Climate and Energy Program

The transition to modern energy forms was the engine for the industrial revolution. The threat of global climate disruption and the lack of basic energy services for billions of people now call for a new energy transition. Clean and affordable energy technologies must be brought to the market, and energy policies and institutions must foster equitable development. The Climate and Energy Program at SEI-US addresses this challenge through research, policy assessment and capacity building. For over two decades, we have worked in the U.S. and around the world to spur innovative energy strategies that support the goals of social equity, environment quality, and efficient economic development.

We work in three main areas:

• Climate Policy: Our projects on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions include GHG inventories, scenarios of future emission profiles, and mitigation strategies. We analyze policy mechanisms to address climate change concerns. These include the various forms of joint project development and emission trading that are under discussion in the climate negotiations, GHG externality valuation, and carbon tax studies. We work to build capacity by conducting training workshops on such issues as greenhouse gas mitigation, integrated energy planning, environmental analysis, and modeling.
• Methods and Tools: Many of our energy and environment projects involve training, software development and dissemination. We have designed and developed software, courses, and handbooks on greenhouse gas mitigation, integrated energy planning, environmental impact analysis, and other energy-environment topics. Our LEAP system is used by many hundreds of organizations in dozens of countries for integrated energy and environmental planning.
• Sustainable Energy Strategies: We develop integrated strategies for energy development. We have conducted scores of international projects that analyze existing national and regional energy systems, consider alternative energy development scenarios, and identify appropriate policies. A recent focus is on modern biomass energy strategies that improve access of the poor to affordable and efficient energy services while stimulating local economies.