AI, energy demand, and regulators: A conversation with Le Xie
Harvard professor says energy regulators must get creative as computing demands from artificial intelligence strain the grid.
Wed, Oct 23, 2024
Interdisciplinary
Research Clusters
The Salata Institute is committed to supporting research that promises to make a real-world impact on the climate crisis. The Climate Research Clusters Program delivers on that commitment by funding research about complex climate problems that produces useful and practical solutions. Clusters comprise interdisciplinary, cross-School teams of researchers, whose varied expertise is required to address the complexity of the problems that they seek to solve. The problems are broad enough that their solutions represent significant progress in meeting the world’s climate challenge.
Corporate Net-Zero Targets Project
While corporate net-zero commitments are surging, there is a lack of information and analysis about whether these corporate goals result in real emissions reductions. Harvard faculty are developing new tools – including groundbreaking firm- and plant-level datasets – and strategies to better understand and strengthen corporate climate action.
Cluster Research
Research started:
2023 Researchers:
5 Persons Duration:
3 Years 
Climate Adaptation in South Asia
Climate change is affecting South Asia – home to two billion people – in devastating ways. This Harvard-led initiative is bringing leading experts and stakeholders together, putting vital new data sets and other tools into the hands of those confronting extreme heat and other climate impacts in South Asia.
Cluster Research
Research started:
2023 Researchers:
11 Persons Duration:
3 Years 
Reducing Global Methane Emissions
Reducing methane emissions can significantly reduce climate change and its impacts in the short term – giving the world time to “bend the curve” on CO2 emissions and seek longer-term solutions. A Harvard-led team of experts is working directly with leaders in government, business, and beyond to translate new research into meaningful action.
Cluster Research
Research started:
2023 Researchers:
18 Persons Duration:
3 Years 
Strengthening Communities
For many U.S. communities – from towns in West Virginia to Tribal Nations in the Pacific Northwest – the clean energy transition is changing everything. This Harvard-led initiative is conducting new research and working with stakeholders to better understand the social and political dimensions of the shift from fossil fuels and develop playbooks for effective, equitable, and community-driven energy development.
Cluster Research
Research started:
2023 Researchers:
14 Persons Duration:
3 Years 
Climate Adaptation in the Gulf of Guinea
Severe impacts of sea-level rise are already a reality across Africa and, in particular, the Gulf of Guinea. Working with local counterparts and communities in Abidjan, Accra, and Lagos, this Harvard-led initiative is producing new measuring sea-level rise and its associated costs in the region and identifying viable adaptation strategies.
Cluster Research
Research started:
2023 Researchers:
5 Persons Duration:
3 Years 
Finding the fingerprints that explain sea-level rise
Geophysicists don their detective caps to project variations in future sea-level rise around the world.
Thu, Oct 17, 2024
Crossed Wires: A Salata Institute-Roosevelt Project Study of the Development of Long-Distance Transmission Lines in the U.S.
A new Salata Institute-Roosevelt Project study examines the regulatory, political, and social factors that shape long-distance transmission development and offers five core findings.
Tue, Jun 11, 2024
THE SALATA INSTITUTE
With the new Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability, Harvard University is mobilizing to meet the global climate challenge.