Christopher Jones

Chris Jones is the lead researcher at the CoolClimate Network, a research program of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. He also currently serves as co-chair of the Behavior, Energy and Climate Change Conference and is a doctoral student in the Energy and Resources Group at U.C. Berkeley.

His primary research interests are industrial ecology, with an emphasis on life cycle assessment of products and services, behavioral psychology and environmental policy.

Jones lead the development of the first and still some of the only carbon calculators that account for the carbon emissions of every stage of production and delivery for all goods and services purchased by households and businesses. This comprehensive method, called "consumption-based life-cycle accounting," powers all CoolClimate Calculators--online tools that allow households, businesses and community groups to estimate their complete carbon footprints, compare their results to similar users, and develop personalized climate action plans to save money and reduce their contribution to climate change.

Versions of these tools have been adopted by the state of California via the CoolCalifornia.org partnership, non-governmental organizations and communities throughout the United States. CoolClimate software and data also powers various customized versions of the calculator, including the World Wildlife Fund Carbon Calculator.

CoolClimate Calculators provide an accurate way to measure and compare carbon footprint reduction results across programs of any size across the country. The data sources and calculations for the calculator are completely transparent and public, and can be found on our Documentation Page.

Jones also acts as coordinating researcher on nine other projects at RAEL, including a contract to monitor the complete supply chain carbon footprint of Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a greenhouse gas calculator for residential building construction and several carbon footprint calculators for small businesses, schools and local governments. For more information about RAEL projects, visit the projects page.

Quantifying Carbon Footprint Reduction Opportunities for U.S. Households and Communities. Christopher M. Jones and Daniel M. Kammen. 2011. Environmental Science Technology, DOI: 10.1021/es102221h