Inside Audi | Audi celebrates 50th anniversary of Earth Day | Sustainability | Audi USA

Fighting climate change with a new climate model.

Published on: 04/22/20

Image of a woman giving a presentation.

In honor of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, Audi of America and the Audi Environmental Foundation awarded a $100,000 grant to Caltech, the California Institute of Technology.

Caltech is the lead institution in the Climate Modeling Alliance (CliMA) and the grant will fund research into a new climate model, a critical tool for understanding future global and regional climate patterns. Leveraging advances in artificial intelligence, advanced computing, and machine learning, the model will help generate more precise and actionable projections of future changes in Earth’s climate, such as cloud cover, rainfall, and sea ice extent. Alongside researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Naval Postgraduate School, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the team hopes to launch the new climate model within the next five years.

Since 2009, the Audi Environmental Foundation has been supporting “Greenovation” programs that fuse innovation with resource conservation, sustainability, and environmental protection. This grant is the first of many collaborative environmental initiatives from Audi and the Audi Environmental Foundation to tackle climate change.

Spencer Reeder, director of Government Affairs and Sustainability at Audi of America, shares, “Climate change persists as a key global societal challenge, and we are increasing our commitment to drive more sustainable progress in a variety of innovative ways. This is a top priority for Audi and we are excited to support Caltech and CliMA in their ambitious research endeavor to better understand the future risks facing our planet.”

A group of people gathered at CliMA.

The Caltech team leads an effort of the Climate Modeling Alliance (CliMA), comprised of scientists and engineers from across the country.


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