The Climate Change Policy Partnership

The Climate Change Policy Partnership (CCPP) was established at Duke University in October 2005 through a gift from founding partner Duke Energy.  The CCPP’s focus is to address questions on climate change science and policy and initiate research to fill data gaps.  The project leverages the resources of Duke University to determine practical strategies to respond to the pressing challenges of global climate change.

Participants

The three primary participants in the CCPP from Duke University are two interdisciplinary centers—the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Solutions and the Center on Global Change (CGC)—and the Nicholas School of the Environment.  Currently Duke Energy, ConocoPhillips and MeadWestvaco are corporate partners.  Efforts are underway to recruit additional corporate partners.

Research and Timeline

The goal of our research is to develop practical solutions to the “sticking points” that have thus far prevented enactment of federal carbon and climate policy.  We have identified areas we feel we can make a unique contribution, continued to grow and evolve our project focus as well as our staff, and strengthened our outreach activities to disseminate information to key stakeholders in the legislative process and scientific community.

Highlights to Date

The CCPP has recently filled the last of the 6 staff openings created in the last 15 months and is well poised to make progress in both existing and new climate change policy research areas. In addition to the Directors and Associate Directors of both the CGC and Nicholas Institute, various faculty members are involved in CCPP research projects. Close to fifty graduate students have assisted with project research, representing seven schools and departments at Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, and NC State University. Numerous publications and outreach efforts are described in more detail under Projects.