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.


French president taps climate scientist to ‘Make Our Planet Great Again’

Louis Derry, professor of earth and atmospheric sciences, has won a grant from the French government to conduct climate research in France.

Digital agriculture tech Adapt-N nets $1M Tulane prize

Adapt-N, a team from Cornell, was awarded the $1 million grand prize from the Tulane Nitrogen Reduction Challenge Dec. 14 in New Orleans.

Students envision future of Hudson River town confronting flooding

Residents of Piermont, New York are facing climate change, as Hudson River flooding begins to encroach their waterfront streets. Cornell students provided concepts at an open house on how to handle it.

Northeast farmers weigh warm climate, drenched fields

Farmers in the Northeast are adopting production habits tailored to longer, warming climate conditions, but they may face spring planting whiplash as they confront saturated fields from heavy rain.

Climate scientists study the odds of a megadrought

Cornell climate scientists and their colleagues have developed a “robust null hypothesis” to assess the odds of a megadrought – one that lasts more than 30 years – occurring in the western and southwestern United States.

The future of high-speed tube travel discussed in NYC

Journalists got a rare glimpse into the future of high-speed travel in vacuum tubes during an Inside Cornell talk Dec. 1 in Manhattan.

Leadership committee to guide Earth Source Heat effort on campus

The leadership group has been selected for the newly formed Earth Source Heat planning committee, part of the campus effort to achieve carbon neutrality by the year 2035.

Max Zhang: Local engagement yields ‘real social impact’

Engineer Max Zhang makes a concerted effort to improve the world through collaboration. “Ideas will only stay in my lab, will only stay on paper, if we don’t engage or work with the community.”

Cisterns could boost sustainable tourism on Greek island of Santorini

Cornell researchers are helping address water use on the Greek island of Santorini by reviving subterranean cisterns.