Resources for the Future

Resources for the Future

Resources for the Future was founded in 1952 by a commission that included economist John Krutilla, with early backing from the Ford Foundation. It was conceived as a permanent, independent research body to apply rigorous economics to natural resource scarcity — an agenda that has since widened to climate risk, energy transition, and environmental health. RFF's research staff and leadership have included multiple presidents of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, which the organization helped found and still incubates. RFF's endowment — estimated by Altss at roughly $54 million — anchors an operating model uncommon among environmental nonprofits: a fully in-house research division rather than a grant-making pass-through. The institution's published work leans on cost-benefit analysis, carbon pricing design, and satellite-data valuation. Its VALUABLES consortium with NASA develops methods to measure the dollar value of earth-observation data for decisions like reservoir management and disaster response. A newer partnership with Harvard's Salata Institute launched the Climate-related Financial and Macroeconomic Risk Initiative to scrutinize how physical and transition risks propagate through financial systems. Geographic coverage is dominated by US federal policy, but RFF scholars contribute to energy-access modeling in Sub-Saharan Africa, carbon-market design in the European Union, and air-quality valuation across South Asia. Governance sits with a board chaired by energy consultant Susan F. Tierney; former US Senator Mary Landrieu also serves as a director. The professional staff count is not publicly disclosed, though operations are concentrated at the organization's LEED Gold-certified headquarters at 1616 P Street in Washington, DC. In early 2024, the board appointed William Pizer — previously vice president for research and policy engagement — as president and CEO, succeeding Richard Newell, who had led the institution since 2016. The leadership transition coincided with RFF's deepening focus on translating academic findings into implementable federal and state rule-making. RFF's structural distinction lies in its endowment-funded independence. Unlike most public-policy shops dependent on short-cycle foundation grants or federal contracts, RFF draws steady operating income from its own reserve fund. That cushion allows multi-year research projects on politically sensitive questions — such as the distributional effects of a carbon tax — without bending to donor preferences. The organization also houses the AERE secretariat, reinforcing its role as a coordinating node for the entire environmental-economics profession rather than a standalone think tank.