Global packaging company MeadWestvaco Corporation has pledged $1 million to support an industry-university collaboration that is working to develop policies to address the problems of global climate change, Duke University President Richard H. Brodhead announced Monday.
The Climate Change Policy Partnership (CCPP) is a four-year initiative that was launched last year by Duke University and Duke Energy to pool the expertise of the university's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, and Center on Global Change with other concerned partners in the corporate and academic worlds.
"The partnership seeks to provide unbiased data and analyses on climate change to government, corporate and environmental leaders," Brodhead said. "We welcome MeadWestvaco's support of this effort, which exemplifies Duke's larger mission of generating and sharing knowledge to serve society."
MeadWestvaco's gift will support research and policy analysis on a range of critical issues relating to the impact of climate change on forest resources.
"MeadWestvaco has long believed in sustainable business practices and is committed to learning and sharpening our own strategies for addressing climate change," said Mark T. Watkins Sr., vice president of technology and forestry at MeadWestvaco. "Our goal is to make a meaningful, positive impact through our actions as a leading global packaging company as well as influence broader climate change policies."
Tim Profeta, director of the Nicholas Institute, said, "MeadWestvaco shares a common conviction with Duke and its partners that the purpose of the CCPP must be to apply, not merely accrue, knowledge. Providing decision-makers with factual, timely counsel, free of political spin, is critical."
The CCPP will expand its focus as it adds new partners from the nation's agricultural and financial services industries.
"We are eager for other partners to join us in this endeavor," said Robert B. Jackson, director of Duke's Center on Global Change. "A viable policy to address global climate change must encourage reduced carbon emissions from, and adaptation by, all sources and segments of the economy, not just a few."