About the Carbon Mitigation Initiative

Finding Safe, Effective and Affordable Solutions to Climate Change

The Carbon Mitigation Initiative (CMI) is a 15-year partnership between Princeton University and BP with the goal of finding solutions to the carbon and climate problem.

Our unique approach brings together scientists, engineers, and policy experts to design carbon mitigation strategies that are safe and effective as well as affordable.

Working Together in Four Research Groups

Experts from the Princeton Geosciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Civil and Mechanical Engineering Departments, the Princeton Energy Systems Analysis Group, and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, along with their international collaborators, work together in four main research groups:

The Low-Carbon Energy Group assesses technologies for capturing CO₂ emissions from fossil fuels and also studies alternative fuels and electricity sources.
The Storage Group uses computer models, laboratory experiments and field studies to investigate potential risks of injecting CO₂ underground for permanent storage.
The Science Group collects data from the oceans, the atmosphere, ice cores, and the land biosphere to study natural sources and sinks of carbon and impacts of emissions on future climate.
The Policy & Integration Group synthesizes research discoveries and explores the policy implications of carbon mitigation strategies.

Led by CMI Co-Directors Stephen Pacala and Robert Socolow since its formation in 2000, the group has grown to include over 60 researchers actively engaged in national and international discussions of emissions reduction options.

Together we are building a comprehensive view of the challenges of carbon mitigation - and how they can be overcome.

CMI Logo: 2000 to 2009

The original CMI logo (top right) was conceived by Douglas Jakobsen in 2000 and was intended to represent the partnership among BP, Ford, and Princeton. The design incorporated elements and colors of the respective collaborators logos. From inception, the logo, with its colorful rendering of intersecting earth and atmospheric systems, has provided a positive vision for solving the carbon and climate challenge.

As part of CMI's website redesign in 2009, the logo has been updated by Amy Hepler. The new logo (bottom right) retains the colors and symbolism of the original, but adds an emphasis on the four research groups. The four dots, like directional points on a compass, divide the logo into quadrants and represent the four research thrusts in the Initiative.

CMI in 2012

(Photo credit: Frank Wojciechowski)

First row (from bottom/left to right): Shavonne Malone, Claudie Beaulieu, Sarah Batterman, K. Allison Smith, Elena Krieger, Sally Benson, Ellen Williams, Thomas Kreutz, Pascale Maloof Poussart, Stephen W. Pacala, Michael Schwartz

Second row (left to right): Andrew Cockerill, Roberta Hotinski, Caroline Farrior, Robert Williams, Howard Stone

Third row (left to right): Anna Colasante, Dallas Burtraw, Katharine Hackett, Kelly Sims Gallagher, Gardiner Hill, Alexander Glaser, Zheng Li, Shoibal Chakravarty, William Schlesinger, David Nagel, Steven Hamburg

Fourth row (left to right): Jorge Sarmiento, Henry Lee, Hang Deng, Paul Jefferiss, Meryl Hicks, Roger Humphreville, Michael Levi, Ralph DeLeonardis, Jeffrey Fitts, David Tilman

Fifth row (left to right): Athanassios Z. Panagiotopoulos, Daniel P. Schrag, Robert Socolow, Gery Juleff, Zhong Zheng, M.V. Ramana, Gennady Gor, Thomas Elliot, David Hawkins

Sixth row (left to right): Lars Hedin, David Medvigy, David Eyton, Thomas Frolicher

CMI in 2011

(Photo credit: Denise Applewhite)

First row (left to right): NA, Michael R. Davidson, Elizabeth J. Wilson, Silvia Boschetto, Kathy Araujo, Claudie Beaulieu, K. Allison Smith, Katharine Hackett, and Caroline Farrior

Second row (left to right): Henry Lee, Laura Diaz Anadon, Andrew Cockerill, Pablo Debenedetti, Zheng Li, Pascale Maloof Poussart, Hengwei Liu, James Meadowcroft and Andrea Lanzini

Third row (left to right): Shavonne Malone, Rosemary Albinson, Gardiner Hill, Adam Wolf, NA, Robert Socolow, Mary Kang, Samir Succar, Ilkka Hannula, Thomas Kreutz and David G. Hawkins

Fourth row (left to right): Anna Colasante, Stephen Pacala, Ellen Williams, Elena Krieger, Timothy D. Searchinger, Robert Williams, Shoibal Chakravarty, Feng Fu, Christopher Little, James Wang and Dallas Burtraw

Fifth row (left to right): NA, Michael Oppenheimer, Franklin M. Orr, Mark E. Fesmire, Roger Humphreville, Michael J. Desmond, Eric Larson, Meryl Hicks, Benjamin Court, and Zhong Zheng

Sixth row (left to right): Michael Levi, Nicolas Lefevre-Marton, Massimo Tavoni, David Eyton, Robert Goldston, Matthias Preisig, John Higgins, and Thomas Frolicher

CMI in 2010

(Photo credit: Denise Applewhite)

First row (from bottom left to right): Haiping Chen, Zheng Li, Eric Larson, Dallas Burtraw, Jorge Sarmiento, Massimo Tavoni, Pascale Poussart, Laura Diaz Anadon, Roberta Hotinski, Ellen Williams, Sally Benson, Benjamin Court, Katharine Hackett, Nicolas Lefévre-Marton

Second row (left to right): Guangjian Liu, Shoibal Chakravarty, Zhe Zhou, Xiangbo Guo, George Scherer, Tom Kreutz, Michael Bender, Pablo Debenedetti, Michael Celia, Robert Williams, Henry Lee, Kate Hadley Baker

Third row (left to right): Yuan Xu, Stephen P. Long, Chris Somerville, James Keating, Kelly Gallagher, Robert Socolow, David Nagel, Imene Goumiri, Sapna Sarupria, Daniel Schrag, Jean-Hervé Prévost

Fourth row (left to right): Ken Jefferd, Andrew Cockerill, David Eyton, Michael A. Levi, David G. Hawkins, David Keith, Thomas Elliot, Matthias Preisig, Venkatesh Narayanamurti, Gardiner Hill, Stephen Pacala

CMI in 2009

Photo credit: Brian Wilson

Pictured from left to right, front row: Michael Celia, Kate Baker, Pascale Poussart, Sapna Sarupria, Yang Lui, Jean-Herve Prevost, Catherine Peters, Kenyn Brysse. Second row: Roberta Hotinski, Gardiner Hill, Robert Socolow, Steve Pacala, Axel Haenssen, Matthias Preisig. Third row: George Scherer, Ed Matteo, Juan Nogues, Valentina Bosetti, Shoibal Chakravarty. Fourth row: Bob Williams, Zhong Zheng, Massimo Tavoni, Adam Janzen, Nicolas Lefevre-Marton.

CMI in 2000

Pictured from left to right, front row: Ellen B. Stechel, Robert Socolow, Gardiner Hill. Second row: Helen Ming, Neil Jones, Robert Williams, Michael Celia, Terry Wood. Third row: Stephen Pacala, David F. Bradford, Miriam Levon, Chris Mottershead, Jorge Sarmiento, David Chock. Fourth row: Francois Morel, Emmanuel Haton, Klaus Keller, Andrew Bocarsly, Marty Friedman, Dave Thomas, Paul Rutter, Bernie Bulkin, Tim Wallington.