In 2009, Carnesale chaired a National Academies committee overseeing efforts to outline "America's Climate Choices" at the request of Congress. When the committee submitted their report, in 2011, Carnesale said, change is an urgent problem to turn to, and what we've done differently is look at this as a risk management problem. We don't know exactly when the tsunami will hit or how high it will be, but we know it is coming, and we should prepare." In 2010 the U.S. Department of Energy appointed Carnesale to a high-level national commission on nuclear waste production, the 15-person Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future. Carnesale said the issues before the commission related "not only to nuclear power and reduced dependence on fossil fuels but also to climate change and nuclear proliferation." In 2014, he was appointed to the U.S. Secretary of Energy's Advisory Board. He also chaired the National Academies Committees on NASA's Strategic Direction, on Nuclear Forensics and on the U.S. Conventional Prompt Global Strike. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Pacific Council on International Policy.