Director Angel Hsu appointed to National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine committee on Developing a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Framework for Decision-Making

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) announced the appointment of Dr. Angel Hsu, the Director of the Data-Driven EnviroLab and the assistant professor of Public Policy and the Environment at UNC-Chapel Hill, to an 11-person ad hoc committee charged with writing a “fast-track report” to develop a framework for global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emission evaluation to support decision-making.

(Dr. Hsu presenting at the 2020 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos. Photo credit: Randy Sargeant, CMU)

With over 15 years of experience in data-driven climate policy, Dr. Hsu began her career at the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol Initiative at the World Resources Institute, developing standards and tools for corporate and organizational GHG accounting. In this capacity, she worked with partners in Global South countries, including Mexico, the Philippines, Brazil, China, and India, to design voluntary accounting registries and programs that trained local companies and organizations to measure their carbon footprints. Her research has also explored the development of satellite-derived indicators to measure environmental performance.

(Dr. Angel Hsu being interviewed at the COP26 Glasgow Climate Conference, 2021)

Through a series of in-person and hybrid workshops, the National Academy of Sciences is bringing perspectives from science, government, and civil society to share the latest research and information regarding the global state of greenhouse gas measurement. For instance, a June 1 public workshop featured presentations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which is tasked with producing the U.S.’s national greenhouse gas emissions inventory to inform negotiations through international processes like the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 

The committee, which is comprised of primarily academic researchers, will work to examine emerging approaches (e.g., the use of satellite remote sensing data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence) that can support emissions inventory. The accelerated timeline for the fast-track report is in place to allow for the committee’s findings to inform the upcoming COP-27 Climate Conference in November 2022, where international policymakers will continue working towards 2023’s Global Stocktake for the Paris climate agreement.