives to alter land use
Expert Resources
Our economists have attained national recognition for their expertise. An RTI economist coordinates the Forestry and Agriculture Greenhouse Gas Modeling Forum, which convenes leading researchers in the biophysical and economic modeling of GHG mitigation options with a special emphasis on carbon sinks. The forum coordinator is also a lead author of the special report on Land Use, Land Use Change, and Forestry produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He also contributed to the 2000 U.S. National Climate Assessment Team report and has testified before the Senate Agriculture Committee on these issues.
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