IIASA Deputy Director General, Karen Lips, represented the Institute at the 2025 European Regional Meeting of the Global Research Council (GRC), convened by Science Europe earlier this week. The meeting provided an important forum for engagement with global research-policy networks to advance themes of open science, artificial intelligence, fairness, and sustainable research systems.
Martin Lees, Chair of the OECD-IIASA Strategic Partnership on Systems Approaches, returned to IIASA earlier this month to deliver a thought-provoking lecture, revisiting the origins and future of systems thinking in international policymaking and reflecting on decades of collaboration between IIASA and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
From 15 to 19 September 2025, IIASA hosted a Symposium on Human Capital for Sustainable Development – A Focus on Africa. Supported by the Yidan Prize project funds, the event brought together researchers, postdoctoral fellows, and PhD students from Africa and Europe to advance collaboration on education, demography, and sustainable development.
MUT Magazin features IIASA Director-General Hans Joachim (John) Schellnhuber in an in-depth interview on climate-resilient cities and the urgent need to transform the built environment. He outlines how natural materials and sustainable design can help repair the atmosphere and protect future generations.
A new international study co-led by IIASA researchers and Japanese partners aims to democratize the way global climate scenarios are developed. The authors propose a transparent, inclusive research platform that invites participation from scientists worldwide – especially from emerging and developing regions – to ensure that the foundations of climate policy analysis are globally representative and equitable.
Last week, IIASA welcomed H.E. Maimounata Ouattara, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of Burkina Faso to the United Nations, for a visit that reinforced a shared commitment to advancing systems analysis for sustainable development across Sub-Saharan Africa.
The 2025 EAT-Lancet Commission released its Report on Healthy, Sustainable, and Just Food Systems, presenting the most comprehensive global scientific evaluation of food systems to date. IIASA researchers Marta Kozicka, Sören Lindner, and Fernando Orduña-Cabrera, and IIASA Program Director Petr Havlik were among the coauthors. The analysis outlines a pathway to health, equity, and a liveable planet.
Consecutive heat extremes across crop growing stages sharply reduce yields across staple crops in the US and Europe under climate change. Without climate action, such events will become ten times more frequent, while most of the damage can be avoided by limiting warming to 1.5 °C, according to a study led by Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, ETH Zurich, and IIASA.
The CircEUlar consortium convened in Berlin – at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) – from 22 to 24 September for a three-day project meeting. The event was not only an opportunity to review progress and share research, but also to hold stakeholder workshops connecting the project team with external experts and policy actors.
The world is running out of time to meet the goals of the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement, and siloed approaches to climate and development will not be enough. IIASA researchers contributed to the Third Global Report on Climate and SDG Synergies, which demonstrates how integrated action can unlock large-scale efficiencies, making limited resources go further while delivering multiple benefits for people and the planet.
Severe flooding in Pakistan contributes to hundreds of deaths, destruction of infrastructure, and the displacement of millions of people. In a new study, an international team of researchers used open data and tools to help understand differences in vulnerability to floods and better predict displacement in the future.
Earlier this month, policymakers, researchers, and practitioners gathered in Berlin for the final event of the Firelogue project ahead of its conclusion in October 2025. The two-day workshop marked a milestone in efforts to strengthen wildfire resilience across Europe and provided a platform to present and discuss a new Integrated Wildfire Risk Management Strategy.
IIASA will host the first author meeting of the upcoming Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Spatial Planning and Connectivity Assessment in Laxenburg, Austria from 22-26 September. The meeting will bring together experts from around the world to begin work on the assessment, which will examine how spatial planning can integrate biodiversity and human wellbeing.
IIASA and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen collaboration at the intersection of health and climate research. Building on their complementary expertise, the two institutions will join forces to develop innovative approaches that address some of today’s most pressing global challenges.
As Europe advances its climate adaptation and biodiversity strategies, a new report by the Assessing Climate Change Risk in Europe (ACCREU) project, led by IIASA in partnership with the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and the Global Climate Forum (GCF), shows how climate change and changes in land use will reshape ecosystems and the services they provide. The study examines wetlands, forests, farmland, species habitats, and pollination under different scenarios, combining ecological modeling with economic valuation.
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.