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.


Chemist Song Lin named 2025 Blavatnik National Award finalist

Recognized for advancing electrochemical techniques that enable efficient, sustainable synthesis of complex organic molecules, accelerating drug development, and materials innovation, Lin is a finalist in Chemical Sciences.

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Entrepreneurial students flock to kickoff event

The event featured more than 30 resource tables and pitches from four students hoping to be part of eLab.

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Ph.D. student’s nonprofit seeks to protect Amazonian biodiversity and culture

Ethan Duvall, an inaugural Semlitz Family Sustainability Fellow, has launched a nonprofit aimed at protecting biodiversity and culture in the Amazon Rainforest. Among their on-the-ground initiatives, they are working alongside local and Indigenous communities to strengthen green economic initiatives.

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CALS administrator wins Award for Staff Integrity and Inclusion

The Employee Assembly presented the award to Adrienne Mason, the administrative director for two departments in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, on Aug.29.

Farm of the future sows digital seeds

An experimental vineyard at the Cornell Lake Erie Research and Extension Laboratory is becoming the university’s first living laboratory of precision, autonomy and sustainability, supporting the grape industry in New York and Pennsylvania.

Solar farm shade in the fall reduces radish and radicchio yields

A series of studies by Cornell researchers is testing how crops might grow when planted between rows of solar panels on a solar farm in New York state. 

Cornell Tech’s new faculty are building tech that thinks, feels, and teaches

With three Sloan Fellows, three NSF CAREER Award winners, and a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree among them, this year’s new faculty cohort arrives with notable accolades and ambitions.

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Former Colombian president will launch Climate Impact Speaker Series

The Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability’s 2025 Climate Impact Speaker Series will kick off Sept. 2 with former president of Colombia Iván Duque, who from 2018-22 oversaw the country’s dramatic expansion of renewable energy.

Certain communities of pond plants may increase greenhouse gases

The findings could lead to aquatic plant management strategies that help mitigate the release of gases such as methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide.