The Lemelson Foundation in Portland, Oregon, has announced a seven-year, $50 million climate initiative that will support innovative approaches to decarbonizing the global economy and removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

The foundation has also named Joel Clement, a science and policy expert and senior fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, as the initiative’s senior program officer. “We’re not the biggest funders in this space,” said Clement, “but we have an inventive team that will prioritize the support of frontline communities, foster innovation at scale, and bring together key partners to help make change.”

Established in 1994 by Jerome “Jerry” Lemelson, an engineer and prolific inventor, and his wife, Dorothy, the foundation has supported climate-related projects in the United States and the developing world in recent years across a variety of sectors, including health and agriculture. The couple died in 1997 and 2021, respectively, and the latest announcement was made to commemorate what would have been Jerry Lemelson’s 100th birthday.

“I have no doubt that my father, were he alive today, would be inventing in the areas of renewable energy, adaptation technologies, carbon dioxide removal, and the decarbonization of emissions-intensive industries such as steel and concrete,” said foundation vice president Eric Lemelson. “Jerry understood the importance of environmental protection.”

“Climate change is the greatest challenge of our time, already devastating communities across the globe,” said foundation president Rob Lemelson. “We must innovate and imagine novel approaches to solving the problem; certainly, that’s the lens my father and mother would have had on the climate crisis, and we are confident the foundation’s efforts can make an impact.”

(Photo credit: The Lemelson Foundation)