Energy, Environment & Sustainability

Cornell is a global leader in sustainability and climate change research, teaching and engagement. Our campuses are living laboratories for developing, testing and implementing solutions that address these most challenging issues.


Sustainability summit radiates campus climate progress

More than 200 attendees at Cornell’s Sustainability Leadership Summit heard how New York may be a leader in creating renewable energy and learned about the university’s own sustainability progress.

In global south, building sewers may spur health, economy

Cities in the “global south” – densely populated urban areas that are part of low-income countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America – should phase out pit latrines, septic tanks and other on-site methods of human waste management, according to a Cornell researcher.

Cornell geologists detect rapid ‘ice stream’ at Arctic glacier

Cornell geologists, examining the desolate Vavilov ice cap on the northern fringe of Siberia in the Arctic Circle, have for the first time observed the rapid ice loss from an improbable new river of ice.

Celebration marks prototype accelerator getting up to speed

Staff, university leaders, industry partners and government representatives attended a Dec. 5 celebration of the launch of the Cornell-Brookhaven ERL Test Accelerator facility, known as CBETA.

Pelosi meets Cornell students at UN climate change meeting

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited with Cornell students at the 25th annual United Nations’ Conference of the Parties climate change conference, Dec. 3 in Madrid, Spain.

Young tree swallows carry environmental stress into adulthood

Cornell researchers have discovered a negative relationship between the temperature during tree swallows’ development and their hormonal response to stressors as adults. Specifically, they found that colder temperatures during the development stage had an effect on swallows later in life.

Cornell China Center fosters collaboration at Beijing events

On Nov. 18, Cornell leaders, faculty, alumni, collaborators and friends celebrated the university’s long history of collaboration with China with two events in Beijing: an academic symposium and a Cornell-China forum.

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Five faculty members elected AAAS fellows

Five Cornell faculty members have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society.

Cornell research drives NYSEG electric car charging pilot

A new plan being piloted by NYSEG, in collaboration with Cornell researchers, aims to encourage electric vehicle owners to delay charging in exchange for lower prices, in order to coordinate power use across the grid.