This grant is supports the core operations of an emerging interdisciplinary energy research hub in the Environmental Markets Lab, also known as emLab, based in the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). This grant will help to advance emLab’s core activities in both project management and research capacities. Part of the funding will go towards hiring a new energy and climate project manager and helping existing staff to refresh and formalize emLab’s suite of project management tools. Lessons learned from implementing these project management activities will be disseminated throughout the research community. Funding will also support two emLab research projects on energy and distributional equity and is being conducted in partnership with the California Air Resources Board (CARB). The first research project focuses on the unequal distribution of energy burdens in California. The intention is to assess differences among household energy expenditures along socio-demographic dimensions. The second project takes a broader, national view and explores the equity implications of electricity sector decarbonization. It will do so by identifying and analyzing regional pollution concentrations due to different forms of electricity production. Researchers will then assess differences in emissions and pollution associated with a range of alternative energy system decarbonization policies. Each research project is expected to result in at least one publication.