Home -> About the U.S. Climate Change Science Program -> The National Climate Change Technology Initiative

Search

US Climate Change Science Program
Updated 20 April, 2004

The National Climate Change
Technology Initiative
 

 

Climate Change Science & Technology Management Structure (Organizational Chart)

See also:  Overview of U.S. Research on Climate and Global Change.

 

 

See also the U.S. Climate Change Technology Program

 

On June 11, 2001, in conjunction with his establishment of the U.S. Climate Change Research Initiative, President Bush noted that the United States is a world leader in technology and innovation and that new and advanced technologies offer great promise to address concerns about climate change. Accordingly, he established a technology complement to the CCRI, called the National Climate Change Technology Initiative (NCCTI). The aim of NCCTI is to strengthen Federal leadership of climate change-related technology R&D by improving coordination of R&D investments across Federal agencies and by focusing the Federal R&D portfolio on the President's climate change goals, near- and long-term. NCCTI builds on an extensive base of ongoing activities in Federal R&D in climate change-related technologies, as documented in the recent Report to Congress on Climate Change Expenditures (11 June 2001) by the Office of Management and Budget.

See also:  Stabilizing Greenhouse Gases in the Earth's Atmosphere: Opportunities for Technology and Innovations.  Presentation from Breakout Session 16 of the US Climate Change Science Program: Planning Workshop for Scientists and Stakeholders, 3-5 December 2002, Washington, DC. 

In FY 2002, for example, the Report notes that the Department of Energy (DOE) spent $1.574 billion on climate change-related science, research, and development, excluding what it spent on the U.S. Global Change Research Program. According to the Report, this figure may be broken down as follows:

  1. energy supply R&D, $393 million;

  2. energy conservation R&D, $640 million;

  3. CO2 sequestration R&D, $32 million;

  4. science, $35 million;

  5. clean coal and natural gas R&D, $442 million; and

  6. nuclear energy R&D, $32 million. In addition to DOE, other agencies also spent funds on climate change technology R&D.

For example, in FY 2002 the Environmental Protection Agency spent $115 million, and the Department of the Treasury spent $38 million in support of the Global Environment Facility. Not included in these totals are other research expenditures at the Department of Agriculture, including forest and rangeland research; agricultural research in soils and other terrestrial sequestration systems; and research on means to improve the management of emissions of greenhouse gas emissions, such as methane, from livestock operations.  

The main thrust of the NCCTI is to examine, from the perspective of both near- and long-term climate change goals, the current Federal portfolio of R&D and strengthen its coordination and focus on achieving these goals. The President said on June 11, 2001: "We're creating the National Climate Change Technology Initiative to strengthen research at universities and national labs, to enhance partnerships in applied research, to develop improved technology for measuring and monitoring gross and net greenhouse gas emissions, and to fund demonstration projects for cutting-edge technologies, such as bioreactors and fuel cells."  

Since the potential impacts of technology on a global scale are relatively long-term, the NCCTI is guided over the long-term by the climate change goals of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change of 1992, ratified by the United States and more than 170 other countries. The UNFCCC calls for the "... stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in Earth's atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system." In order to achieve this long-term goal, net emissions of greenhouse gases on a global scale must ultimately approach levels that are lower than they are today and, in the cases of the most important gases, significantly so.  

CURRENT ACTIVITIES

Current activities of the NCCTI include a comprehensive and continuing review of all climate change technology-related research and development programs, with an eye toward improving the integration of supporting basic research activities. The NCCTI interagency working group is developing criteria to identify high-priority programs that may have the largest potential impact in the long term for reducing, avoiding, or sequestering greenhouse gas emissions. NCCTI also includes a proposal to fund a unique competitive solicitation program, in which technology research ideas will be funded on the basis of their potential to reduce, avoid, or sequester greenhouse gas emissions. NCCTI also focuses on measurement systems -- such as the development of greenhouse gas sensors, measurement instruments and platforms, monitoring systems, databases, and inference methods -- needed to meet basic information, data, and measurement needs of the climate change scientific and technical community.  

MANAGEMENT OF NCCTI

NCCTI is guided by the review and coordination processes of the interagency Climate Change Technology Program (CCTP). Federal agencies with relevant R&D programs participating in the CCTP include: the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy, Health and Human Services, Interior, and Transportation, as well as other agencies, as appropriate, including the Environmental Protection Agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Science Foundation.
See also the U.S. Climate Change Technology Program

 

 

US Climate Change Science Program, Suite 250, 1717 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20006. Tel: +1 202 223 6262. Fax: +1 202 223 3065. Email: . Web: www.climatescience.gov. Webmaster:
US Climate Change Science Program Home Page