A new study, led by IIASA researchers and coauthored by UNEP colleagues, finds that if governments fully implement their methane reduction plans, they could reduce global emissions by 11% between 2020 and 2030. This would reverse the current trend of increasing methane emissions, but would not be sufficient to achieve the goal of the Global Methane Pledge.
IIASA Science Diplomacy Director and Head of Communications and External Relations Susie Kitchens represented the Institute at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) High-level Week and Science Summit in New York in September, contributing to discussions on how science and international cooperation can help address shared global challenges.
IIASA’s MowingQuest citizen-science campaign has wrapped up its August–September 2026 system test, with 25 pioneer users submitting almost 800 observations across eight countries. The results will help improve the app and data-quality workflows ahead of the main 2027 campaign. Two participants have also won Garmin GPS watches in the campaign raffle.
IIASA Director General, Hans Joachim (John) Schellnhuber joined leading scientists, Nobel laureates, and international science leaders at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in Vatican City towards the end of September to explore how science can help address humanity's most pressing challenges.
IIASA Deputy Director General Karen Lips delivered a keynote at the University of Vienna's recent Environment and Climate Research Hub (ECH) Research Frontiers Workshop in Bad Vöslau, Austria, emphasizing the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in addressing complex environmental and climate challenges.
How can universities and international research organisations work together to address the complex challenges of a changing world? This question shaped a full day of scientific exchange at the University of Salzburg on 6 October, when the Austrian IIASA Committee met with members of the University community to discuss research, collaboration and opportunities for researchers and students.
A high-level delegation from Nanjing University (NJU), led by Professor Tan Zhemin, President of NJU and Fellow of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, visited IIASA to discuss opportunities for strengthening scientific cooperation and advancing joint research on global challenges.
Where, under future climate, will fire put people's health at risk? And what can we do?
These are the questions we asked in the Fire&Ice workshop that we held on 24 August 2026, at the International Boreal Forest Research Association (IBFRA) Conference in Québec City with around 28 participating boreal specialists, from students and researchers to practitioners and decisionmakers from leading institutions and organizations.
Human activity and climate change are putting growing pressure on water resources, disrupting the predictability of the water cycle, and changing the availability and quality of freshwater. IIASA researchers and partners have developed a new framework for guiding water management and planning at the river-basin level, derived from the existing Global Water Planetary Boundary.
On 15 September, Principal Research Scholar Thomas Schinko represented IIASA at a high-level event of the Commission on the De-Fossilization and Carbon Neutrality of the European Energy Systems (DEE) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OEAW). The meeting denoted the kick-off workshop of the newly established DEE Working Group "Transsectoral and Transcontinental Integration”.
IIASA Cooperation and Transformative Governance (CAT) Research Group Leader and Senior Research Scholar Nadejda Komendantova and CAT Research Scholar Dmitry Erokhin have contributed to a series of scientific and policy forums in Kyrgyzstan in 2026. Their research on artificial intelligence in the production sector builds on IIASA’s longstanding cooperation with the country on sustainable industrial development.
IIASA water-quality modeling has contributed to the World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) State of Global Water Resources 2025 report. The assessment shows that the global water cycle is becoming increasingly erratic, with serious implications for people and economies worldwide.
Building on its engagement at the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP16) in Riyadh, IIASA contributed to a series of events and bilateral discussions at UNCCD COP17, held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, towards the end of August. Under the theme, Restoring Land, Restoring Hope, COP17 advanced action on land degradation, drought resilience, and sustainable land management, with particular emphasis on rangelands and pastoral livelihoods.
After four years of research and collaboration, IIASA researchers joined partners from the EU-funded ALFAwetlands and REWET projects for their final joint conference, “Wetland Solutions for the Future”, on 17 September 2026 in Brussels, Belgium. They presented findings on how wetland restoration can support climate mitigation and biodiversity across Europe.