News
10 July 2026
CropSuit app to help farmers grow the right crops in the right places
Farmers, extension workers, and governments now have a powerful new tool to help identify the crops best suited to specific parcels of land, enabling more efficient use of resources and greater resilience to climate change.
01 July 2026
“SITCA” Alliance for the global transition to timber construction
Under the leadership of IIASA Director General Hans Joachim (John) Schellnhuber, the Science and Timber Construction Alliance (SITCA) was officially launched today. The initiative aims to transform the construction sector into a driver of climate protection through sustainable forest management and modern timber construction.
20 May 2026
New Elsevier report on Austria’s science system highlights IIASA’s global impact
IIASA has emerged as one of Austria’s standout research institutions in a new Elsevier report titled, Austria as a Science and Technology Nation, which benchmarks the country’s scientific performance in an international context.
Focus
27 July 2026
Can AI’s power problem become a clean-energy opportunity?
As artificial intelligence drives a surge in demand for electricity, concerns are growing about its impact on power systems and climate goals. IIASA researcher Behnam Zakeri argues that the challenge is not simply how to power AI, but how to harness the AI boom to accelerate the transition to cleaner, more flexible energy systems. Drawing on new research, he explores how energy storage can help ease pressure on electricity grids while creating opportunities that benefit both digital infrastructure and the wider energy transition.
24 July 2026
Citizen science and the politics of measuring sustainability
How we measure sustainability matters. In a new World View article published in Nature Sustainability, IIASA researcher Dilek Fraisl explores why citizen science and other participatory approaches should play a greater role in developing the indicators and methodologies that guide international action on climate, biodiversity, and sustainable development.
Impacts
Water for growth
Impact Sheet #20, August 2021. IIASA and partners in East Africa are studying how the region’s economic development could affect water resources.
Assessing biofuels for transport
Impact Sheet #18, January 2021. IIASA models feed into the biofuel policies of international aviation and the EU road transportation sector, helping to steer them towards cleaner feedstocks.
Limiting global temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels
Impact Sheet #19, January 2021. IIASA research has guided the global policymaking community in their efforts to limit global temperature increase to this ambitious goal. When the world’s attention was focussed toward the 2°C target, the institute’s sophisticated analysis mapped credible pathways towards the 1.5°C goal
Policy briefs
Forest science and education in Ukraine: Priorities for action
Ukraine’s forest sector is suffering unprecedented challenges. War has impacted both forests and forestry – devastating forest areas, infrastructure and industry, as well as causing ‘brain drain’ and capacity loss due to the disruption of research institutions and the displacement of students and scientists. These impacts are compounded by factors including climate change, unstable forest health dynamics, landscape fires, and an overall decrease in forest productivity.
ENGAGE Summary for Policymakers
As the world faces the risks of dangerous climate change, policymakers, industry and civil society leaders are counting on Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) to inform and guide strategies to deliver on the objectives of the Paris Agreement (PA) and subsequent agreements.
Stakeholder engagement in climate change solutions
Policy Brief #42, October 2023. Workshops bringing scientists together with stakeholders from various backgrounds have shown the importance of dialogue for co-designing climate pathways and highlighted the need for physical meetings and capacity building.
Policy applications
The Arctic Council
The Arctic has been warming at an alarming pace, double the global warming. Since 2008, PM Group scientists have been involved in a number of activities associated with the Arctic, including contribution to the work of the Arctic Council Task Force on Short-Lived Climate Forcers, Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), The International Cryosphere Climate Initiative (ICCI).
Short-Lived Climate Forcers
In the '“Integrated Assessment of Black Carbon and Tropospheric Ozone” of UNEP and WMO, IIASA identified 16 practical measures that would improve human health, secure crop yields and, at the same time, reduce global temperature increase in the near-term by up to 0.5 degrees. To initiate concrete action on these measures, US State Secretary Hillary Clinton launched a 'Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short Lived Climate Pollutants' in February 2012, complementing efforts on CO2 emissions taken by countries under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. By early 2018, the Coalition was joined by more than 50 countries and more than 60 non-state partners.
Task Force on Integrated Assessment Modelling (TFIAM) under the LRTAP Convention
The Task Force’s main focus is to combine information produced by the various scientific working groups of the LRTAP Convention and through computer models assist in the development of legal instruments.