After making an impact on U.S. policy, a group of energy systems researchers is going global to help countries chart their own pathways to ending the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. 

In December 2020, a Princeton-led group of researchers released the Net-Zero America report. The uniquely comprehensive analysis described five distinct pathways for the United States to shift its economy away from climate-changing emissions using existing technologies. 

The report has been widely influential in public policy and industry decision-making. Net-Zero America project leaders, including Jesse Jenkins, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, conducted over 300 briefings to communicate their findings to industry, academia, government entities, and non-governmental organizations. The work was covered extensively in the media, including a cover story in The Economist. 

Now, Jenkins and his Net-Zero America co-leaders at the Andlinger Center, senior research scientist Chris Greig and senior research engineer Eric Larson, are expanding their efforts across the world. First stop: Australia. 

Experts at The University of Queensland, the University of Melbourne, and the management consultancy Nous Group worked with the Princeton team to show how Australia could decarbonize its economy. They went further by analyzing pathways to shift Australia from its status as one of the world’s largest exporters of coal and liquified natural gas. The effort, spearheaded at Princeton by Greig, was directly inspired by the U.S. project and also has been recognized by Australian policymakers, non-governmental organizations, and research bodies. 

Net Zero Australia was the first of several projects now underway to help countries chart their own pathways to decarbonization. The researchers said their vision is to create a network of local partners to develop net-zero studies in a range of countries that are either currently or anticipated to become major contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions. 

“The effort is not about us at Princeton delivering these studies on behalf of other countries. Rather, the studies are being locally anchored and led,” said Greig, the Theodora D. ’78 & William H. Walton III ’74 Senior Research Scientist at the Andlinger Center. “Our job is to provide guidance where needed and to support them with the tools and resources to help local experts lead their own countries to a net-zero future.” 

Greig has helped launch a Net-Zero India effort in partnership with researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, and the non-governmental organization Prayas (Energy Group). The work will model how India, currently the world’s third largest carbon emitter, can meet its ambitious climate targets by transitioning away from fossil fuels while ensuring energy security for its growing population. 

Larson, working with collaborators at Tsinghua University, has helped launch a Net-Zero China study, which included a week-long visit to Princeton this summer from six members of the Tsinghua team. China is currently the world’s largest carbon emitter. Larson is also leading Princeton’s engagement on a Net-Zero Poland study led by a colleague at Poland’s Silesian University of Technology. Poland is Europe’s most coal-dependent nation. And together with João Biehl, director of Princeton’s Brazil LAB and the Susan Dod Brown Professor of Anthropology, Larson is helping launch a Net-Zero Brazil study. Brazil is the largest carbon emitter in Latin America, with most of its emissions associated with land-use activities. 

Other countries for which the researchers aim to launch Net-Zero projects include South Korea, Indonesia, Pakistan, South Africa, and Mexico. 

As the initiative expands, researchers in Jenkins’ group are developing open-source software for modeling energy-system transitions that will be available to researchers in any country. The software, developed in collaboration with researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and New York University, will provide a foundation for the global network of researchers they hope to unite, helping local researchers build capacity to execute impactful country-level net-zero studies. 

“The idea is to build a global consortium of energy transition researchers from some of the best universities in the world to develop common methods, share lessons learned, and collaborate on globally relevant decarbonization efforts,” Jenkins said.