The reduction of energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the urban built environment has emerged as one of the greatest challenges of the 21 st century. The Paris Climate Agreement calls on the global community to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius through significant reductions in carbon emissions. Given the need for immediate action, cities and urban areas are increasingly taking the lead in addressing this challenge, as cities are positioned to make substantial impacts through improvements to building energy efficiency while facing dramatic consequences of inaction through increased risk from sea-level rise and extreme events.

Our aim is to advance energy and carbon modeling and public policy and investment decisions in cities in a way that is efficient, equitable, scalable, and rapidly deployable. This project, in collaboration with city, federal, and international organizations, develops methods and tools that combine data-driven statistical and physical models to generate hyperlocal models of urban carbon emissions, building energy performance, and energy-use behaviors.