Climate Impact Lab
Climate Impact Lab is a non-profit academic research consortium hosted at the University of Chicago that quantifies climate change impacts across 24,378 regions globally, serving government policymakers, financial regulators, researchers, and international organizations through open-access data platforms and peer-reviewed research.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2017
- HeadquartersChicago, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Climate Impact Lab does
Climate Impact Lab is a non-profit academic research consortium founded in 2017 and hosted at the University of Chicago's Energy Policy Institute (EPIC), which provides core financial and administrative support. It brings together more than 30 researchers from UC Berkeley, the University of Chicago, Rhodium Group, Rutgers, UC Santa Barbara, the University of Delaware, Princeton, and Fudan University to quantify the impacts of climate change at hyperlocal resolution across 24,378 distinct regions worldwide. Co-directors are Michael Greenstone (UChicago), Solomon Hsiang (UC Berkeley), Trevor Houser (Rhodium Group), and Robert Kopp (Rutgers), with Genevieve Maricle appointed executive director in March 2026 as the Lab announced an expanded mission.
The Lab's core technology is the Data-driven Spatial Climate Impact Model (DSCIM), a modular bottom-up architecture that integrates climate modeling, economic statistics, and big data analytics across mortality, energy, labor, agriculture, and coastal sectors. Product outputs include the Human Climate Horizons platform (developed with UNDP), the Impact Map, the GDPCIR dataset hosted on Microsoft Planetary Computer, DSCIM-Coastal, the First Street Foundation Flood Risk Model (integrated into Zillow, Realtor.com, and Redfin for over 142 million U.S. homes), the Lives Saved Calculator, and the Adaptation Inventory. All datasets, tools, and platforms are provided open and freely available; there is no commercial pricing model.
The business model is grant-funded research and advisory engagement rather than commercial revenue capture. Funding flows from EPIC, The Rockefeller Foundation, King Philanthropies, and Microsoft AI for Earth, with the go-to-market centered on peer-reviewed publications (Nature, Quarterly Journal of Economics, PNAS), earned media in major outlets, and direct advisory work with the U.S. Treasury CFRAC, the Federal Reserve, the CFTC, the Bank of England, BlackRock, and UNDP. Customer segments are government policymakers and financial regulators and academic/research institutions as primary, with insurance/real estate and international development as secondary; with only 5 core employees, the Lab operates as a distributed research network rather than a traditional commercial entity.
Climate Impact Lab firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Climate Impact Lab
- Legal name
- Climate Impact Lab at the University of Chicago
- Website
- https://impactlab.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2017
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Climate Impact Lab is a non-profit academic research consortium hosted at the University of Chicago that quantifies climate change impacts across 24,378 regions globally, serving government policymakers, financial regulators, researchers, and international organizations through open-access data platforms and peer-reviewed research.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Climate Impact Lab industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Climate Impact Modeling and Risk Analytics
- NAICS
- Environmental Consulting Services (54162)
- SIC
- Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Climate Hazard & Catastrophe Modeling (Flood, Wind, Wildfire, Heat, Sea-Level Rise) (EUABALAA)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Climate & GHG/Emissions Modeling & Scenario Analysis (Inventories, Projections, Net-Zero Pathways) (EUAHAKAH), Downscaled Climate Projections & Scenario Analytics (CMIP, SSP/RCP, Regionalization) (EUABALAB), Adaptation & Resilience Planning Platforms (CAPEX Prioritization, Cost–Benefit, NBS) (EUABALAH), Climate Risk & Scenario Analysis (TCFD/IFRS S2) (EUAHAJAD)
Keywords
Where Climate Impact Lab is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Chicago
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Climate Impact Lab business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Research Funding and Grants: The Climate Impact Lab operates as an academic research consortium primarily funded through grants and institutional support from the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC), foundations such as The Rockefeller Foundation and King Philanthropies, and partnerships with government agencies and international organizations.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels6 records
Climate Impact Lab product offering
Product offeringCore offering
The Climate Impact Lab is a non-profit academic research consortium that builds and applies the Data-driven Spatial Climate Impact Model (DSCIM), integrating climate modeling, economic statistics, and big data analytics to quantify climate change impacts on mortality, energy, labor, agriculture, and coastal zones at hyperlocal resolution across 24,378 regions worldwide. It delivers these findings through open-access datasets, interactive data platforms, open-source modeling tools, and direct engagement with policymakers, financial regulators, and international organizations.
Product overview
The Climate Impact Lab is a research organization that has developed a portfolio of climate impact tools and data platforms. Its core offerings include the Human Climate Horizons platform (with UNDP) providing hyperlocal climate projections for mortality, energy, and labor; the Impact Map for visualizing climate impacts by location; and sector-specific tools including the Lives Saved Calculator, Adaptation Inventory, and First Street Foundation Flood Risk Model. The Lab also provides the GDPCIR dataset (hosted on Microsoft Planetary Computer) and the DSCIM modeling platform for estimating the social cost of carbon across multiple sectors.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Quantifiable outcome
- Heat-related deaths in poor countries projected to be 10x higher than rich countries by 2050
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Climate Impact Lab
Customer profileNamed customers7 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Climate Impact Lab technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration3 records
AI capability4 records
Feature4 records
Climate Impact Lab partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and featured.
- United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)coreThe Climate Impact Lab partnered with UNDP's Human Development Report Office to create the Human Climate Horizons platform, providing hyperlocal climate data to developing regions. The platform quantifies effects of warmer temperatures on mortality, energy use, and labor for every country and territory worldwide.
- First Street FoundationcoreThe Climate Impact Lab supported First Street Foundation in creating a flood risk analysis tool available for nearly every home in the United States, integrated into major real estate platforms. The Lab provided sea-level rise projections and hurricane storm surge modeling based on decades of peer-reviewed research.
- Microsoft AI for EarthcoreThe Lab's GDPCIR dataset is open and freely available on Microsoft's Planetary Computer, an interface developed by Microsoft's AI for Earth initiative. This makes hyperlocal climate projections directly accessible to scientists and researchers globally.
- NikefeaturedThrough partnership with Nike, Lab researchers studied the connection between climate change and athletic performance. Nike unveiled the research during New York Climate Week, featuring interactive data visualization and athlete education at the UN Youth Climate Action Summit.
- Federal Reserve Bank of San FranciscocoreCo-hosted conference on Economic Risks of Climate Change bringing together policymakers, regulators, and researchers on physical climate risk to the U.S. financial system. The conference featured over 850 registered attendees from government, private sector, and academia.
- U.S. Treasury Department (Climate-Related Financial Risk Advisory Committee)coreLab Executive Director Emily Grover-Kopec serves on the CFRAC Committee established by Treasury's FSOC to identify, assess, and mitigate climate-related risks to the financial system.
- Rhodium GroupcoreFounding partner organization providing analytical expertise. Trevor Houser, partner at Rhodium Group, serves as co-director of the Climate Impact Lab.
- Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC)coreCore institutional partner providing financial and administrative support. EPIC's Michael Greenstone serves as co-director of the Climate Impact Lab.
- BlackRockfeaturedLab research on physical climate risk assessment was used by BlackRock, the world's largest financial asset manager, emphasizing how historically-calibrated models can significantly underestimate actual climate risk.
- Bank of EnglandfeaturedLab climate risk assessment used by Bank of England in mandatory stress tests for all insurance companies it backs.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Climate Impact Lab competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- Carbon Brief: Carbon Brief covers climate science and policy journalism and frequently cites research from institutions like the Lab. While it is primarily a media organization, it shapes the same policymaker and public narrative the Lab targets.
Direct peers
- Climate Central: Climate Central is a non-profit that produces peer-reviewed climate science, sea level rise projections, and visualization tools aimed at journalists and policymakers — directly overlapping the Lab's communication and impact quantification mission.
- Rhodium Group: Rhodium Group is a founding partner of Climate Impact Lab and Trevor Houser serves as co-director of the Lab while remaining a Rhodium partner. Rhodium produces independent climate and economic research with similar data-driven methodology, making it the closest direct peer.
- First Street Foundation: First Street Foundation partnered with the Lab to produce the flood risk tool integrated into Zillow, Realtor.com, and Redfin. Both organizations produce hyperlocal climate risk data for U.S. consumers and policymakers, operating in a directly overlapping product space.
- Resources for the Future (RFF): RFF is an independent, non-partisan research institution focused on energy, environmental, and natural resource economics. Its work on the social cost of carbon and climate policy economics directly mirrors the Lab's regulatory-facing research agenda.
- Woodwell Climate Research Center: Woodwell is a non-profit climate research institute producing peer-reviewed work on climate impacts, land use, and risk — comparable in mission and academic distribution channels to the Climate Impact Lab's research consortium model.
- Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research: PIK is a leading global climate impacts research institute producing integrated assessment modeling and downscaled climate projections. It is internationally comparable to the Lab in methodology and in targeting policy and scientific audiences.
Broad incumbents
- Jupiter Intelligence: Jupiter is a venture-backed commercial climate risk analytics platform serving enterprise financial customers with physical and transition risk data — operating in the same hyperlocal climate impact space as the Lab but with a paid, enterprise SaaS model.
- CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project): CDP runs the global disclosure system through which companies and cities report environmental data, including climate impacts. It overlaps with the Lab's mission of producing and disseminating authoritative climate impact data for governance and financial use.
- MSCI (formerly Carbon Delta / MSCI Climate): MSCI offers commercial climate risk data and ESG analytics to financial institutions globally, with capabilities that overlap the Lab's regulatory-facing climate risk work. As a much larger incumbent, it represents the commercialized version of what the Lab influences via open research.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Climate Impact Lab social profiles
Digital presenceClimate Impact Lab financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Climate Impact Lab leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles6 records
Climate Impact Lab funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
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Climate Impact Lab M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Climate Impact Lab
What does Climate Impact Lab do?
The Climate Impact Lab is a non-profit academic research consortium that builds and applies the Data-driven Spatial Climate Impact Model (DSCIM), integrating climate modeling, economic statistics, and big data analytics to quantify climate change impacts on mortality, energy, labor, agriculture, and coastal zones at hyperlocal resolution across 24,378 regions worldwide. It delivers these findings through open-access datasets, interactive data platforms, open-source modeling tools, and direct engagement with policymakers, financial regulators, and international organizations.
Is Climate Impact Lab a public or private company?
Climate Impact Lab is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Climate Impact Lab founded?
Climate Impact Lab was founded in 2017. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Climate Impact Lab based?
Climate Impact Lab is headquartered in Chicago, United States, in the North America region.
How does Climate Impact Lab make money?
One revenue line is on record: research Funding and Grants.
Who are Climate Impact Lab's main competitors?
Carbon Brief is listed as an emerging player. Direct peers are Climate Central, Rhodium Group, First Street Foundation, Resources for the Future (RFF), Woodwell Climate Research Center and Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. Broad incumbents are Jupiter Intelligence, CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project) and MSCI (formerly Carbon Delta / MSCI Climate).
Does Climate Impact Lab have an API?
No public API is recorded for Climate Impact Lab.
What industry is Climate Impact Lab in?
Climate Impact Lab's product category is Climate Impact Modeling and Risk Analytics. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EUABALAA, Climate Hazard & Catastrophe Modeling (Flood, Wind, Wildfire, Heat, Sea-Level Rise), with a secondary code of EUAHAKAH, Climate & GHG/Emissions Modeling & Scenario Analysis (Inventories, Projections, Net-Zero Pathways). Its NAICS code is 54162 and its SIC code is 8731.