Climate Change Science and Solutions

This week William Nordhaus, Sterling Professor of Economics at Yale, won the Nobel Prize. At the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, where he holds a secondary appointment, his research and teaching have influenced and inspired generations of scholars.

A new survey on public perceptions of the COVID-19 crisis found a national consensus that protecting public health should come ahead of opening the economy. But that dynamic could change quickly as the issue — like climate change — becomes increasingly politicized, Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communications, says in an interview.

, a group of scientists argue that public debate about the role of soil carbon in battling climate change is undermining the potential for policymakers to implement policies that build soil carbon for other environmental and agricultural benefits.

Professor of Economics Matthew Kotchen argues that the social cost of carbon, which accounts for the future damage that atmospheric carbon causes, is preferable to an alternative approach put forward by two prominent economists

In a recent study, a team of researchers — including YSE professor Peter Raymond and postdoctoral fellow Taylor Maavara — show nitrous oxide emissions are increasing at a “devastating” rate, faster than predictions introduced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Cambium Carbon, an initiative founded by YSE students to combat climate change and revitalize urban communities by reimagining the urban tree lifecycle, has earned a $200,000 Natural Climate Solution Accelerator Grant from The Nature Conservancy.

A group of Yale professors are using bicycles to measure heat stress in New Haven.

The Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture will accelerate research across academic disciplines, helping to develop a range of solutions to address climate change. YSE Dean Indy Burke talks about how YSE will be involved in the Center’s work.

In an interview, Casey Pickett, director of the recently launched Yale Carbon Charge, discusses how the initiative aims to change behavior across campus, the broad range of research opportunities made possible by the initiative, and how it might ultimately be applied by other organizations.

Yale School of the Environment alumna Maggie Thomas ’15 MEM, who served on the climate teams of presidential candidates Jay Inslee and Elizabeth Warren, has been named Chief of Staff of the newly created Office of Domestic Climate Policy by President Joe Biden.

Urban expansion will cause the average summer temperature in these areas to increase about 0.5 to 0.6 degrees C by midcentury — but up to 3 degrees C in some locations, according to a new F&ES study.

Professor Edgar Hertwich contributed to a major report on climate change from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which predicts that crisis-level drought, food shortages, and coastal erosion could happen within the next 20 years.

Anthony Leiserowitz, the 2020 winner of Climate One’s Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Change Communication, weighs in on the ever-growing field of climate change communication and how the Biden administration has a “pathway” to achieve meaningful climate action.

Hurricane Irma devastated parts of the Caribbean last week, including the island of Barbuda, known for its sandy beaches and abudant wildlife. We reached out to Lia Nicholson '14 M.E.M. who works on climate change adaptation and mitigation for the Government of Antigua and Barbuda to learn more about living with the threat of hurricanes and what small island nations

Even low-carbon energy technologies like solar cells and wind power plants have associated greenhouse gas emissions, but those impacts pale in comparison with the emissions prevented by the displacement of fossil fuel sources, a new study co-authored by a Yale researcher finds.