The Earth Commons’ Dr. Megan Lickley Awarded $4M Grant to Strengthen Global Monitoring of Potent Greenhouse Gases

July 31, 2025

Dr. Megan Lickley, Assistant Professor at the Earth Commons—Georgetown University’s Institute for Environment & Sustainability—and the School of Foreign Service has been awarded a $4 million grant from Quadrature Climate Foundation (QCF), an independent charitable foundation working to build a just, equitable, and low-carbon world. This three-year project will advance global capabilities to monitor and verify emissions of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)—powerful greenhouse gases central to international climate mitigation efforts under the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol.

The initiative was selected following an invitation from QCF to develop solutions that improve oversight of F-gases. Under Dr. Lickley’s leadership, the project will enhance atmospheric sampling in under-monitored regions, develop advanced emissions modeling, and build scientific partnerships with universities in Asia, Africa, South America, and the Gulf States.

Through this initiative, the Georgetown-led team will:develop global compliance models to independently assess HFC production and emissions; add 5–10 new flask sampling sites in regions with limited existing data; and verify country-level compliance with the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, which aims to phase down HFCs over the coming decades.

Key collaborators include the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the University of Bristol, MIT’s AGAGE network, and a growing network of regional academic partners. The team will share findings via a public website, scientific publications, international meetings, and assessments that inform decisions by the United Nations Environment Programme.

“Rapid cuts to super pollutants like hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are one of the most powerful levers we have to slow warming in the near term. Yet monitoring capacity remains deeply under-resourced, leaving dangerous blind spots in our understanding of exactly where and how much these gases are produced and consumed. Bridging this information gap is essential to ensuring accountability and turning the Kigali Amendment ambition into real-world impact,” says Frances Wang, Program Lead of foundation.

Dr. Lickley agrees. “Enhancing monitoring and verification of HFC production and consumption is a key part to ensuring we meet the target of avoiding an additional 0.4C of warming over the coming decades,” she says. “Now, within sight of the US Capitol, scientists at Georgetown will be working to monitor the implementation of this treaty with collaborators around the world.”

This project builds on Dr. Lickley’s pioneering work in atmospheric modeling and reflects Georgetown’s global leadership in climate science, international collaboration, and environmental accountability.