Researchers at RTI Highlight Critical Need for More Accessible Information About Climate Change Mitigation

A new Open Access book series published by RTI Press to inform policies and future research

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – A new brief by researchers at RTI International, a nonprofit research institute, underscores the critical need for facts and research related to climate change mitigation to be presented in a format understandable to a general audience. In response, RTI’s scholarly publishing arm, RTI Press, has announced a new series of books to inform national and international research, scientific discussions and policies.

In the brief, which is titled ‘Diversifying Energy Options in a Carbon Constrained World,’ the authors acknowledge that human influence on the climate and global warming has already been observed, yet there is still a critical need to provide a realistic and complete presentation of facts to support climate decision making.

“There is not a single solution to get out of the current climate crisis we are faced with, but the good news is that with an increased sense of urgency, we do have the ability to develop and implement strategies and technologies to mitigate impacts,” said David Dayton, Ph.D., a senior fellow and director of biofuels at RTI. “Our goal of the series is to reduce the static, calm the hype and provide realistic and complete presentations of facts to help drive decisions.”

The new book series will produce Open Access, peer-reviewed publications that highlight a combination of new technologies for mitigating global carbon emissions, provide recommendations around environmental regulations at the local, national and international levels, and pair them with a multidisciplinary effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“We urgently need translational work to bridge the gap between the forefront of energy technologies and public discourse about climate change and mitigation,” said Brian Southwell, Ph.D., senior director of RTI’s Science in the Public Sphere program. “Each book in the series will address a clearly defined technology in a format and language understandable to educated lay readers, including students.”

The series taps into RTI’s over sixty years of experience in the climate sector, which now includes the institute’s newly launched Center for Climate Solutions.

Vikram Rao, Ph.D., executive director of Research Triangle Energy Consortium, is also a co-author on the brief. An editorial board of subject matter experts has been appointed to oversee the series.

RTI Press is currently seeking authors to contribute to future releases in the series. For more information, please contact news@rti.org.