In 1951, U.S. President Harry S. Truman asked William S. Paley, the chairman of the board of Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), to form a Materials Policy Commission to study the country's natural resource needs.

[citation needed] Although RFF scholars are free to express professional opinions in their research, the organization itself does not take institutional positions on legislation or regulatory policy.

One journalist assessed Portney's tenure at RFF by saying that "he never shied away from using the facts to challenge business interests that reflexively opposed all regulation, or environmental groups that never met one they didn't like".

[16] In July 2011, RFF's Center for Energy Economics and Policy (CEEP) launched an initiative to identify the priority risks associated with the hydraulic fracturing of shale formations and recommend strategies for responsible development.

[citation needed] This analysis, made possible by a $1.2 million grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, will be the first independent, broad assessment of the key risks associated with the shale gas development process.

[citation needed] Pairing these findings to an analysis of existing state and federal policies will lead to recommendations for how to improve the management of shale gas development.

Nearly a dozen RFF experts in risk assessment, regulatory and benefit–cost analysis, government enforcement, and the oil industry formulated a series of findings and recommendations to improve the safety of future oil-drilling operations.

[citation needed] Several RFF researchers contributed to the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

Among current and former RFF researchers who have participated in the nearly two decades since the IPCC was founded are Senior Fellows Alan Krupnick, Roger Sedjo, William Pizer, and Richard Morgenstern.

[citation needed] It was carried out in conjunction with the Outdoor Resources Review Group, a bipartisan assemblage of public officials, conservation specialists, and recreation professionals.

[citation needed] In 2018, RFF and the Euro-Mediterranean center on climate change established the RFF-CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment (EIEE), based in Milan (Italy).

[18][20] The researchers implemented recommendations from a 2017 report published by the National Academy of Sciences, to address flaws in the initial methodology and make the SCC calculation of the costs of greenhouse gas emissions as accurate as possible.