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The journey toward a Net Zero world requires big science – from fundamental to applied.
Modern life relies on access to abundant, affordable, and reliable supplies of energy and materials, the extraction and conversion of which currently generate vast quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The U.S. and numerous countries, subnational governments, and companies have set targets or laws for achieving net-zero emissions by mid-century, in order to halt climate change globally and its negative impacts on the environment, human well-being, and the economy.
Achieving net-zero – defined as achieving a balance between emissions by sources and removals by sinks – will rely on economy-wide uptake of new technologies, business models, and institutional frameworks. Reaping the full suite of social, environmental, and economic benefits of these novel paradigms will require seamless coupling of groundbreaking scientific discoveries, applied R&D, and real-world implementation. ORNL’s world-class capabilities and interdisciplinary breadth is enabling us to develop cost-effective, scalable solutions to the most demanding challenges associated with an equitable energy transition.
Emissions reduction
GHG emissions today come largely from the energy sector, indicating an urgent need to transform how we produce, transport, and consume energy itself. New technologies and socioeconomic/policy approaches must work in tandem to reduce emissions from the energy sector and beyond. ORNL research focuses in the areas of generating electricity, decarbonizing industry, transportation, buildings and infrastructure, and methane reduction.
Carbon Removal
Great strides have been made in efforts to capture, convert, utilize, and/or store CO2 from the atmosphere. Emissions of GHGs such as methane, nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases may also be tackled by these natural and technological approaches to GHG removal.
High Performance Computing (HPC)
ORNL’s world-leading supercomputing capabilities also enable diverse studies from environmental modeling to machine learning and sustainable product development, supercomputing, theory, and big data analysis, which are also helping discover new pathways to solutions, optimize manufacturing strategies, and identify supply chain opportunities.
Net Zero News
ORNL's Net Zero Leaders
ORNL Efforts Towards Energy Transitions
ORNL Efforts Towards Energy Transitions
Transformational Decarbonization Initiative
Transformational Decarbonization Initiative
The Transformational Decarbonization Initiative (TDI) supports science and technology solutions to address the critical challenge of decarbonizing the nation’s energy system to address climate change.
Climate Change Science Institute
Climate Change Science Institute
Addressing climate challenges by advancing our understanding of climate change and its impacts on human and natural systems
Center for Bioenergy Innovation
Center for Bioenergy Innovation
Accelerating domestication of bioenergy-relevant plants and microbes to enable high impact, value-added fuels and coproduct development at multiple points in the bioenergy supply chain
Sustainable Campus Initiative
Sustainable Campus Initiative
Promoting ORNL’s legacy of system-wide best practices, management commitment, and employee engagement that will lead ORNL into a future of efficient, sustainable, and resilient operations
Exascale Computing Project
Exascale Computing Project
Modeling and simulating existing and future technologies for the efficient and responsible production of energy to meet growing national needs
Net Zero World Initiative
Net Zero World Initiative
The Net Zero World Initiative leverages expertise across U.S. government agencies and Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories, in partnership with other governments and philanthropies, to accelerate the decarbonization of global energy systems.
