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.


Atkinson Center postdoc fellows address global sustainability

The Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future is welcoming five new postdoctoral fellows, who will study global food systems, health and energy transitions.

Mahowald to Congress: Act now to arrest climate change

Cornell professor Natalie Mahowald offered straightforward and hopeful testimony on Earth’s warming atmosphere Feb. 13 in a three-hour hearing on climate change before the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.

A fresh look at China’s energy policy shows mixed results

Cornell researchers and their colleagues have created a new, comprehensive data set of China’s 2,656 energy-related policies operating in 30 provinces – and found they cancel each other out when it comes to energy consumption.

New grant program funds novel conservation collaborations

The Atkinson Center is partnering with The Nature Conservancy on three funded research projects, related to climate change, renewable energy and wildlife management. 

Active Learning Initiative funds nine projects

Innovative projects to enhance undergraduate teaching and learning in nine departments have received funding administered by Cornell’s Active Learning Initiative.

Mellon-funded Rural Humanities initiative launches

A Rural Humanities scholarly initiative, funded by a grant from the Mellon Foundation, will foster deeper engagement with rural communities, emphasizing “knowledge with a public purpose.”

To conserve energy, AI clears up cloudy forecasts

A machine learning model trained with years’ worth of forecast and weather data predicts the accuracy of the weather forecast – the basis of a system that can reduce buildings’ energy usage by up to 10 percent.

‘Deep tech’ innovations require industry partnerships

Creating new opportunities for industry partnerships and increasing engagement with the world beyond the lab could help researchers make a broader impact and meet grand challenges, said speakers at the “Deep Tech Eats Social Media for Lunch” panel, held Jan. 28 in the Upson Hall lounge.

Once-abundant sea stars imperiled by disease along West Coast

Warming oceans and an infectious wasting disease has devastated populations of large sunflower sea stars once abundant along the West Coast of North America, according to new research in Science Advances.