Research Focal Area: Climate Change and Energy

Resilient Industry Supply Chains (RISC)

Climate change amplifies the risk of extreme weather and disaster events, transforming where and how people conduct business around the world. The characteristics that make modern supply chains speedy and cost-effective (e.g. global resource networks, specialized inputs produced in specific geographic locations, and reduced inventories as part of just-in-time production strategies) render global supply chains more susceptible to disaster disruptions. Therefore, to maintain continued economic growth, U.S. industries must adapt their global supply chains to become more sustainable and resilient to disaster disruptions. This project will look at the U.S. roofing industry and develop a framework for empirically assessing its resilience. The team will collect data from regional, national, and global roofing industry supply chains and develop a working geospatial model to predict how supply chain disruptions will affect the U.S. roofing industry. The primary objective of this GCRT is to share these findings with the public via an interactive, online map and to write peer-reviewed papers for conferences and journal publication.

Measuring Carbon Footprint of Alternative Business Models in the Fashion Industry

The fashion industry is resource intensive and with a growing global demand for clothing, it is poised to have continued negative environmental impacts. Increasingly, in recognizing the need to mitigate these impacts, modern textile production systems are beginning to incorporate circular economy principles (e.g. restorative and regenerative approaches) in their business strategy. While these alternative modes of production may be sustainable, there is very little empirical research to support these claims. This GCRT aims to develop a tool to quantify the carbon footprint of at least two different alternate business models and compare them to the traditional, ‘take-make-use-dispose’ business model of the fashion industry. The team will identify and analyze existing data and tools available to measure carbon footprint. They will develop an online tool powered by real-time information to measure the carbon impact of alternative fashion business models and disseminate these project outcomes within academia and industry.

Food, Energy and Waste

The Food, Energy and Waste team’s activities focused on identifying viable solutions to global food, energy and environmental crises.

Carbon Footprint Metric for the Built Environment

The Carbon Footprint Metric for the Built Environment team worked as a catalyst to bring together the diverse faculty and expertise at CSU needed to address greenhouse gas mitigation efforts associated with the built environment.

Women, Population, and the Environment

The WPE’s mission was to promote the status of women globally through education and dissemination of applied knowledge on the challenging issues of the times, such as climate change, food shortage and health. Knowledge and education will enable and empower women to make informed decisions for themselves, their family and society.

Institute for Livestock and the Environment (ILE)

The ILE worked toward solving a problem at the interface of livestock production and science-based environmental management. The ILE brought together faculty from many disciplines across CSU to balance issues of economic growth in the livestock industry with environmental protection, which is a key component to achieving sustainable rural communities.