Mission
The mission of the Penn State Climate Consortium is to accelerate discovery through collaboration, empowering actionable solutions for a just and thriving planet.
“The Climate Consortium is about fostering community and partnerships for urgent climate solutions. It’s a call-to-action for academic leadership to drive research-driven change in the face of escalating global challenges, with a keen awareness of the disproportionate impact on communities of color, rural areas, and those with limited resources.“
Goals
- Amplify climate change research activities, internally and externally
- Promote excellence in climate change research
- Empower solutions from local to global scales
- Lead in national and international climate-energy transitions and climate policy
- Inspire creativity and collaboration that broadens engagement and impact
History
The Climate Consortium, officially announced in November 2024, has been in development for years. The original proposal was crafted by Erica Smithwick and Tom Richard, professor emeritus and former director of the Institute of Energy and the Environment. With the proposal development came multiple climate-related efforts at the University. In 2019, Penn State hosted the Research to Action Conference with Project Drawdown and joined the International Universities Climate Alliance. In 2020, Penn State endorsed a letter urging world leaders, specifically G20 leaders, to protect humankind from climate change. In 2021, the Carbon Emissions Reduction Task Force was launched, aiming for carbon neutrality by 2035. In 2022, researchers responded to the Climate RISE Seed Grants, aligning climate projects with big data.
The formation of the Penn State Climate Consortium is being stimulated by the Institute of Energy and the Environment through financial, administrative, and communications assistance.