Based at Princeton University, the Carbon Mitigation Initiative (CMI) is an independent academic research program sponsored by bp and administered by the High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI). CMI is Princeton’s largest and most long-term industry-university relationship. Established in 2000, the mission of CMI is to lead the way to a compelling and sustainable solution to the carbon and climate change problem.
Participants
Since its inception, CMI has advanced understanding of climate and energy science, technology, and policy. Actively led by 11 principal faculty, the program currently engages an additional 40 research staff and students. These scientists, engineers and policy experts are committed to the dissemination of their joint and individual research findings so they may benefit the larger scientific community, government, and the general public.
Current Programming
Despite the COVID pandemic of the last two years, CMI researchers have maintained unabated research progress. One research initiative, which continues to gain traction globally and from which new projects were borne, The Net-Zero America project, has had outsized impact on policymakers and scientists in the US and abroad. Evolving from Net-Zero America, the REPEAT project allows policymakers and the public to view the impacts of proposed climate and energy policies before they are voted into law.
Another focus of CMI research in 2021 was carbon capture and storage (CCS), an important component in the transition to net-zero. Indeed, most models that show the economy achieving net-zero by 2050 rely heavily on this technology. CCS can be deployed by using hubs that carry CO2 from various capture sites via pipeline networks to a centralized injection site. One 2021 CMI highlight posits that CCS will be limited by large-scale geologic limitations on the rate at which CO2 can be injected. Another group of CMI researchers built a computer simulation tool to predict how geologic conditions can impact larger-scale geological carbon storage. Addressing the disconnect between CCS ambitions and constraints is crucial to successful CCS investment and policy decisions.
Other initiatives in the CMI research realm described in more detail in the following section include:
- Determining the impact of aerosol particles on global radiative forcing
- Consequences of hydrogen leakage on atmospheric methane
- Impacts of wetlands on methane emissions
- Predicting biodiversity responses to climate change
- Carbon capture through mineral-carbon interactions in water
- Using mathematical models to predict future climate
- Impacts of climate and fire on the fate of Amazonian forests
- Predicting reduced oxygen levels in the world’s oceans
- Understanding the frequency of tropical cyclones
- Using calcium compounds for carbon capture
Ongoing Research Focus
- Toward Accelerating the Deployment of CO2 Capture and Storage Hubs
- Bridging the Gap Between CCS Ambition and Reality
- REPEAT Project Provides Real-time Look at Evolving U.S. Climate Policy
- Nucleation and Growth of Nano-Aerosol Particles
- Soil Uptake and Methane Feedback of Atmospheric Hydrogen
- The CMI Wetland Project
- Modeling Large-Scale CO2 Injection in Highly Reactive Rocks
- Improving Forecasts of How Biodiversity Responds to Climate Change
- The Efficiency of Enhanced Weathering
- Pacala Group
- Future Fires Compromise Amazon Forest Resilience to Climate Change
- Diverging Fate of Oceanic Oxygen Minimum Zone and Its Core Under Global Warming
- Understanding Tropical Cyclone Frequency
- Calcium (Ca)-Based Solid Sorbents for Low Temperature CO2 Capture
Sponsor
To learn about CMI’s sponsor, check our Sponsor page.
Career Opportunities
For all open positions within CMI, check our Employment Opportunities page.
Contact Us
You may contact us by using the form in our Contact Us page.