At COP28 in December 2023, the United Arab Emirates launched Altérra, a $30 billion commitment to mobilize private capital for the low-carbon transition in low- and middle-income countries. Jonathan Phillips, director of the James E. Rogers Energy Access Project, spoke with ImpactAlpha to help take stock of the fund's performance so far and the challenges ahead for climate finance.

A proposed merger between Virginia-based Dominion Energy and Florida-based NextEra Energy includes a small corner of North Carolina territory. Nicholas Institute expert Jackson Ewing talked with Coastal Review about some potential benefits and drawbacks of the deal for the northeastern part of the state.

The Center for Innovation in Risk, Catastrophes and Decisions (CIRCAD), a National Science Foundation Industry–University Cooperative Research Center led by Duke University and the University of Georgia, revealed its first round of industry partners and projects this month. The UGA Terry College of Business takes a look at the key research questions impacting insurers, consumers, policymakers and emergency managers that the projects will try to answer.

This week, the United States and India signed an agreement aimed at strengthening supply chains for critical minerals that are foundational for energy, manufacturing and defense technologies. The two countries can translate the agreement's diplomatic language into tangible and durable cooperation by focusing on four areas, write Sandeep Pai and Jonathan Phillips, experts with the James E. Rogers Energy Access Project at Duke, in Outlook Business.

In this episode of "Abundant Energy," Nicholas Institute expert Tim Profeta joined host Todd Thomas and fellow guest Tom Mathew, senior strategy manager at NorthStar Clean Energy, to explore one of the biggest infrastructure questions of the AI era: How do we power the rapid growth of data centers without sacrificing affordability, reliability or sustainability?

At a time of rapid consolidation in the energy industry, regulatory commissions in North and South Carolina approved a merger between Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress. Nicholas Institute expert Jackson Ewing joined NC Newsline's News & Views podcast to discuss the potential benefits and concerns of the merger.

Duke University expert Sandeep Pai joined the KankeTalks podcast to explore a range of topics on India's energy future, including whether India is prepared for an energy crisis, the strategic challenges of being 85% dependent on oil imports and the hidden winners and losers in the country's transition from coal to renewables. The conversation also touched on the impact of the U.S.-Iran conflict on gas prices, the reality of the electric vehicle revolution and the geopolitics of rare earth minerals.

As extreme heat intensifies across the United States, communities of faith are increasingly being asked to consider what faithful presence looks like within a warming world, writes Nicholas Institute expert Michelle Lewis. In a LinkedIn article, Lewis offers a peak at how the first convening of the Cooling Communities Network started taking on that question.  

Duke researchers across medicine, engineering, environmental science and public policy are studying what extreme heat means for human health, ecosystems and communities. Duke Today featured some of their research, including the Heat Policy Innovation Hub's Bridging Divides project, which provides data and insights on heat's hidden economic costs.

During North Carolina Heat Safety Week, the North Carolina News Network reports on some of the resources offered by state agencies to protect people from extreme heat. Those resources include the Heat Action Plan Toolkit developed in 2024 by the State Resilience Office, the State Climate Office, NC Department of Health and Human Services and Duke's Heat Policy Innovation Hub.

Duke Divinity School students created a new suite of ministry resources to help faith leaders support their communities in the face of these more frequent and severe extreme heat events. The students produced the suite as part of the Cooling Communities project, led by the Nicholas Institute's Heat Policy Innovation Hub.

Duke juniors Fisher Mallon and Michael Sakellakis are among the 55 scholars chosen from more than 400 applicants nationwide to receive the Udall Scholarship. Both Mallon and Sakellakis have completed energy internships through the Nicholas Institute's Energy Internship Program.

The Charlotte-based utility said the merger of Duke Energy Progress and Duke Energy Carolinas could enable more efficiently plan power generation and transmission needs and eliminate redundant investments. Nicholas Institute expert Jackson Ewing told The Charlotte Business Journal that he agreed with that assessment but also highlighted potential flaws, such as an increased likelihood of one larger utility relying on traditional methods instead of trying to find creative cost-saving solutions.

Duke formally announced its Climate Commitment on September 29, 2022. That day also marked a minor milestone for the undergraduate Class of 2026: the completion of their first full month of classes. Over the next four years, many of these students would take advantage of the opportunities Duke offers to study and tackle real-world climate and energy challenges.

These profiles highlight six graduating seniors whose journeys in climate and sustainability have unfolded in especially memorable ways:

If AI data centers can find a way to reduce or shift power consumption during periods of peak demand, the extraordinary measure of building on-site power generation may not always be necessary, reports IEEE Spectrum. U.S. grids could provide an additional 76 GW—about 10 percent of peak demand—if large loads like data centers curtailed their power use just 0.25 percent of the time, according to a landmark 2025 Duke University report.