The Environmental Markets Lab (emLab) at UCSB is a “think-and-do” tank dedicated to generating innovative insights in response to today’s complex and wicked problems. Our team leverages the full spectrum of incentives that shape human behavior to achieve lasting and equitable environmental and social outcomes. Since our inception, we've consistently produced impactful, solutions-oriented research that informs policy and drives real-world change. Our team, led by Dr. Christopher Costello and Michaela Clemence, collaborates with a diverse network of faculty, students, and external partners to bridge the gap between academic research and practical applications. External partnerships are the cornerstone of emLab’s work. emLab’s unique, partner-based research model provides our team the opportunity to conduct collaborative research with broad applications. Most of our work is developed directly with external collaborators and implementing partners, facilitating the science to solutions pathway and resulting in real-world impacts. While our core expertise lies in environmental economics, we actively seek out and integrate insights from various disciplines to ensure our research is both comprehensive and actionable. emLab is more than just an innovation incubator; we are committed to building a vibrant intellectual community that helps to equip the next generation of environmental professionals with essential analytical tools and practical experience to tackle the world’s most pressing issues. Through our strong partnership with UCSB, especially the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, we offer exceptional research and professional development opportunities. These opportunities empower our students and researchers, while also enhancing our ability to produce high-quality, impactful science.

Context and Rationale

Our team has made significant strides in advancing our Climate & Energy program; However, sustained support is needed to expand our work and deepen our impact. We are poised to deliver practical, solutions-oriented research support to policy-makers, industry, and the nonprofit sector on how to effectively and equitably address climate change and the clean energy transition. These unprecedented problems require new creative and multidisciplinary solutions. With a focus on research to inform policy engagement and market-based interventions, emLab’s Climate & Energy program uses big data and cutting-edge empirical techniques to inform scientific contributions. emLab is agile and able to respond to timely research needs, identify research gaps, and develop forward-thinking solutions. Our researchers are continually pushing the envelope by working to uncover new solutions to current and future challenges in an ever-evolving, complex world.