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Duke University has announced a merger of two of its interdisciplinary units, the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions and the Duke University Energy Initiative.

“As Duke University heightens its commitment to climate solutions and sustainability, combining the strengths of the Nicholas Institute and Energy Initiative will accelerate the university’s ambitious vision,” explained Duke University Provost Dr. Sally Kornbluth.

The merger process will commence July 1, when Dr. Brian Murray will assume the interim directorship of the newly formed unit. Murray, who has served as Energy Initiative director since 2015, previously led the Nicholas Institute's environmental economics program for 11 years.

Three leading energy market scholars and a top practitioner from the clean tech industry joined RTOGov on June 2 for a conversation about decisions that affect the cost and type of electricity that powers American homes and businesses.

RTOGov is a research initiative to evaluate how decisions are made in U.S. electricity markets and whether these governance processes impact real-world outcomes such as price, customer choice, air quality, and innovation. Core partners for RTOGov are:

In June, the Climate Risk Disclosure Lab submitted a detailed comment letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in response to its request for answers to 15 questions “with an eye toward facilitating the disclosure of consistent, comparable, and reliable information on climate change” to incorporate into financial markets.

Over the course of several weeks, the Lab’s leadership held a series of workshops to discuss the issues raised in the SEC’s request. Recognizing the necessity of immediate action, the letter discusses actions the SEC can take now, under its existing authority, to develop a mandatory climate risk disclosure regime. However, the letter also recognizes that policymaking is a continuous process and contains recommendations for the SEC to purse in the long-term, once an initial climate disclosure rule is in place.

Founded in 2020, the Lab seeks to support those in government, the private sector, and civil society who are working to address climate change and the risks it poses to the global financial system, through effective implementation of climate risk disclosure rules. The Lab is an education and policy development initiative created and led by Duke Law’s Global Financial Markets Center, the National Whistleblower Center, and the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University.

Drawing on the expertise of its team, the Energy Access Project at Duke has created the new EAP @Duke blog for discussions of the latest from the world of energy access. The blog will provide an outlet for ideas, ranging from digestible takes on the latest research to commentary on key developments in the space. Most posts will come from the EAP team, but guest posts will occasionally be featured.

The first round of posts include:

You can send ideas for future posts to energyaccess@duke.edu.