Climate Change Initiative

The Climate Change Initiative brings people together from across the University to catalyze evidence-based climate action through our research, education and community engagement.

The Climate Change Initiative (CCI) includes more than 60 faculty members and 10 staff from 20 academic departments and all five colleges at UMass Lowell. Student leaders also participate in CCI events, retreats, and decision-making. We use a systems thinking framework to explore interactions between expertise and forge new programs, projects, and policy.

Our Expertise

Our research and expertise reflects our disciplinary diversity and the unifying theme of building new knowledge to catalyze evidence-based climate action.

Climate Drivers & Projections

Analyzing the drivers and projecting the impacts of climate change.
Innovations in Education

Research, development, and implementation of education and training for climate action.
Climate Resilience & Adaptation

Helping society prepare and build capacity to manage climate impacts.
Policy & Decision Support

Sharing our expertise with decision-makers at all levels of government, the private sector, and NGOs.
Energy Transition

Innovating to support the transition to a post-carbon economy.
Cities

Partnering with cities and civic groups to inform and support their climate action.
Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability

Analyzing the impact of the private sector on climate action.
Health Impacts

Determining the impact of climate change, fossil fuels, and the energy transition on human health.
Environmental Humanities & Arts

Examining complex relationships between humans and the environment through the humanities, arts, and sciences.
Circular Economy

Innovating to promote sustainable, climate-friendly materials.
Communication & Community Engagement

Developing innovative ways to communicate with audiences from youth to academic peers and policymakers.
Socio-Politics of Climate Change

Examining the social, political, and economic drivers of, and responses to, climate change.

Climate Explainers

CCI News

More News

Five Sustainable Ways to Celebrate the Holidays New

These helpful tips will have you enjoying the holidays with sustainability in mind.

Tuesday, December 5, 2023 Featured Story
Gen Z Takes a Seat - and Sets the Table - at COP28

UMass Lowell students, William Lefebvre and Victoria Wisniewski, investigate how the consequences of industrial expansion and a lack of environmental regulations from past generations has consequences for Gen Z. As both students are part of the Gen Z cohort, they seek to express their concerns about climate change at this year's COP28.

Monday, November 27, 2023 Boston Globe Department News
Feeling Thrifty? Students Glow Up with Castoffs

The Student Society for Sustainability hosted a Thrift Day event with clothes collected from the UMass Lowell community.

Wednesday, October 25, 2023 Featured Story
Healey to Ban All State Agencies from Purchasing Single-use Plastic Bottles

Gov. Maura Healey recently signed an executive order to prohibit state agencies from buying single-use plastic bottles effective immediately, a step that she says makes Massachusetts a leader on our plastics problem. But is reducing single-use bottle use enough? The Climate Change Initiative’s Prof. Meg Sobkowicz-Kline explains to NBC Boston that we also need to find safe and effective ways to recycle the plastics that have already been produced.

Tuesday, September 19, 2023 NBC Boston Department News