Here are some organizations that are good to know about if you’re a scientist or engineer who wants to help save the planet:
350.org is an international grassroots campaign which aims ‘to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis’, with a focus on keeping the CO2 in the atmosphere below 350 parts per million.
5gyres conducts research and communicates about the global impact of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans.
American Wind Energy Association is the US national trade association for the wind energy industry.
Azimuth Code Project is an online open source project that will provide source code for analysis and simulation software used on the Azimuth project.
Azimuth Project is the organization that runs this wiki.
Beijer Institute for Ecological Economics is a research institute in Stockholm with a focus on ecological economics.
Carbon Mitigation Initiative is a program at Princeton University which studies natural sources and sinks of carbon, and technologies for carbon capture and storage.
Center for Research on Environmental Decisions studies individual and group decision making under climate uncertainty and in the face of environmental risk.
Climate Code Foundation seeks to promote public understanding of climate science by increasing the visibility, clarity, quality, and accessibility of the software used in climate science.
Climate and Energy Project is an organization based in the Midwestern US that tries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by increasing energy efficiency and developing renewable energies in a sustainable manner.
Climate-KIC is a Knowledge and Innovation Community with various projects: Climate Impact Expert System, Extreme Events for Energy Providers, Open access catastrophe modelling, Carbon accounting of Europe’s regions, Employer-led CO2 and Energy Reductions by Employees.
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation or CSIRO is Australia’s national science agency, supporting science in many areas: Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Food and Agriculture, Health and Wellbeing, ICT and Services, Manufacturing and Materials, Mineral resources, Oceans and Coasts, Safeguarding Australia, Understanding the Universe, Water.
DESERTEC is a long term project with the goal to build solar power plants in northern Africa.
European Climate Foundation aims to promote climate and energy policies that greatly reduce Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions and helps Europe play an even stronger international leadership role in mitigating climate change.
Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development or ENEA runs projects on supercomputing, ‘Meta-Knowledge Engineering & Management’, thermal-fluid dynamics, biosensors and bioelectronics, and it also helped design a concentrated solar power plant.
Future Earth? from the research framework description: “Future Earth is the new international initiative on Earth system research for global sustainability conceived by an alliance of international research organizations. The goal of Future Earth is to develop the knowledge required for societies worldwide to face challenges posed by global environmental change and to identify and implement solutions and opportunities for a transition to global sustainability.”(descriptive article on scidev.net)
Goddard Institute for Space Studies or GISS is headquartered at Columbia University in New York City and focuses on climate research.
Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics or GLOBEC was a program (1999-2009) which studied the structure and functioning of the global ocean ecosystem and its responses to global warming, population growth in coastal areas, overfishing, etc.
Gogreensyria seems to be a think tank, which is currently (as of summer 2013) still under development
Institute of advanced sustainability studies “The Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), a center for transdisciplinary and transformative research and thought, believes these challenges are too complex to be resolved with strategies we already know.”
International Energy Agency or IEA is an intergovernmental organisation which acts as energy policy advisor to 28 member countries in their effort to ensure reliable, affordable and clean energy for their citizens.
International Panel on Climate Change or IPCC is a scientific intergovernmental body tasked with reviewing and assessing the most recent scientific, technical and socio-economic information produced worldwide relevant to the understanding of climate change.
KIC InnoEnergy is according to themselves a ‘Leading Engine for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Energy’.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA includes Goddard Institute for Space Studies (above).
National Renewable Energy Laboratory or NREL is a US federal laboratory dedicated to the research, development, commercialization and deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies.
New Economics Foundation or nef is attempting to develop a new approach to economic modelling which starts with the desired outcomes of ‘environmental sustainability; equitable economic justice; and high levels of human well-being’.
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy is an office within the United States Department of Energy that invests in high-risk, high-value research and development in the fields of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies.
Post Carbon Institute is headquarted in California and seeks to provide ‘individuals, communities, businesses, and governments with the resources needed to understand and respond to the interrelated economic, energy, and environmental crises that define the 21st century’.
Princeton Environmental Institute is the main interdisciplinary center of environmental research, education and outreach at Princeton University.
Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison or PCMDI
Program in Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy or STEP
Scientists for Global Responsibility is a UK-based organisation of about 1000 scientists, engineers, IT professionals and architects which promotes science, design and technology that contribute to peace, social justice, and environmental sustainability.
Sustainable development solutions network? or UNSDSN.org is a UN based global initiative, where “Participation in the Sustainable Development Solutions Network is open to universities, scientific research institutes, civil society organizations, technology companies, science-oriented foundations, and other institutions that have deep expertise in one or more areas related to sustainable development, and who commit a substantial amount of their own technical and research work towards finding and/or implementing solutions for sustainable development.”
World Nuclear Association or WNA
World Resources Institute or WRI
Organizations is a ‘category’ on the Azimuth Project. The above pages are some of those in this category. For a full list, go here.
This is so far only a list of random findings, without any evaluation about the respectability of the links, it shall serve rather as a first map of “what’s out there”. (please add author of standout)
Econsense - Forum for Sustainable Development of German Business
Triple Pundit “is an innovative new-media company for the business community that cultivates awareness and understanding of the triple bottom line.“The Triple Bottom Line is an addition of social and environmental values to the traditional economic measures of a corporation or organization’s success.”_