Resources for the Future

11/06/2025

“Climate change–related natural disasters such as floods, fires, and storms devastate communities, and their massive costs continue to grow. But as climate risks increase, financial risk management infrastructure is not keeping pace.” 🔥📈

In a new editorial in Science, our very own Billy Pizer and Harvard University’s James Stock argue that we need more research into the financial risks of . Scientists have a relatively good picture of how our warming climate will impact the planet. However, it is much less clear how the economy will respond.

The US federal government has traditionally taken the lead in addressing this knowledge gap, but those efforts were recently abandoned. To fill the gap, Resources for the Future and The Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability at Harvard University created the Climate-related Financial and Macroeconomic Risk Initiative.

Read the full op-ed to learn more about this important work: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aed1008

10/08/2025

We are celebrating our Founders’ Day today!

In 1952, before the Clean Air Act or the first Earth Day, RFF was founded. Since then, we have been delivering rigorous, independent analysis that has helped leaders evaluate choices, balance priorities, and shape policies that matter.
In today’s rapidly changing policy landscape, our critical research would not be possible without our supporters! Your gift will make a difference today, and for generations to come.

Donate today!

For more than 70 years, Resources for the Future has delivered rigorous, independent analysis that helps leaders evaluate choices, balance priorities, and shape policies that matter.

10/03/2025

Can strategic government investment help the United States reduce its reliance on other countries for critical minerals? 💵🔋

In this week's episode of Resources Radio, host Daniel Raimi speaks with Tom Moerenhout from Columbia | SIPA about the recent federal investment in the Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine in California, a privately held site.

“The government made a deal that we haven’t seen before. It includes an equity investment, an offtake agreement for the rare earths, and an offtake agreement for the final magnet. So, it’s really a deal that focuses on trying to create a homegrown United States mine-to-magnet supply chain.”

Listen to the episode to learn more!

Tom Moerenhout discusses the recent federal investment in a privately held mine in the United States—the Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine—and the potential risks and rewards of the deal.

09/08/2025

Last week, lightning strikes ignited dozens of wildfires in California. The fires destroyed homes, businesses, and infrastructure—an increasingly common occurrence that affects disaster insurance markets in the state. 🏠

In this In Focus video from March, RFF Fellow Wibbenmeyer discusses California’s wildfire insurance landscape and potential practices that could help communities adapt to climate change. 👇

08/29/2025

After a short summer break, Resources Radio is back in action next week! 🎙️ ☀️

We’ll be back on Tuesday, September 2 with RFF Fellow Kristen McCormack . Make sure to tune in to hear more about the effects of extreme heat on student attendance and discipline.

See you soon! ⬇️

A weekly podcast that features interviews with researchers and leading experts about climate change, energy, ecosystems, and more.

08/26/2025

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act expanded a tax credit so that “nuclear energy communities” can benefit from clean energy development. But will this move actually benefit communities that play a big part in the nuclear energy supply chain? 🏗️ 🔗

In this In Focus video, Daniel Raimi, who directs RFF’s Equity in the Energy Transition initiative, elaborates on a recent blog post about the effectiveness of this tax credit expansion and what it may mean for communities and the clean energy transition. ⬇️

https://www.resources.org/common-resources/if-then-nuclear-energy-communities-how-congress-made-a-weird-energy-law-even-weirder/

08/04/2025

Last Tuesday, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced draft plans to repeal the “endangerment finding”—the legal underpinning of EPA regulations that limit greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, power plants, and more. 🏛️ 🍃

In a new In Focus video, RFF President and CEO Billy Pizer breaks down the implications of this move, both for US climate policy and RFF research. ⬇️

07/31/2025

Federal climate action is stalling, but states have their own tools to meet their decarbonization goals. 📉

In this In Focus video, RFF Research Associate Nicholas Roy explains how states use emissions trading systems to reduce their carbon emissions and raise state revenue. 👇

07/25/2025

For millions of Americans facing energy insecurity, keeping the lights on is a constant struggle.💡

On Resources Radio, Diana Hernández discusses the highly personal nature of energy insecurity and the lived experiences of families that are forced to endure unsafe living conditions and navigate a broken energy safety net.

“The environment of poverty is always complex, and it always involves these different decisions that are, in some ways, the hardest kinds of choices to make, because we’re really talking about pitting essentials, like food or medicine, against another, like the light bill,” says Hernández.

Listen Now! 🎧 https://www.resources.org/resources-radio/energy-affordability-is-personal-with-diana-hern%C3%A1ndez/
Columbia | SIPA Harvard Radcliffe Institute

Diana Hernández discusses energy insecurity in the United States, highlighting the struggles that everyday Americans face to meet their energy needs, along with possible policy solutions.

07/21/2025

As Molly Robertson shares in the clip below, powerlines are a vital part of the clean energy transition. ⚡

Interested in learning more? Join Molly and a panel of experts THIS THURSDAY for a webinar on why we need more powerlines, why we aren’t building them fast enough, and ways we can speed up the process.

RSVP 👉 https://www.rff.org/events/webinars/obstacles-to-energy-infrastructure-barriers-to-building-long-distance-transmission/

07/07/2025

Join us in welcoming Kristen McCormack to Team RFF! 🎉🎉

As a research fellow, Kristen will focus on a range of environmental and energy topics, including policy design and the distributional effects of climate change. Her skills and experience in academia and government will help further RFF’s mission of nonpartisan research and policy engagement.

Kristen is no stranger to RFF—she worked on issues related to air pollution and greenhouse gas control policies as a research assistant here from 2015 to 2017.

Welcome, Kristen! We’re thrilled to have you on board. 💙

Resources for the Future is pleased to welcome back to its Washington, DC office economist Kristen McCormack, who joins the staff as a research fellow.

06/20/2024

Meteorologists are predicting that the 2024 will be one of the most active on record. 🌀 ⛈

With significant numbers of people and homes in the path of dangerous floods and other climate-driven disasters like wildfires, how can decisionmakers work to minimize future harm? 🏘

Today, the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University released a report that names as a driver of the country’s housing crisis. Carlos Martín, a university fellow at Resources for the Future and a director at the center, shares his thoughts on how to support that are especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.