Environment and Climate Research Center (ECRC)

The Environment and Climate Research Center (ECRC) is a premier policy research institution based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, operating as a specialized center within the state-backed Policy Studies Institute (PSI) (formerly the Ethiopian Development Research Institute - EDRI). Established in February 2015, the ECRC was formed through a strategic partnership between the EDRI, the Swedish-based Environment for Development (EfD) Initiative, and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI). It was designed to absorb and scale up the operations of its predecessor, the Environmental Economics Policy Forum for Ethiopia (EEPFE), in order to cope with rising knowledge demands.The primary mission of the center is to serve as a critical knowledge backstop for the Ethiopian government as it navigates its Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) strategy. The ECRC fulfills this by undertaking data-driven, policy-oriented research on environmental and climate economics, conducting real-time impact evaluations of green initiatives, and functioning as an interaction hub between researchers and policymakers. Its comprehensive research agenda spans crucial local themes—such as sustainable land management, energy transitions, forestry, and water scarcity—while actively building domestic analytical capacity and preserving a central data repository of Ethiopia’s green growth track record.