News | IIASA

Map of Europe, EU on Windy weather web service showing global heat wave of extreme high temperature in Summer, July.

10 September 2025

Rising heat waves tied to fossil fuel and cement production

Unprecedented heat waves are becoming the new normal, and researchers can now trace much of this change back to the world’s biggest fossil fuel and cement producers. IIASA researchers contributed to a new study showing that emissions from just 180 companies are responsible for about half of today’s warming. These findings have significant implications for questions of climate policy and corporate accountability.

A network of green nodes interconnected on a global map. AI generated.

03 September 2025

Safe, practical underground carbon storage could reduce warming by only 0.7°C – almost 10 times less than previously thought

A new IIASA-led study for the first time maps safe areas that can practically be used for underground carbon storage, and estimates that using them all would only cut warming by 0.7°C. The result is almost ten times lower than previous estimates of around 6°C, which considered the total global potential for geological storage, including in risky zones, where storing carbon could trigger earthquakes and contaminate drinking water supplies. The study shows geological storage is a scarce, finite resource and warn countries must use it in a highly targeted way.

A road running through a dry landscape with cracked soil

02 September 2025

First ever international conference on climate overshoot at IIASA

As global temperatures approach the 1.5°C threshold, understanding the risks of climate overshoot has become an urgent scientific and policy challenge. From 30 September to 2 October 2025, IIASA will host the first-ever Overshoot Conference at the conference center in Laxenburg, Austria, offering a space for interdisciplinary dialogue among researchers, communicators, and policymakers.

26 August 2025

IIASA scientists appointed to author teams for IPCC Seventh Assessment Report (AR7)

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has announced the author teams for its Seventh Assessment Report (AR7). With three Coordinating Lead Authors and eleven Lead Authors across all three IPCC Working Groups, IIASA experts will play a key part in delivering the best available knowledge to guide effective, equitable, and urgently needed climate action over the coming decade.

two human heads shaped with gears with red and gold brain idea made of cogs representing the concept of intellectual exchange

07 August 2025

IIASA researchers among authors of award-winning Frontiers Planet Prize entry

IIASA senior scientist Gregor Kiesewetter, along with fellow IIASA researchers Fabian Wagner and Laura Warnecke, are among the authors of an article recognized as winning National Champion for the United Kingdom in the 3rd edition of the Frontiers Planet Prize.

Old fridges freezers refrigerant gas at refuse dump

04 August 2025

Sustainable management of refrigerants could be a powerful climate solution

As countries around the world work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a new study by researchers from IIASA and Peking University highlights an overlooked but powerful solution hiding in plain sight: fluorocarbon banks.

Forest fires in hills around LA at night.

31 July 2025

Sustainable development is key to limiting costs of future wildfires

Climate-related wildfires are once again making headlines as they rage across the northern hemisphere this summer. New IIASA research shows that addressing social and economic vulnerability across countries will be a key factor in mitigating the scale of resulting financial damage and emphasize sustainable development as essential to reducing climate-related impacts.

Ilegal gold miniing at Cachoeira do PiriÃ¡, a village near Viseu, Amazon, ParÃ¡ State, Brazil

28 July 2025

Exploring the economic promise and environmental costs of mining in Brazil

Mining in Brazil does not deliver the sustained economic benefits often claimed, while informal mining is a major driver of deforestation, especially in the Amazon. A new study offers one of the most comprehensive assessments to date, combining satellite imagery and economic data to analyze the environmental and economic impacts of mining at the municipal scale across Brazil.

24 July 2025

Sustainable agriculture is key for economic prosperity and security in the EU

In a new joint paper, IIASA researchers introduce five Priority Action Areas to guide the EU’s path beyond 2027, highlighting the vital role of a sustainable agricultural sector in ensuring the EU’s long-term economic resilience, prosperity, competitiveness, and environmental health.