NRDC's Center for Market Innovation works to harness the power of markets to create positive and profitable environmental change.

The marketplace has already demonstrated that environmentally sound practices and economic vitality can go hand-in-hand, from hybrid cars to organic food, from green buildings to green jobs. But CMI takes that equation further. We believe that by working with the private sector to transform markets, we can advance the green solutions we need to disarm the toughest ecological challenges.

The climate crisis will not be solved by legislation alone, for instance. Climate solutions -- from renewable power to cleaner cars and more efficient buildings -- require the mobilization of capital. We need private investment and new financing mechanisms to bring these solutions to scale.

This is what CMI does. On the one hand, we articulate and help implement value propositions that put money into people's pockets while benefiting the environment. On the other hand, we engage markets in order to design, develop, and implement policies that direct investment toward clean, sustainable technologies.

Our ultimate goal: helping finance the shift to the green economy.

 

Our Approach

NRDC is renowned for our expert litigation, scientific research, and policy influence. CMI allows us to approach environmental problems from yet another angle, one that complements and extends NRDC's reach and is unique within the nonprofit community.

We focus not on greening one business at a time, but on shaping entire markets -- the electricity sector or the real-estate community -- in ways that reward green practices. To promote energy efficiency, for instance, we are helping create an asset class that will save homeowners money, reduce carbon emissions, and implement efficiency measures on a sweeping scale.

And while NRDC influences the policy drafting process, CMI helps field-test it once it has been adopted. We work with business leaders to ensure that new legislation actually works in the real world. If we realize, for instance, that clean energy tax credits are not being fully used because there are too many hurdles in the way, we work to remove the impediments.

Some groups believe their work is done when they pass legislation. We believe our job is done when the marketplace has acted on the policy shift and is driving positive change on the ground.

 

Achieving Our Goals

CMI has set ambitious goals for itself. Yet over its 40-year history, NRDC has established a track record of achieving outsized successes. We are creating a model for market-based solutions that we intend to apply not only to the climate crisis and clean energy solutions, but also in the future to broader environmental challenges such as ensuring safe drinking water and supporting healthy communities.

In the meantime, we are creating conditions in which:

• A homeowner can secure a bank loan to invest in the energy efficient furnace and windows that will slash their monthly utility bills.
• A developer who wants to do an efficiency retrofit on an office building knows exactly where to find the best financing stream, the best standards to strive for, the best performing technologies, and the best contractors to get the job done.
• The carbon market provides a clear price signal for making carbon reductions and also operates with integrity and transparency.
• Renewable energy technologies such as wind and solar can compete on a level playing field with fossil fuels because market mechanisms and targeted incentives have done the job of driving costs down.