J-PAL climate lab’s second cohort plans tests of local programs

J-PAL North America said on September 29, 2026, that 17 climate leaders from four US government and nonprofit organizations had completed its second Climate Action Learning Lab cohort. The group planned ways to test local climate programs, including Boston’s Energy Saver service and a rebate finder in Hawaii. The plans matter because neither proposed evaluation yet provides measured evidence that the programs change energy costs, emissions or participation.

The participants came from the City of Boston’s Sustainability Office, the Hawaii Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and the Electrification Coalition. According to J-PAL, they worked from May through August on impact-evaluation training, research questions and ways to apply existing evidence to their own programs.

What Boston wants to learn about Energy Saver

Boston explored an evaluation of whether its Boston Energy Saver service affects small businesses’ energy costs and their use of efficiency incentives. J-PAL described that as a potential evaluation, rather than a finding about what the service has achieved. Its September account gave no measured savings or change in incentive uptake from that proposed test.

Energy Saver is already an operating city service. Boston says it offers renters, homeowners and small businesses one-to-one help finding building upgrades and energy programs. Its service page says the range of available programs can make it difficult for people to know where to start. The proposed evaluation would examine one part of that service’s impact: outcomes for small businesses.

Hawaii selects a rebate finder for possible evaluation

Hawaii’s team assessed three possible programs and selected a rebate finder intended to connect residents with climate-related programs. Its proposed question is whether the finder increases participation, particularly among vulnerable communities. The announcement identifies a question to test, not an observed increase in rebate use or a measured benefit for those communities.

Leah Laramee, Hawaii’s climate change mitigation and adaptation coordinator, said the lab helped her team catalogue its projects and identify which initiatives were strongest candidates for rigorous evaluation. J-PAL says each participating organization selected a target program and explored possible ways to use random assignment. It did not report completed evaluations for this second cohort.

From evaluation plans to measured results

J-PAL launched the Climate Action Learning Lab in 2025 to help organizations develop evidence about programs for climate adaptation and the transition to a lower-carbon economy. It says the first cohort led to research collaborations and two randomized evaluations. The September announcement gives no results from those evaluations, so that earlier activity cannot establish the effectiveness of the second cohort’s selected programs.

For the latest cohort, the work included training on impact evaluation, framing research questions and considering whether findings from other settings apply locally. Researchers from J-PAL’s network advised some participants on which programs might be practical to evaluate and where evidence gaps remain. In August, participants presented their priority questions and evaluation plans at a virtual summit and received feedback.

The announcement names Oregon’s environmental agency and the Electrification Coalition as participants, but it gives too little detail to describe the specific programs they selected or the outcomes they intend to measure. Electrification Coalition deputy director Ashley Blackwell said the training gave her team a basis for considering assessment when it applies for grants and sets up projects. That describes a possible use of the training, not a demonstrated policy or emissions result.

Formal programming for the cohort has ended. J-PAL says it will keep supporting organizations interested in randomized evaluations by helping develop researcher partnerships and explore potential funding. It has not established which proposed tests will launch or when results might be available. For now, the clearest outcome is a set of evaluation plans; whether the programs produce measurable benefits remains an open question.