Program Summary
The Decarbonization and Energy Virtual Institute (DEVI) is an initiative of Schmidt Sciences’ Climate Institute to advance the methodological frontier of decarbonization modeling by addressing key knowledge gaps in complex interdependencies of decarbonization pathways, with an emphasis on yielding actionable insights for policy and technology deployment strategies.
DEVI is soliciting short expressions of intent (EOIs) for two categories of projects : a) sectoral modeling efforts up to USD 3 million over 5 years and b) economy-wide modeling efforts on coupling models from different sectors and scales up to USD 10 million over 5 years. Projects may focus on key geographies that will drive carbon emissions in the near-to-mid term, but methodologies developed must have relevance beyond individual country contexts. Projects must be cross-disciplinary and multi-institutional collaborations targeting fundamental research across four focus areas: a) advances in the understanding of complex interdependencies in decarbonization pathways; b) methodological advances that improve model representation of said interdependencies; c) rigorous uncertainty analyses and model validation; and d) generating context-specific insights highlighting the needs, constraints and impacts of decarbonization pathways.
Our Mission
The goal of DEVI is to support transformative research that advances the state of the art in computational models in order to accurately represent, predict and evaluate energy transition pathways and their varied needs and impacts. This funding effort is motivated by the limitations of current modeling paradigms in capturing complex interdependencies between the energy system and its human and natural contexts that influence the implementation of decarbonization strategies. These interdependencies include: feedbacks and nonlinear dynamics within and across sectors and between energy and climate, multiple decision makers responsible for the transition at different scales, linkages with key resources such as capital, water, land and critical minerals, interactions between national planning and localized implementation, and multiple sources of sometimes deep uncertainty. Limitations in capturing these interdependencies hinder the accuracy and reliability of current models in representing energy systems and evaluating decarbonization pathways to project likely outcomes, and restrict their applicability in informing decision making.
Projects may anchor their modeling efforts within sectoral or national contexts but methodological advances must transcend geographical boundaries to highlight fundamental patterns and interdependencies in energy and decarbonization. We expect new knowledge and modeling insights developed to have the potential to significantly contribute to informing decision-making on decarbonization efforts at various stakeholder levels (national or sub-national policymakers, industry leaders, think tanks, etc.) and in different country or global contexts.
Expressions of Intent (EOI)
We are seeking brief (3 page) expressions of intent (EOIs) for research projects that target key gaps in understanding and representing complex interdependencies in decarbonization pathways, with an emphasis on models and analyses that are relevant for informing decision making. EOI submissions must explain how the proposed methodological advances will enable progress towards improved understanding of the needs and impacts of various decarbonization pathways. Submissions must also indicate how this improved understanding will be useful, demonstrating relevance for policy and industry action. Selected EOI submissions will be invited to submit a full proposal.
Submissions must be grounded in each of the following goals:
1. Advances in the understanding of nonlinear dynamics, feedback, and tipping points in technology adoption and scaling, behavioral and institutional dynamics, and resource constraints and impacts in the context of decarbonization. Examples of topics include (but are not limited to):
Distributed decision-making considering adaptive or probabilistic actions, varying priorities and interests, and implementation capabilities, linking national planning to local implementation.
Dynamic and endogenous changes in key local resources such as water, air, land, materials, and financial capital in the context of energy transition scenarios and potential benefits or trade-offs.
Technology diffusion at local, sectoral or national scales accounting for interdependencies between demand and supply sectors, consumer behavior and adoption, and interactions across economic sectors.
Climate feedbacks in decarbonization including localized energy demand, supply and infrastructure.
2. Advances in developing novel methodologies or in novel applications of existing methods that improve model representation of the interdependencies outlined above. Modeling efforts are encouraged to draw from a range of disciplines. Projects may include (but not be limited to):
Agent based simulations of human or institutional behavior linked to technology evolution; systems dynamics or network-based approaches to model resource needs and/or impacts of technologies; models of technology diffusion that include endogeneity and spillover effects.
Novel bidirectional integration methods (e.g. decomposition approaches or machine learning-based integration of disaggregated spatial and temporal scales) to account for feedback across scales and align local implementation with national plans.
Adapting and linking existing models: material flows or nexus approaches to evaluate resource needs for decarbonization; political theory and sociology concepts to realistically represent behavioral and institutional heterogeneity in energy transition scenarios; financial models and capital flows in decarbonization pathways
3. Rigorous uncertainty analyses and model validation. Projects are expected to address uncertainties arising from various sources such as technological change, climate impacts, land-based carbon storage potential, macroeconomic disruptions, political shifts, demand evolution and real-world implementation of model outputs. This may include (but not be limited to):
Advanced computational techniques (e.g. machine learning approaches, stochastic optimization methods, or large-scale Monte Carlo simulations) for exploring plausible scenarios and probabilistic parameter spaces; strategies for exploring deep uncertainties; empirical approaches to identifying ‘unmodeled’ factors that introduce uncertainty in real-world implementation; and model intercomparison to assess structural uncertainties in representing real world systems.
Addressing uncertainties in multi-scale coupled models by assimilating data from various sources and resolutions, while ensuring data quality and interoperability across different scales. This may involve facilitating scalability in the context of computationally intensive simulations especially when dealing with high-resolution or high-dimensional data or complex interactions between model scales (e.g. using emulation), and characterizing uncertainty propagation when coupling models across scales.
Methods to validate model outcomes including identification of suitable validation metrics/indicators, datasets required for calibration or validation, and model inter-comparison efforts, with emphasis on validating coupled models in the face of limited empirical data.
4. Generating context specific insights aligned with decision making needs, including socioeconomic constraints, policy landscapes, and distributional impacts of decarbonization.
Projects may identify: data requirements underpinning the proposed methodologies; stakeholder engagement required in the model development process to ensure practical utility; spatiotemporal resolutions that balance computational feasibility with decision-relevant precision and accuracy; and effective communication strategies that translate model outputs to strategic guidance for decision-making.
Projects may include explicit analyses of localized policy impacts and implementation pathways in the context of national planning and investments. Modeling efforts will ideally enable assessment of benefits or trade-offs in areas beyond carbon emissions, such as localized pollution or resource depletion, and bridge the gap between high-level national strategies and on-the-ground implementation.
Crafting Your Proposal
EOI submissions should provide a 3-page project proposal with a budget of up to USD 3 million over 5 years (for a sectoral scale modeling project) or up to USD 10 million over 5 years (for an economy-wide modeling project), using the following template:
A project narrative explaining why the project will target specific knowledge gaps in decarbonization modeling, including:
The sectoral and country context(s) for modeling efforts describing decarbonization needs, constraints, and possible or proposed pathways. We encourage projects to situate modeling efforts in (single or multiple) country contexts in order to tie research outcomes to real world contexts. Projects with a budget up to USD 3 million may focus on sector-specific modeling with a justification included on its broader relevance. We expect methodologies developed to have relevance beyond sectoral or individual country contexts. Larger projects with a budget up to USD 10 million will ideally seek to address challenges in coupling models across sectors and scales and tackle gaps in representing economy-wide interdependencies across local and national or global scales. Projects with scope between sector-specific (USD 3 million) and economy-wide (USD 10 million) modeling may be considered. We expect projects funded through this program to be designed to be adaptable to integration across sub-national and economy-wide scales.
The scope of the proposed research: The knowledge gaps in understanding and representing complex interdependencies in decarbonization that will be addressed through this project, why these challenges are important to tackle, and how the proposed approach will yield better outcomes.
A clear research plan outlining what the project aims to achieve in terms of methodological advances, including:
Key goals, scientific hypotheses, and methodologies
A brief description of data and computational needs
A pathway to generating contextual insights outlining how the proposed project could be used to inform decarbonization decision-making, management, investment, or policy.
A preliminary description of who constitutes the project team, and potential external institutional partnerships, including:
The proposed team members’ scientific ability, relevant expertise, and scientific project management experience
Note: The EOI proposal document should not include any PI, team, and partner names and affiliations, as we intend to anonymize the submissions during the evaluation process. Team names and affiliations will be collected separately from the proposal document.
The capacity of the PIs and partner institutions to run a large project
Proposed partnerships with external institutions
A preliminary budget, totaling up to USD 3 million or USD 10 million over 5 years (depending on scope as outlined above), which includes a brief (1-2 sentence) description of project expenses such as salary, equipment, etc.
Additional considerations
Diversity in Team Composition: We expect project teams to prioritize disciplinary, national, geographic, and demographic diversity and to provide opportunities for early career scientists. Proposed project team members can be presented as preliminary suggestions at the EOI stage, and can be changed at the RFP stage due to availability and/or fit.
Open Source Data: Project teams will be expected to make results and methods as transparent as possible across the Virtual Institute and publicly available as open source and open data in a timely manner, in accordance with FAIR principles.
Connections to energy transition policy and solutions: Project teams should indicate how their proposed research could be used to inform decision-making, management, investment, or policy.
Coordination among awardees in this Program: We may have future funding opportunities for developing platforms or tools for decision support that are widely accessible. Projects selected through this VI will be expected to work with each other and future awardees.
Coordination and collaborations with other Climate Institute programs: Climate Institute Programs have a shared goal of advancing the fundamental science required for decarbonization planning, implementation and evaluation. We envision an integrated platform in the long term where cross-program project outputs can be seamlessly combined, leveraging the rich datasets and models generated through Climate Institute supported projects. To that end, projects funded by DEVI will be expected to regularly engage with other initiatives in the climate portfolio, including via sharing data, participating at collaborative in-person meetings, and assisting with efforts to align projects along shared objectives.
Who should apply
We invite applications from consortiums of multiple institutions, with regional and global partnerships (particularly involving Global South institutions) strongly encouraged. Applications from a single institution are unlikely to be funded. Eligible institutions include:
Research teams in university, national laboratory, institute, non-profit, or agency settings. Institutions that are part of governments or are government-funded are eligible, pending recipients' legal and financial requirements.
For-profit industry partners are welcome to be part of an applying consortium; however, they will not be able to receive funding directly from Schmidt Sciences, and will instead have to receive a sub-award from another member of the consortium.
EOI Submission Guidelines
To be considered for funding, proposals should adhere to the following guidelines:
Page Limit: Proposals should not exceed 3 pages, including figures.
Removal of Identifying Information: The EOI proposal document should not include any PI, team, and partner names and affiliations, as we intend to anonymize the submissions during the evaluation process. Team names and affiliations will be collected separately from the proposal document.
Formatting: The EOI should be written in English, with 1-inch margins and no more than 3 pages of body text typed in single-spaced 10-point (or larger) font. The EOI should be formatted as .pdf.
Citations: We request that citations are formatted using the Vancouver reference style (numbered). References should be listed in an additional document uploaded separately.
Deadline: Friday, 14 February, 2025, 11:59pm ET.
Award Process
The EOIs will be anonymized (removing names and references) for a blinded evaluation by a committee of advisors and Schmidt Sciences. We intend to notify all applicants of the status of their application by June of 2025. At that point, we will extend an invitation to select teams to write a full proposal (8 pages) including more detail regarding budgets, project operations, timelines and team composition. Invited teams will have roughly 90 days to submit a full proposal. We expect to award up to 4 projects, selecting at least one from each category (sectoral and economy-wide modeling).
Helpful Resources
FAQ Document and Questions
Responses to frequently asked questions about this request for EOIs can be found in the FAQ document here.
If you have additional questions, please direct them to energy@schmidtsciences.org
Webinars
The DEVI team will host two informational webinars on this EOI via Zoom on Monday, 16 December, 2024 at 12 pm ET [sign up here] and Tuesday 17 December, 2024 at 7.30 am ET [sign up here]. The webinars will each be 30 minutes, and will provide an overview of DEVI, information on how to apply to this EOI request, and include time for questions. The recordings and slides from both webinars will be linked to the FAQ document after 17 December.
Office Hours
The DEVI team will also offer office hours beginning on Monday, 2 December, 2024. You may schedule a time using this link. Please note that many questions may already be answered in the FAQ document.
Schmidt Sciences' Climate Institute
Schmidt Sciences’ Climate Institute aims to advance fundamental science to understand the implications of climate change mitigation strategies and to ensure that such planning takes into account feedback and constraints across the land, atmosphere, and oceans. It seeks to improve the state of knowledge for understanding the interactions between industrial civilization and the Earth system, and to inform decision-making and priority-setting at multiple levels, from scientific communities to civil society to industry to policymakers. Our programs enable the creation of datasets, models, platforms, and collaborations that are rigorous and trustworthy, openly available, accessible, and useful to an international community, and foster a diverse, global, transdisciplinary climate science community that rises to the challenge of imagining and building a sustainable future.
In addition to the Decarbonization and Energy Virtual Institute (DEVI), the other Virtual Institutes are: the Virtual Earth Systems Research Institute (VESRI), the Ocean Biogeochemistry Virtual Institute (OBVI), the Virtual Institute for the Carbon Cycle (VICC), and the Virtual Institute for Earth’s Water (VIEW). Virtual Institutes are high-risk, high-impact international networks intentionally formed to pursue timely opportunities to significantly increase our knowledge of the interactions between industrial civilization and the Earth system and apply it for the positive benefit of science or society. We will facilitate coordination and collaborations with other Climate Institute programs to account for the interconnected nature of the climate grand challenge.
Decarbonization & Energy Virtual Institute (DEVI)
Program Summary
The Decarbonization and Energy Virtual Institute (DEVI) is an initiative of Schmidt Sciences’ Climate Institute to advance the methodological frontier of decarbonization modeling by addressing key knowledge gaps in complex interdependencies of decarbonization pathways, with an emphasis on yielding actionable insights for policy and technology deployment strategies.
DEVI is soliciting short expressions of intent (EOIs) for two categories of projects : a) sectoral modeling efforts up to USD 3 million over 5 years and b) economy-wide modeling efforts on coupling models from different sectors and scales up to USD 10 million over 5 years. Projects may focus on key geographies that will drive carbon emissions in the near-to-mid term, but methodologies developed must have relevance beyond individual country contexts. Projects must be cross-disciplinary and multi-institutional collaborations targeting fundamental research across four focus areas: a) advances in the understanding of complex interdependencies in decarbonization pathways; b) methodological advances that improve model representation of said interdependencies; c) rigorous uncertainty analyses and model validation; and d) generating context-specific insights highlighting the needs, constraints and impacts of decarbonization pathways.
Our Mission
The goal of DEVI is to support transformative research that advances the state of the art in computational models in order to accurately represent, predict and evaluate energy transition pathways and their varied needs and impacts. This funding effort is motivated by the limitations of current modeling paradigms in capturing complex interdependencies between the energy system and its human and natural contexts that influence the implementation of decarbonization strategies. These interdependencies include: feedbacks and nonlinear dynamics within and across sectors and between energy and climate, multiple decision makers responsible for the transition at different scales, linkages with key resources such as capital, water, land and critical minerals, interactions between national planning and localized implementation, and multiple sources of sometimes deep uncertainty. Limitations in capturing these interdependencies hinder the accuracy and reliability of current models in representing energy systems and evaluating decarbonization pathways to project likely outcomes, and restrict their applicability in informing decision making.
Projects may anchor their modeling efforts within sectoral or national contexts but methodological advances must transcend geographical boundaries to highlight fundamental patterns and interdependencies in energy and decarbonization. We expect new knowledge and modeling insights developed to have the potential to significantly contribute to informing decision-making on decarbonization efforts at various stakeholder levels (national or sub-national policymakers, industry leaders, think tanks, etc.) and in different country or global contexts.
Expressions of Intent (EOI)
We are seeking brief (3 page) expressions of intent (EOIs) for research projects that target key gaps in understanding and representing complex interdependencies in decarbonization pathways, with an emphasis on models and analyses that are relevant for informing decision making. EOI submissions must explain how the proposed methodological advances will enable progress towards improved understanding of the needs and impacts of various decarbonization pathways. Submissions must also indicate how this improved understanding will be useful, demonstrating relevance for policy and industry action. Selected EOI submissions will be invited to submit a full proposal.
Submissions must be grounded in each of the following goals:
1. Advances in the understanding of nonlinear dynamics, feedback, and tipping points in technology adoption and scaling, behavioral and institutional dynamics, and resource constraints and impacts in the context of decarbonization. Examples of topics include (but are not limited to):
Distributed decision-making considering adaptive or probabilistic actions, varying priorities and interests, and implementation capabilities, linking national planning to local implementation.
Dynamic and endogenous changes in key local resources such as water, air, land, materials, and financial capital in the context of energy transition scenarios and potential benefits or trade-offs.
Technology diffusion at local, sectoral or national scales accounting for interdependencies between demand and supply sectors, consumer behavior and adoption, and interactions across economic sectors.
Climate feedbacks in decarbonization including localized energy demand, supply and infrastructure.
2. Advances in developing novel methodologies or in novel applications of existing methods that improve model representation of the interdependencies outlined above. Modeling efforts are encouraged to draw from a range of disciplines. Projects may include (but not be limited to):
Agent based simulations of human or institutional behavior linked to technology evolution; systems dynamics or network-based approaches to model resource needs and/or impacts of technologies; models of technology diffusion that include endogeneity and spillover effects.
Novel bidirectional integration methods (e.g. decomposition approaches or machine learning-based integration of disaggregated spatial and temporal scales) to account for feedback across scales and align local implementation with national plans.
Adapting and linking existing models: material flows or nexus approaches to evaluate resource needs for decarbonization; political theory and sociology concepts to realistically represent behavioral and institutional heterogeneity in energy transition scenarios; financial models and capital flows in decarbonization pathways
3. Rigorous uncertainty analyses and model validation. Projects are expected to address uncertainties arising from various sources such as technological change, climate impacts, land-based carbon storage potential, macroeconomic disruptions, political shifts, demand evolution and real-world implementation of model outputs. This may include (but not be limited to):
Advanced computational techniques (e.g. machine learning approaches, stochastic optimization methods, or large-scale Monte Carlo simulations) for exploring plausible scenarios and probabilistic parameter spaces; strategies for exploring deep uncertainties; empirical approaches to identifying ‘unmodeled’ factors that introduce uncertainty in real-world implementation; and model intercomparison to assess structural uncertainties in representing real world systems.
Addressing uncertainties in multi-scale coupled models by assimilating data from various sources and resolutions, while ensuring data quality and interoperability across different scales. This may involve facilitating scalability in the context of computationally intensive simulations especially when dealing with high-resolution or high-dimensional data or complex interactions between model scales (e.g. using emulation), and characterizing uncertainty propagation when coupling models across scales.
Methods to validate model outcomes including identification of suitable validation metrics/indicators, datasets required for calibration or validation, and model inter-comparison efforts, with emphasis on validating coupled models in the face of limited empirical data.
4. Generating context specific insights aligned with decision making needs, including socioeconomic constraints, policy landscapes, and distributional impacts of decarbonization.
Projects may identify: data requirements underpinning the proposed methodologies; stakeholder engagement required in the model development process to ensure practical utility; spatiotemporal resolutions that balance computational feasibility with decision-relevant precision and accuracy; and effective communication strategies that translate model outputs to strategic guidance for decision-making.
Projects may include explicit analyses of localized policy impacts and implementation pathways in the context of national planning and investments. Modeling efforts will ideally enable assessment of benefits or trade-offs in areas beyond carbon emissions, such as localized pollution or resource depletion, and bridge the gap between high-level national strategies and on-the-ground implementation.
Crafting Your Proposal
EOI submissions should provide a 3-page project proposal with a budget of up to USD 3 million over 5 years (for a sectoral scale modeling project) or up to USD 10 million over 5 years (for an economy-wide modeling project), using the following template:
A project narrative explaining why the project will target specific knowledge gaps in decarbonization modeling, including:
The sectoral and country context(s) for modeling efforts describing decarbonization needs, constraints, and possible or proposed pathways. We encourage projects to situate modeling efforts in (single or multiple) country contexts in order to tie research outcomes to real world contexts. Projects with a budget up to USD 3 million may focus on sector-specific modeling with a justification included on its broader relevance. We expect methodologies developed to have relevance beyond sectoral or individual country contexts. Larger projects with a budget up to USD 10 million will ideally seek to address challenges in coupling models across sectors and scales and tackle gaps in representing economy-wide interdependencies across local and national or global scales. Projects with scope between sector-specific (USD 3 million) and economy-wide (USD 10 million) modeling may be considered. We expect projects funded through this program to be designed to be adaptable to integration across sub-national and economy-wide scales.
The scope of the proposed research: The knowledge gaps in understanding and representing complex interdependencies in decarbonization that will be addressed through this project, why these challenges are important to tackle, and how the proposed approach will yield better outcomes.
A clear research plan outlining what the project aims to achieve in terms of methodological advances, including:
Key goals, scientific hypotheses, and methodologies
A brief description of data and computational needs
A pathway to generating contextual insights outlining how the proposed project could be used to inform decarbonization decision-making, management, investment, or policy.
A preliminary description of who constitutes the project team, and potential external institutional partnerships, including:
The proposed team members’ scientific ability, relevant expertise, and scientific project management experience
Note: The EOI proposal document should not include any PI, team, and partner names and affiliations, as we intend to anonymize the submissions during the evaluation process. Team names and affiliations will be collected separately from the proposal document.
The capacity of the PIs and partner institutions to run a large project
Proposed partnerships with external institutions
A preliminary budget, totaling up to USD 3 million or USD 10 million over 5 years (depending on scope as outlined above), which includes a brief (1-2 sentence) description of project expenses such as salary, equipment, etc.
Additional considerations
Diversity in Team Composition: We expect project teams to prioritize disciplinary, national, geographic, and demographic diversity and to provide opportunities for early career scientists. Proposed project team members can be presented as preliminary suggestions at the EOI stage, and can be changed at the RFP stage due to availability and/or fit.
Open Source Data: Project teams will be expected to make results and methods as transparent as possible across the Virtual Institute and publicly available as open source and open data in a timely manner, in accordance with FAIR principles.
Connections to energy transition policy and solutions: Project teams should indicate how their proposed research could be used to inform decision-making, management, investment, or policy.
Coordination among awardees in this Program: We may have future funding opportunities for developing platforms or tools for decision support that are widely accessible. Projects selected through this VI will be expected to work with each other and future awardees.
Coordination and collaborations with other Climate Institute programs: Climate Institute Programs have a shared goal of advancing the fundamental science required for decarbonization planning, implementation and evaluation. We envision an integrated platform in the long term where cross-program project outputs can be seamlessly combined, leveraging the rich datasets and models generated through Climate Institute supported projects. To that end, projects funded by DEVI will be expected to regularly engage with other initiatives in the climate portfolio, including via sharing data, participating at collaborative in-person meetings, and assisting with efforts to align projects along shared objectives.
Who should apply
We invite applications from consortiums of multiple institutions, with regional and global partnerships (particularly involving Global South institutions) strongly encouraged. Applications from a single institution are unlikely to be funded. Eligible institutions include:
Research teams in university, national laboratory, institute, non-profit, or agency settings. Institutions that are part of governments or are government-funded are eligible, pending recipients' legal and financial requirements.
For-profit industry partners are welcome to be part of an applying consortium; however, they will not be able to receive funding directly from Schmidt Sciences, and will instead have to receive a sub-award from another member of the consortium.
EOI Submission Guidelines
To be considered for funding, proposals should adhere to the following guidelines:
Page Limit: Proposals should not exceed 3 pages, including figures.
Removal of Identifying Information: The EOI proposal document should not include any PI, team, and partner names and affiliations, as we intend to anonymize the submissions during the evaluation process. Team names and affiliations will be collected separately from the proposal document.
Formatting: The EOI should be written in English, with 1-inch margins and no more than 3 pages of body text typed in single-spaced 10-point (or larger) font. The EOI should be formatted as .pdf.
Citations: We request that citations are formatted using the Vancouver reference style (numbered). References should be listed in an additional document uploaded separately.
Deadline: Friday, 14 February, 2025, 11:59pm ET.
Award Process
The EOIs will be anonymized (removing names and references) for a blinded evaluation by a committee of advisors and Schmidt Sciences. We intend to notify all applicants of the status of their application by June of 2025. At that point, we will extend an invitation to select teams to write a full proposal (8 pages) including more detail regarding budgets, project operations, timelines and team composition. Invited teams will have roughly 90 days to submit a full proposal. We expect to award up to 4 projects, selecting at least one from each category (sectoral and economy-wide modeling).
Helpful Resources
FAQ Document and Questions
Responses to frequently asked questions about this request for EOIs can be found in the FAQ document here.
If you have additional questions, please direct them to energy@schmidtsciences.org
Webinars
The DEVI team will host two informational webinars on this EOI via Zoom on Monday, 16 December, 2024 at 12 pm ET [sign up here] and Tuesday 17 December, 2024 at 7.30 am ET [sign up here]. The webinars will each be 30 minutes, and will provide an overview of DEVI, information on how to apply to this EOI request, and include time for questions. The recordings and slides from both webinars will be linked to the FAQ document after 17 December.
Office Hours
The DEVI team will also offer office hours beginning on Monday, 2 December, 2024. You may schedule a time using this link. Please note that many questions may already be answered in the FAQ document.
Schmidt Sciences' Climate Institute
Schmidt Sciences’ Climate Institute aims to advance fundamental science to understand the implications of climate change mitigation strategies and to ensure that such planning takes into account feedback and constraints across the land, atmosphere, and oceans. It seeks to improve the state of knowledge for understanding the interactions between industrial civilization and the Earth system, and to inform decision-making and priority-setting at multiple levels, from scientific communities to civil society to industry to policymakers. Our programs enable the creation of datasets, models, platforms, and collaborations that are rigorous and trustworthy, openly available, accessible, and useful to an international community, and foster a diverse, global, transdisciplinary climate science community that rises to the challenge of imagining and building a sustainable future.
In addition to the Decarbonization and Energy Virtual Institute (DEVI), the other Virtual Institutes are: the Virtual Earth Systems Research Institute (VESRI), the Ocean Biogeochemistry Virtual Institute (OBVI), the Virtual Institute for the Carbon Cycle (VICC), and the Virtual Institute for Earth’s Water (VIEW). Virtual Institutes are high-risk, high-impact international networks intentionally formed to pursue timely opportunities to significantly increase our knowledge of the interactions between industrial civilization and the Earth system and apply it for the positive benefit of science or society. We will facilitate coordination and collaborations with other Climate Institute programs to account for the interconnected nature of the climate grand challenge.