Press releases

We are collectively failing to conserve the world’s biodiversity and to mobilize natural solutions to help curb global warming. A new study carried out by the Nature Map Consortium, shows that managing a strategically placed 30% of land for conservation could safeguard 70% of all considered terrestrial plant and vertebrate animal species, while simultaneously conserving more than 62% of the world’s above and below ground vulnerable carbon, and 68% of all clean water. 

A new scientific article outlines how to undertake the much needed expansion and modernization of Africa’s electricity sector. The article highlights the crucial role that international partnerships such as the Sustainable Energy for All Initiative have to play in achieving this goal.

Access to modern, reliable, and affordable energy services is a must for development and ensuring a decent quality of life. IIASA researchers used a novel bottom-up approach to analyze how access to energy services may evolve over time under different scenarios of socioeconomic growth and policy scenarios that meet climate mitigation goals.

Air pollution in India is generated more by the wealthy, while the poor suffer most of the health impact, according to a study by five IIASA researchers published in Nature Sustainability.

IIASA researchers and international colleagues explored the potential of using finely ground rock to help with the removal of CO₂ from the atmosphere on the road to achieving net-zero emissions and keeping global warming below 1.5°C.

More than 820 million people in the world don’t have enough to eat, while climate change and increasing competition for land and water are further raising concerns about the future balance between food demand and supply. The results of a new IIASA-led study can be used to benchmark global food security projections and inform policy analysis and public debate on the future of food.

Hydropower has massive potential as a source of clean electricity, and the Indus basin can be a key player in fulfilling long-term energy storage demands across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. IIASA researchers explored the role the Indus basin could play to support global sustainable development.

According to the World Health Organization, a third wave of COVID infections is now all but inevitable in Europe. A COVID tracker developed by IIASA researcher Asjad Naqvi, aims to identify, collect, and collate various official regional datasets for European countries, while also combining and homogenizing the data to help researchers and policymakers explore how the virus spreads.

IIASA is part of a project funded under the Belmont Forum’s joint Collaborative Research Action on Pathways to Sustainability to develop and apply an indicator system for measuring sustainability in the agricultural sector that will close existing knowledge gaps and facilitate decision making for more sustainable agricultural production.