Press releases

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disorder and one of the most prevalent non-communicable diseases worldwide. On average, one in ten adults is affected. The number of people living with diabetes continues to rise, posing an increasing challenge for healthcare systems and entire economies. A new study reveals the global and national economic costs of diabetes and offers strategies to reduce them.

A commentary coauthored by IIASA experts and senior representatives from the UN and the international statistics community discusses the implications of recent changes to the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) program and highlights the importance of integrating citizen science more fully into official data systems

New research shows rising hydrogen emissions since 1990 have indirectly intensified climate change and amplified the impact of methane.

European governments worried about population decline often focus on policies to encourage people to have more children. However, a new study reveals that this popular strategy is often less effective and more ethically problematic than a simpler, immediate alternative: large-scale investment in public health to reduce preventable deaths.

A new study visualizes three decades of income inequality data, the most comprehensive worldwide mapping to be done at a subnational level. The results confirm worsening income inequality for areas with over 3.6 billion inhabitants but also reveals hidden ‘bright spots’ where policy may be closing the gap.

The International Vienna Energy and Climate Forum (IVECF 2026), to be convened on 9-10 April 2026 at Vienna’s Hofburg Palace, comes at a pivotal moment. As the world races to deliver on sustainable development, energy, and climate goals, growing concerns over international security and stability emphasize the urgent need for inclusive and integrated solutions as well as the need to provide climate justice.

Fast and decisive mitigation of methane emissions remains one of the few options the world still has to limit global warming in the next few decades. Today, mid-way through COP30, high-level representatives at the Global Methane Pledge (GMP) Ministerial released the Global Methane Status Report 2025, a comprehensive assessment of global progress and remaining gaps in efforts to cut methane. The report’s findings are underpinned by analyses conducted by IIASA researchers.

Against the backdrop of negotiations at COP30 in Belém, a group of leading climate scientists has released the Búzios Scientific Statement, offering a clear assessment of the world’s remaining options to return to 1.5°C of warming by the end of the century. The statement reflects growing recognition that a temporary overshoot of 1.5°C is now unavoidable, while also showing that pathways back to safer temperature levels remain open if action accelerates quickly.

As the world marks UN World Cities Day on 31 October – a call to make cities more sustainable – a new international study warns that the global construction sector’s carbon footprint is on track to double by 2050, threatening to derail efforts to meet the Paris Agreement climate targets.