Helping solve climate change: esteemed NZ economist Suzi Kerr launches new international research network

Mar 5, 2026

"I really want to solve climate change," says Suzi Kerr, Motu Research's co-founder and Director of the newly launched RESET Network, an international research network uniting economists, energy modellers and policy researchers across the Global South to accelerate just energy transitions tailored to local circumstances.

Kerr, Senior Advisor on Economics and Carbon Pricing at the US-based Environmental Defense Fund, is not being idealistic. "We now have the technology that can pretty much solve this," she says. "It's not a technology problem anymore. We can do it now where we couldn't 10 or 15 years ago." 

She is not alone in that conviction. The RESET Network is built around a shared commitment: the expertise, knowledge, and leadership to drive clean energy transitions already exists across the Global South, and what is needed now is the platform, the connections, and the tools to put it to work.

The RESET Network brings together researchers and decision-makers across the Global South to accelerate just energy transitions tailored to local circumstances with tangible benefits for sustainable development and climate change mitigation. It achieves this through economic analysis, open-source tools, engagement with decision-makers, and the development of local research capacity. It does not lobby for specific energy transition pathways or regulatory change but provides impartial, evidence-based advice to help inform decision-making.  

Motu Research is partnering with the RESET Network to support the Network's strategic design and implementation. 

Motu Policy Fellow Catherine Leining is part of the RESET Network's Management Team. She has over three decades of experience in international and domestic climate change policy with a focus on emissions pricing and just transition issues. She served as a Commissioner at He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission from 2019 to 2024. 

“Given its extensive renewable energy resources, the nature and size of its economy and its history with emissions pricing, Aotearoa New Zealand can offer practical insights to countries across the Global South that are working on just energy transitions."

"Through this collaboration with the RESET Network, Motu Research can share its institutional experience in applying independent economic and policy research and cross-sector dialogue to develop evidence-based solutions to the policy challenges of energy transformation and climate change mitigation." 

“People shouldn’t be surprised by just how many outstanding, capable people are working on energy transition in the Global South," says Kerr. “It’s upsetting how rarely those people are heard in international conversations, and the RESET Network aims to address that at a fundamental level”. 

“All sorts of good ideas are being lost or at least lost from the breadth of application they could have," says Kerr. "That is what the RESET Network is here to change."

"Solving climate change needs very active engagement from people in the Global South," says Kerr. "They will experience the consequences of climate change most severely. They need to be the ones who lead their own energy transitions – with international support – in ways that meet their specific needs and aspirations."

About the RESET Network

The RESET Network is an international non-profit research and engagement network coordinated by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). It brings together researchers and decision-makers across the Global South to accelerate just energy transitions tailored to local circumstances. 

Countries in the Global South hold 75% of the world's lowest-cost opportunities to cut greenhouse gas emissions in line with 1.5°C pathways, but, excluding China, receive less than 20% of global clean energy investment. Under current policies, global temperatures are on track to reach 2.8°C of warming by 2100, with the most severe consequences falling on countries that contributed least to the problem.

The RESET Network is open to researchers, economists, and policy professionals working on energy transition and climate change across the Global South, as well as partner organisations working in related fields. To learn more, join the mailing list, or connect with network members and their work, visit www.reset-network.org or follow the network on LinkedIn.

About the Environmental Defense Fund

The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) is a leading global non-profit environmental organisation founded in 1967. With over 3.5 million members, EDF focuses on climate change, ecosystem restoration, oceans, and human health, using science-based, economic, and legal approaches. More information is available at www.edf.org.