Data-Driven EnviroLab

?? HIRING: We have open UNC student RA positions for the Spring 2025 semester (with possibility of extension): ?? GIS Analyst ?? Python Programmer ?? Communications Intern Check out complete job descriptions at https://lnkd.in/ejsBeYFi and send in your CV and work samples by December 1! Unfortunately at this time we can only accept applications for students at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. #student #positions #hiring #jobs

If you'll be at #APPAM2024 in Baltimore, MD Nov. 21-23, our post-doctoral research associate Dr. Ying Yu, PhD will be presenting at the session, "Advancing Equity and Efficiency in Electrification: Investment, Poverty, and Policy." ?? Thursday, November 21, 2024 ??10:15 AM - 11:45 AM EST ??Chesapeake 9 (Ballroom Level, Gaylord National Harbor) She will be presenting a new study with DDL Director Angel Hsu, PhD that utilizes a high-spatial and temporal resolution electricity affordability dataset to show whether shocks in energy burden affect support for #climatemitigation and #cleanenergy policies! --> Check out the dataset, recently published in Environmental Science & Technology: https://lnkd.in/eY8xjUpf The working paper will be posted at datadrivenlab.org soon. If you're at #APPAM2024 get a sneak peek of this exciting new research!

??HAPPENING NOW! If you're #cop29 in #Baku, join us in Side Event Room 6: ‘Seizing the Moment to Ratchet Net Zero Ambition’ with Net Zero Tracker and #Under2Coalition. Data-Driven EnviroLab University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill student William Carney will be presenting our first Cities Climate Action Report Card! --> Link to watch: https://lnkd.in/dG2EEWhK --> Link to our report: https://lnkd.in/e6tJytpd

?? As of 2024, over 1,700 national and regional governments, large publicly listed companies, and major cities have committed to reducing their emissions to net-zero, according to our Net Zero Tracker. Yet, challenges remain in ensuring that climate action towards net zero is credible and that standards for integrity are appropriate for different types of non-state actors. ?? In the Cities Climate Action Report Card (CCARC), we launch a new evaluation framework to assess the transparency and integrity of city-net zero pledges, plans, and implementation. We assess the framework across a set of focus cities, highlighting findings across all cities and presenting individual report cards for each city. ?? For cities, this framework can help translate high-level recommendations for transparency and integrity into practice. It also enables cities to benchmark their performance against global standards and their peers, consider opportunities for implementing best practice actions, and identify areas for improvement. This process can also encourage communication and shared learning across cities. ?? For international, national, and research climate audiences, this framework can enable comparison across cities and within cities over time, allowing evaluators to track progress and assess the contribution of cities to global climate goals. This framework can also help address the data gaps faced by evaluators of non-state climate action by encouraging consistency in the information reported by cities on their targets, plans, and implementation ?? We find that the focus cities are aligning their climate action with many high-integrity practices. All focus cities have aligned with or exceeded national targets. Many have established detailed plans for climate change mitigation and have reduced emissions since their baseline year. However, cities still have work to do in terms of defining “net zero”, aligning with global goals, and refining processes for progress tracking. Read the report ?? https://lnkd.in/e5gUD9hn' Check out our press release ?? https://lnkd.in/ezJqzrgW #cities #climateaction #netzero #cop29 #integritymatters #ccarc

If you're at #COP29 in Baku, we've got a great side event for you on November 13, 'Seizing the Moment to Ratchet Net Zero Ambition," co-hosted by the Net Zero Tracker and #Under2Coalition Group. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is one of the co-sponsoring organizations and the panel will feature Data-Driven EnviroLab student research assistant William Carney, who will present on our new Cities Climate Action Report Card! ?? Check out the report card at our website! https://lnkd.in/ekFbaMtD cc Katherine Burley Christian Alexander-Kun Chung ?? Angel Hsu, PhD #cities #climateaction #climateintegrity #netzero

Check out Angel Hsu, PhD and Diego Manya's latest piece, "Have cities made strides in providing clean and equitable environments?" for the World Economic Forum. We highlight #keyfindings from our 2024 Urban Environment and Social Inclusion Index (UESI) to help inform equitable and inclusive climate and sustainability policies as cities look for solutions #cop29. Thank you to the World Economic Forum for the opportunity to share our insights! https://lnkd.in/edbX7SEe #cities #climateaction #sdg11

Check out DDL Director Angel Hsu’s new white paper written for the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy, "How Artificial Intelligence Can Accelerate Global Climate Action." Hsu assesses the potential of AI in managing the vast and varied data sources that aid in climate action, such as earth observations and physical climate metrics to policy documents, sociodemographic insights, and individual-level data. #climateaction #cop29 #AI #NLP #machinelearning #earthobservation #globalstocktake

We’re excited to announce our latest paper, Mapping Spatiotemporal Disparities in Residential Electricity Inequality Using Machine Learning, published in Environmental Science & Technology! In this study, we assess U.S. residential electricity inequality through a spatiotemporally explicit, machine learning (ML)-based framework. Using large-scale, multi-source remote sensing and census data, we predict tract-level monthly electricity consumption and introduce the Electricity Affordability Gap (EAG) metric, which measures the gap between electricity bills and 3% of household income, to capture neighborhood-level dynamics. Find the full paper here: https://lnkd.in/eY8xjUpf Here are some key findings: 1) Our ML-based framework significantly enhances the spatiotemporal resolution of energy affordability data, achieving a high correlation? (R2) of 0.82 compared to the Low-Income Energy Affordability Data (LEAD) data. The LEAD dataset, which is the only existing resource assessing energy use for low- and moderate-income households, is limited to a single time point. 2) We observe notable seasonal and urban-rural disparities: EAG in summer and winter is 2–3 times higher than in other seasons, and rural residents face burdens up to 1.7 times higher than urban counterparts. 3) Sociodemographic disparities are striking: Non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, low-income, less-educated, and renter households experience much higher EAG. 4) Overall, we predict an annual economic burden of $16 billion in household electricity bills, indicating that electricity affordability remains a persistent and widespread challenge, necessitating targeted, context-specific policy measures to achieve equitable electrification. The paper was led by Data-Driven EnviroLab post-doctoral research associate Ying Yu, PhD, with DDL Director Angel Hsu, PhD, Prof. Xijing Li of Cal Poly Pomona and Prof. Noah Kittner of UNC as co-authors.

A central focus of our project on disparities in urban heat stress across U.S. cities is the active engagement of the communities most affected by this burden. Our Community Advisory Board (CAB), composed of representatives from historically marginalized communities, collaborates with us to co-design our NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration project outcomes that directly benefit those facing the greatest impacts of urban heat stress. Find out more about our project here https://lnkd.in/gwXF8rA2 At our second CAB meeting held on October 30 at the Museum of Life and Science, we shared initial results from our urban sensor network, which monitored temperatures throughout the summer at over 40 designated locations in Durham. Key concerns raised included the high temperatures recorded near schools, the heat impact of new urban development, and strategies to involve the community more deeply from the onset and ensure transparency throughout the project. Thank you to our partners Imani Vincent and Max Cawley for hosting and facilitating the meeting!