Bio – Dr. Marilyn A. Brown is a Regents’ and Brook Byers Professor of Sustainable Systems at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She created and co-leads the Climate and Energy Policy Lab and the Master of Sustainable Energy and Environmental Management. Her research focuses on the design and modeling of energy markets and carbon reduction policies and programs, highlighting opportunities on the customer side of the electric meter. Using data analytics and energy-engineering models, she examines technology and market transitions at the local, regional, and global scale.

Abstract Title: Creating Localized Carbon-Reduction Strategies

Abstract Body: Localized carbon-reduction strategies are especially critical in states and regions that lack top-down climate leadership. This paper illustrates the use of coupled systems in assessing subnational climate solutions with a case study of the state of Georgia. The paper illustrates how robust place-specific plans for climate action can be derived from foundational global and national work and by embedding that research into the context of socio-ecological-technological systems. Our replicable methodology advances the traditional additive sectoral wedge analysis of carbon abatement potential by incorporating solution interdependencies and by spanning both carbon sources and sinks. The solutions are affiliated with an array of social co-costs and co-benefits that highlight societal concerns extending beyond climate impacts, including public health, environmental quality, employment, and equity.