RTI International Announces New ‘Center for Climate Solutions’ to Generate Innovative Solutions to the Climate Crisis

The center will help develop and scale efforts on reducing emissions, building a Net Zero Economy and strengthening resilience to the impacts of climate change

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.—Today, RTI International (RTI), a nonprofit research and international development institute, announced the opening of its Center for Climate Solutions, which brings together and builds upon RTI’s technical, economic and project management expertise to tackle the global challenge of climate change and help create a more sustainable future.

Through the Center for Climate Solutions, RTI will capitalize on its collaborations with local and national governments as well as donors and the private sector to develop and scale solutions to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen resilience to the effects of climate change. The center’s work will build on existing projects that include modeling and forecasting emission scenarios; assessing costs and benefits of approaches that can help governments plan for and adapt to a changing climate; and piloting new technology and innovations to create zero- and low-carbon power sources for transportation and food production, which can revolutionize food systems in the U.S. and abroad.

“As a science-led organization, we understand the critical moment for humanity and our planet, with a changing climate affecting human conditions in unprecedented ways,” said E. Wayne Holden, PhD, President and CEO at RTI. “Our scientists and experts know what’s at stake and through their work in the Center for Climate Solutions, we can support the goals of the United Nations Climate Change Conference to reduce global emissions and prevent temperatures from rising by 2050 to secure a brighter future.”

Center scientists and experts will develop research, programs and approaches focusing on environmental sustainability by concentrating on what we can directly control, indirectly control, and influence through communities and value chains. Currently, RTI teams are on the frontlines helping develop solutions to environmental justice issues and supporting communities to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change, such as bringing more reliable electricity to rural health clinics in Africa and helping farmers build resilience to shocks like droughts and floods so they can maintain their incomes and their communities’ food security.

“Addressing the changing climate is the greatest global challenge of our time,” said Nicole Barnes, Senior Vice President for Sustainable Growth & Resilience at RTI. “Decades of international work with communities, nations, companies and donors have taught us that we need to act quickly, act wisely and feed the spark of innovation at every turn. Our new center will bring to bear the full weight of RTI’s global network of experts and researchers to contribute to climate change solutions while we deliver on our mission to improve the human condition around the world.”

RTI’s current climate change research portfolio includes evaluating the social, economic, environmental and health effects of climate change as well as investigating new methods and technologies for mitigating and adapting to climate change. 

“RTI researchers have been conducting environmental and energy research for more than 60 years, beginning when climate change seemed a more distant concern,” said Rebecca Nicholson, Vice President of Environmental Engineering and Economics at RTI. “We believe that our climate change research not only sits squarely within RTI’s mission to improve the human condition, but it also is now an imperative.”

“RTI’s scientists and engineers are passionate about inventing and developing new technologies that decarbonize industry and provide more sustainable solutions for energy and products,” said Dennis Gilmore, Senior Director of Technology, Energy, Environment, and Engineering at RTI. “Their collaborations with researchers across public and private sectors are already helping to drive these technologies into electricity, steel, cement, transportation and food production applications.”

The Center for Climate Solutions is one of several RTI research and programmatic centers focused on key issues of scientific, technical and policy significance such as global noncommunicable diseases, health care advancement, water solutions, gender studies and military performance optimization. By integrating expertise across disciplines from within and outside the institute, RTI centers tackle complex social and scientific challenges, provide cross-sectoral leadership, coordinate research and program agendas, and deliver world-class results for clients around the globe.

To learn more about The Center for Climate Solutions, please click here.