Announcing faculty winners of Columbia Global's Climate Hub Rio Research Grants in Brazil

At Columbia Global, we recognize the urgency of climate change and the need to address its impact alongside local partners in the most affected regions. Through the newly launched Climate Hub Rio, the Rio Global Center embraces innovative approaches and fosters collaborations with global stakeholders to advance climate-related research and initiatives.

We are delighted to announce the recipients of the Climate Hub Rio's inaugural Request for Proposals - esteemed faculty members from six schools within Columbia University. Following a rigorous selection process, these awardees will embark on groundbreaking research projects in Brazil, thanks to the seed funding provided through this proposal.

Harnessing Diverse Disciplines to Address Climate Change

Faculty chosen to receive Climate Hub Rio's seed funding grants come from diverse fields, reflecting the multidisciplinary nature of climate-related research:

• Columbia Climate School
• Columbia Journalism School
• Columbia Law School
• School of Professional Studies
• School of International and Public Affairs
• Teachers College

This diversity reflects the complexity of climate change, a challenge that transcends traditional academic boundaries and calls for collective efforts and innovation from different disciplines.

The Catalyst to Groundbreaking Research

These grants will offer a unique opportunity for faculty members to contribute to climate-related research in Brazil. With the support of the Columbia Global Center in Rio de Janeiro, our winners will be able to leverage the Center's decade-long experience and extensive partnerships in Rio and Brazil to facilitate and monitor their research.

The projects that these grants will support are diverse and offer the potential for a much greater impact. Whether exploring the impact of climate change on public health, investigating nature-based solutions for the green economy, or studying the effects of climate change on vulnerable populations, these faculty members' research could lead to significant advancements in our understanding of and response to climate change in Brazil.

• OreOluwa Badaki from Teachers College heads the project "Amplifying Climate Change Education and Communication in Brazil." Her study aims to highlight the importance of history, ancestry, and diaspora in both understanding and addressing climate change in Brazil.
• Michael Burger from the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law introduces "Climate Litigation in Brazil." This project envisions promoting mutually beneficial collaborations between local and international institutions, which will ultimately lead to an academic publication on climate litigation in Brazil, published in English.
• Steven Cohen from the School of International and Public Affairs leads "Climate Change Awareness and Engaging Vulnerable Communities in the City of Niterói, Brazil," a project intending to facilitate collaboration between local vulnerable stakeholders and a key energy provider to brainstorm and map out adaptation and resilience solutions and potential future research collaborations in the context of climate awareness.
• Erik Funkhouser from the Center on Global Energy Policy, from the School of International and Public Affairs leads "Leveraging opportunities in the U.S. market  to commercialize Brazilian negative emissions and carbon market-enabling  technology innovation." His project aims to increase awareness of carbontech R&D and commercialization landscape among critical stakeholders, as well as lay the groundwork for a well-designed carbontech policy.
• Columbia Journalism School's Duy Linh Tu presents "Extreme Weather and Human Risk in Rio," a series of multimedia stories published for English, Portuguese, and Spanish-language audiences.
• At the Center on Global Energy Policy, from the School of International and Public Affairs, Harry Verhoeven presents "The Political Economy of Green Innovation in Brazil." This project proposes the sharpening and refinement of ideas for policy reports and contributing to public debates on the domestic and international implications of energy transitions.

Learn more about the winners here.

A Landmark Collaboration with the City of Rio de Janeiro

The Climate Hub Rio represents a landmark public-private partnership, with seed funding from the City of Rio de Janeiro. The city's support for this project underlines its commitment to advancing knowledge and action related to all aspects of climate change in Rio and Brazil.

The Climate Hub focuses on three major components: 1) advancing education regarding climate and climate change; 2) supporting joint research and pedagogical collaborations between Columbia faculty and students with counterparts; and 3) organizing conferences and public events.

Looking Forward

The Climate Hub Rio is part of Columbia Global, an entity within Columbia University that nurtures relationships across the globe to advance knowledge, promote broad-based understanding, and address shared global challenges. We celebrate our faculty winners and look forward to the impact of their research and its potential to shape a more sustainable, resilient future in Brazil and beyond.