Recent investments in clean energy R&D have led to remarkable innovations in clean energy technology. These innovations hold the promise of slowing and perhaps even reversing decades of anthropogenic climate change.

But in order to fully realize the promise of clean energy innovation, we also need social innovation: social and behavioral science R&D aimed at finding the interventions, programs, and policies that can shift decision-making and behavior in the direction of reducing harmful emissions.

In 2022 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported that “changes to lifestyles and behavior have the potential for large reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions.” Social and behavioral science R&D can help us find the interventions, programs, and policies that will lead to these climate-protecting changes in lifestyles and behavior.

In partnership with The Conversation and Sage, the Agenda Fund hosted this important conversation with leading social and behavioral scientists and climate thought leaders to discuss: 

• what we know about cost-effective and scalable interventions to shift decision-making and behavior in the direction of reducing harmful emissions;
• the potential return on investment from expanding this knowledge base.

The event, “Is Behavior the Solution? Setting a Research Agenda for Climate Change Mitigation,” took place Friday, June 9, 2023, at The Rockefeller Foundation’s Global Headquarters in New York City.  If you were unable to join us for the event, you can view all the panelists’ remarks in the Zoom recordings below. 

We look forward to continuing this conversation with funders, policymakers, and the research community, and to sharing more takeaways about potential areas of research investment that offer real promise for climate change mitigation.

Climate Change Mitigation

Defining an Agenda for Social and Behavioral Science R&D

June 9, 2023

The Rockefeller Foundation Global Headquarters

9:00 - 9:15 AM

Welcome

9:15 - 10:00 AM

Panel 1

President, Social Science Research Council

Executive Vice President, Programs, The Rockefeller Foundation

Senior Fellow, Resources for the Future

10:15 - 11:15 PM

Panel 2

Holcim (US) Professor of Sustainable Enterprise, University of Michigan

Associate Professor of Economics and Canada Research Chair in Environmental, Energy and Resource Economics, University of Calgary

Moderated by Camille Gamboa, Sage

Assistant Professor of Economics, Georgia Institute of Technology

11:15 - 12:30 AM

Panel 3

Milton Friedman Distinguished Service Professor in Economics, 
University of Chicago

Kenneth C. Griffin Distinguished Service Professor of Economics, 
University of Chicago

Moderated by Beth Daley, The Conversation

Moderated by Anna Harvey, Social Science Research Council

1:00 - 2:00 PM

Feedback Session

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