The Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy provides scientific research and data-informed insights on climate change policy. The center aims to advance world-class climate research and make scientific findings accessible to decision-makers. Views expressed by individual researchers affiliated with the Wilkes Center do not necessarily represent endorsement by the Wilkes Center or the University of Utah.
White Papers and Policy Briefs:
Investing in Nature for Sustainability: corporate insights from science and practice Luers et al. (2024), Microsoft
Addressing the Scope 3 Challenge - A workshop briefing from researchers working on corporate climate action and governance Allen et al. (2024), Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment and Oxford Net Zero
Quality Assessment of Verra’s Updated REDD+ Methodology (VM0048), Haya et al. (2024), Berkeley Carbon Trading Project, UC Berkeley
Quality Assessment of REDD+ Carbon Credit Projects Haya et al. (2023), Berkeley Carbon Trading Project, UC Berkeley
Collaborations:
Great Salt Lake Strike Team: Great Salt Lake Data and Insights Summary
A synthesized resource document for the 2025 General Legislative Session.
January 17, 2025
Great Salt Lake Strike Team: Great Salt Lake Data and Insights Summary
A synthesized resource document for the 2024 General Legislative Session.
January 10, 2024
Great Salt Lake Strike Team: Great Salt Lake Policy Assessment
A synthesized resource document for the 2023 General Legislative Session.
February 9, 2023
Comment Letters:
- Comment to Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI) submitted to VCMI on beta Scope 3 claim on October 21, 2024.
- Joint Commentary on the Science Based Target initiative's (SBTi) Discussion Paper: Aligning Corporate Value Chains to Global Climate Goals, specifically on question 13c on the use of Carbon Credits towards company scope 3 targets, submitted to SBTi on October 4, 2024, with coauthors from the University of Utah Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy, and University of Oxford's Oxford Net Zero
- Joint Commentary on the Science Based Target initiative's (SBTi) Discussion Paper: Aligning Corporate Value Chains to Global Climate Goals, specifically on question 13b on the use of Commodity Certificates towards company scope 3 targets, submitted to SBTi on October 4, 2024, with coauthors from the University of Utah Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy, and University of Oxford's Oxford Net Zero
- Comment on Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Guidance Regarding the Listing of Voluntary Carbon Credit Derivative Contracts, submitted to the CFTC on February 16, 2024, with coauthors from Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy; University of California, Santa Barbara; and University of California, Irvine.
- Instead of Carbon Offsets, We Need 'Contributions' to Forests, Blanchard et al., Stanford Social Innovation Review, on January 31, 2024
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Nature-based climate solutions: align policy with science, Anderegg et al., Nature on December 5, 2023
Peer-Reviewed Perspectives:
Funding forests' climate potential without carbon offsets
Libby Blanchard et al. (2024), One Earth
Climate-targets group should rescind its endorsement of carbon offsets
Anderegg and Blanchard et al. (2024), Nature