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Representatives from China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security visited Schloss Laxenburg in May 2026 for discussions on international research collaboration, scientific career development, and talent exchange.

IIASA Director General Hans Joachim (John) Schellnhuber is featured in the new documentary Hirschhausen will zum Papst (Hirschhausen wants to meet the Pope), produced by Germany’s public broadcaster ARD.

A recent Table.Briefings article featuring comments by IIASA Director General Hans Joachim (John) Schellnhuber highlights growing concerns that progress in decarbonizing the global buildings sector remains too slow to achieve international climate goals. The article discusses findings from the new UNEP and Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC) Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction 2025/2026.

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.

New research by an international team of scientists finds that fully phasing out fossil fuels worldwide by 2050 would require global electricity generation to expand by roughly 60 to 80% beyond the levels projected in conventional 1.5°C climate pathways. The study also shows that eliminating fossil fuels could significantly reduce dependence on CO₂ removal technologies and underground carbon storage.

The African Human Capital Data Sheet 2026: Past Trends, Skills, and Future Pathways presents new evidence on population trends by level of education, skills, and demographic transitions across the African continent.

Tropical forests are one of the planet's most important carbon sinks – often also called "the lungs of the Earth". But their future in a high-CO₂ world remains uncertain. IIASA researchers contributed to a new study, which suggests even small understory trees in the Amazon may initially buffer climate change more strongly. Their long-term capacity to store carbon could, however, be restricted by nutrient availability, highlighting the vulnerability of these ecosystems under future climate conditions.

Within the framework of the International Vienna Energy and Climate Forum (IVECF) 2026, CircEUlar researchers Volker Krey (IIASA), Alessio Mastrucci (IIASA), Adriana Gomez Sanabria (IIASA), and Dominik Wiedenhofer (BOKU) convened a high-level Deep Dive session titled “Integrated green industrialisation strategies across the energy, material and climate nexus to achieve climate and development goals” on 10 April. The session brought together representatives from policy, industry, finance, international organisations, and research.

In April, IIASA Director General Hans Joachim (John) Schellnhuber, visited Kazakhstan at the invitation of Yerlan Nyssanbayev, Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, to participate in the Regional Ecological Summit 2026 (RES 2026).

A high-level delegation led by Senator Hon. Jonathan Reid, Barbados' Minister of Innovation, Industry, Science, and Technology, visited Schloss Laxenburg for a bilateral exchange with IIASA Director General Hans Joachim (John) Schellnhuber on applied systems science and its potential to inform transformative policy. 

IIASA is pleased to announce that Susie Kitchens will join the Institute as Science Diplomacy Director and Head of Communications and External Relations in May 2026. In this senior leadership role, she will guide IIASA’s global engagement strategy, expand international partnerships, and enhance the Institute’s visibility and impact at the science-policy-society interface.

A new study published in Science argues that governments should adopt three integrated energy demand goals by 2035, warning that climate policy will fall short unless it focuses not only on how energy is produced, but also on how it is used.

IIASA had the honor of welcoming H.E. Mr. Dong Baotong, Vice Minister of China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) and Administrator of the National Nuclear Safety Administration (NNSA), to Schloss Laxenburg on Wednesday, 15 April 2026. The visit marked the first time a Vice Minister of MEE visited IIASA, highlighting the importance of science-based dialogue in addressing global environmental challenges.

Earlier this week, IIASA welcomed a delegation from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to Schloss Laxenburg for a high-level exchange on advancing collaboration at the intersection of science, policy, and emerging technologies.

Rising living costs, energy insecurity, widening inequality, and escalating climate impacts are fueling discussions on fairness and justice in climate policy. Yet, assumptions in global emission scenarios that determine who benefits and who bears the costs are often only made implicitly. A new IIASA-led study addresses this gap by offering a practical way to assess and design emission scenarios that explicitly account for distributive justice.

As global population aging advances and countries face shrinking workforces, a new study focusing on China by IIASA researchers and colleagues from Nanjing University reveals how economic growth can persist despite these changes in age structures.

A new IIASA-led study finds that expanding street green space can reduce urban heat stress in cities worldwide, but even ambitious greening efforts are unlikely to offset a significant share of the additional heat expected under climate change. Instead, the research shows that street greenery should be part of a broader portfolio of urban adaptation measures.

IIASA researchers have been working with the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), Stellenbosch University, and the African Centre for Clean Air, to provide financial and technical support to Uganda, through its National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), to develop the Uganda Sector Strategy for Organic Waste Management.

New insights from four NATURANCE Innovation Labs show how risk transfer and nature-based solutions can work hand in hand to address escalating climate risks. From flood resilience in the UK and Italy to wildfire and urban heat challenges across Europe, the brief highlights practical opportunities to scale NbS where they are needed most.

On Tuesday, 17 March 2026, IIASA had the privilege of hosting Austrian Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen at Schloss Laxenburg for a program focused on exchange, conversation, and engagement with the Institute’s research community. Austria is IIASA’s host country and one of its founding members, with its membership dating back to 1973.