Woodwell Climate Research Center, formerly known as the Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC) until August 2020, is a scientific research organization that studies climate change impacts and solutions. The International Center for Climate Governance named WHRC the world's top climate change think tank for 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. Woodwell conducts research on the causes and impacts of climate change throughout the tropics, the Arctic, and North America. The Center designs all of its work to inform policy or answer policy questions and is composed of six core units: Arctic, Carbon, Risk, Tropics, Water, and Impact.

History

The Woods Hole Research Center was established in 1985 in

Woods Hole Woods Hole is a census-designated place in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. It lies at the extreme southwest corner of Cape Cod, near Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands. The population was 781 at ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

George Woodwell George M. Woodwell (born October 23, 1928) is an American ecologist. He founded several programs in ecology, first at Brookhaven National Laboratory then at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and then at the Woods Hole Re ...

. WHRC was one of the first organizations dedicated to fighting global climate change and Woodwell testified to Congress in 1986 about the dangers of sea level rise and global warming. The plan for developing the

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) established an international environmental treaty to combat "dangerous human interference with the climate system", in part by stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in th ...

was drafted at the Woods Hole Research Center in the late 1980s by Woodwell and Kilaparti Ramakrishna. In 2005, Dr.

John P. Holdren John Paul Holdren (born in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, March 1, 1944) is an American scientist who served as the senior advisor to President Barack Obama on science and technology issues through his roles as Assistant to the President for Science and ...

became the director and he continued to lead the organization until he was appointed as President Obama's science advisor in 2009. Holdren returned to WHRC as a senior advisor in 2017 after President Obama left office. In 2020, the Center was renamed to the Woodwell Climate Research Center to emphasize the scientific focus on climate change and honor the founder, George Woodwell. The organization's current president is Dr. Philip Duffy, a physicist who was formerly the White House

National Science and Technology Council The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) is a council in the Executive Branch of the United States. It is designed to coordinate science and technology policy across the branches of federal government. History The National Science and ...

’s Senior Advisor to the U.S. Global Change Research Program. Woodwell Climate has about 80 staff members. WHRC

The Center's Gilman Ordway Campus, located on Cape Cod in the town of Falmouth, was completed in 2004. The building is composed of a renovated summer estate (ca. 1874) and a new wing. The campus is energy neutral, with renewable power generated by a 100 kW wind turbine, as well as rooftop photo-voltaic power systems.

Awards

The International Center for Climate Governance has named Woodwell as the world's top climate change think tank for four years in a row—2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. The award is based on quantitative and analytical data, including activities, publications and dissemination.

References

External links

Woodwell Climate Research Center official site
{{authority control Environmental research institutes Research institutes in Massachusetts Education in Barnstable County, Massachusetts Falmouth, Massachusetts Environmental organizations based in Massachusetts Environmental organizations established in 1985 Research institutes established in 1980 1985 establishments in Massachusetts Science and technology in Massachusetts