Launching Innovation Through Partnership
In 2021, Yale established the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture in partnership with YPS, marking a significant expansion of the university’s climate research capabilities. This center represents Yale’s recognition that nature-based solutions will be essential in addressing the climate crisis, focusing on harnessing the planet’s own carbon sequestration systems rather than relying solely on technological interventions. Since its launch, the center has undertaken major research initiatives that explore how natural ecosystems can be optimized and protected to capture and store atmospheric carbon more effectively, positioning Yale as a leader in this critical field of climate science.
Building Expertise for Global Impact
The center’s momentum accelerated in 2023 with the strategic addition of five new faculty members, significantly expanding Yale’s expertise across diverse carbon capture ecosystems. These new hires bring specialized knowledge in oceanic carbon storage, coastal ecosystem management, tropical forest conservation, and soil carbon sequestration—covering the full spectrum of natural carbon capture environments. This faculty expansion ensures that Yale’s research can address carbon capture solutions across multiple biomes and geographic scales, from local coastal restoration projects to global ocean carbon cycling, strengthening the university’s capacity to develop practical, science-based approaches to climate mitigation through natural systems.