THE STOCKHOLM ENVIRONMENT Institute (SEI) is a nonprofit, independent research institute specializing in sustainable development and environmental issues. SEI headquarters are located in Stockholm, Sweden, with centers in the United States and the United Kingdom. They work at the local, national, regional, and global policy levels. Their mission is to support decision making and induce change toward sustainable development around the world by providing integrative knowledge that bridges science and policy in the field of environment and development. The institute was established in 1989 following an initiative by the Swedish government to develop an international environment/development research organization. Each center has its own personality and foci of interests, and each operates with significant autonomy while participating in the five SEI research programs.
SEI’s Climate and Energy Program addresses these challenges in collaboration with a global network of partners, enabling them to perform work in locally defined interests and resources. For the last two decades, projects in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America have spurred innovative energy strategies that support the goals of social equity, environmental sustainability, and efficient economic development. Emissions of air pollutants to the atmosphere have had, and continue to have, significant effects on human health and well-being, crops and food security, ecosystems and biodiversity, and materials and cultural monuments.
The Atmospheric Environment (AE) Program within SEI contributes to the goal of reducing the local, regional, and global effects of the emission of pollutants to the atmosphere.
SEI’s U.S. center conducts a diverse program focusing on the social, technological, and institutional requirements for a transition to sustainability. Funding is received from the United Nations, the World Bank, and numerous foundations and national governments such as the United States, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.
In addition to providing policy-relevant analyses, the center works to build capacity in developing countries for integrated sustainability planning through training and collaboration on projects. Its decision support tools are widely used: LEAP for energy planning and climate change mitigation, WEAP for water resources planning, and PoleStar for evaluating sustainable development strategies.
The center is organized into three programs: the Climate and Energy Program, which conducts energy system analyses, examines environmental consequences of energy use such as global warming, and develops policies for a transition to efficient and renewable energy technology; the Water Resources Program, which brings an integrated perspective to freshwater assessment—one that seeks sustainable water solutions by balancing the needs for basic water services, development, and the environment; and the Sustainable Development Studies Program, which takes a holistic perspective in assessing sustainability at the global, regional, and national levels.
