There is a vast amount of knowledge about the climate crisis, its impacts as well as the growing number of mitigation and adaptation options. The challenge, however, is to get people to engage and absorb this knowledge, so that they can then act accordingly. Video games are one exciting way to talk about sustainability issues and involve people who may otherwise not be reachable by such topics. Games are also a great tool to depict the interconnections between Earth’s systems and demonstrate how changes in one system can alter another.
Biodiversity, the variety of plant and animal life in the world, forms the very foundation of our existence. Ecosystems, with their intricate webs of interdependence, provide us with invaluable services—from clean air and water to fertile soils and climate regulation.
Systems thinking entails asking fundamental questions: "Where does it come from?" and "Where is it going?" Using the journey of chocolate, from the sun-drenched cocoa plantations to the sweet bars that we all know and love, IIASA researchers guide young learners through the practical applications of systems thinking and life-cycle analysis in our everyday lives. The overarching objective is to encourage students to adopt a perspective focused on relationships and connections, rather than isolating individual components.
Shuaishuai Xu
Guest Researcher (WAT)
The 2024 Highly Cited Researchers™ list by Clarivate celebrates individuals whose research has had a profound and wide-reaching impact. IIASA is proud to have its Director General, Hans Joachim (John) Schellnhuber, as well as 10 additional exceptional researchers associated with the Institute recognized for their contributions in various fields.
Systems thinking entails asking fundamental questions: "Where does it come from?" and "Where is it going?" The overarching objective is to encourage students to adopt a perspective focused on relationships and connections, rather than isolating individual components.
On October 22, the SHAW group within the POPJUS program at IIASA hosted a one-day workshop, bringing together 30-40 researchers from various programs to collaborate and advance research in the field of health and wellbeing.
The American Geophysical Union (AGU) annual meeting is the largest gathering of Earth and space scientists which convenes 25,000+ attendees from 100+ countries to share research and connect with friends and colleagues.
Social media intelligence mining is transforming disaster risk management. A new cutting-edge tool developed by IIASA researchers provides real-time insights from platforms like X and Google, enhancing rapid response during and after disasters, resource distribution, and effective crisis communication to better safeguard communities.
The Citizens4Copernicus (C4C) project consortium held its first annual meeting in Vienna, where partners reviewed key achievements, including the development of methods for tree attribute extraction and the creation of a prototype app for citizen science data collection. The project is now entering the data collection phase, focusing on forest and tree mapping through citizen science campaigns, while planning additional measurement campaigns and further app enhancements.
New work by IIASA and the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC) leverages developments in climate science, economics and climate policy to bolster evidence for the rationale and funding needs associated with Loss and Damage and to inform international negotiations, including on the operationalization of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), the launch of the High Level Dialogue on complementarity and coherence, and discussions around Loss and Damage in the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQF).
This hands on workshop will present natural forest extent data from the SBTN natural lands map and an update to the forest management map 2015 developed by IIASA and VITO. Participants will have the opportunity to provide feedback on the forest management map.
The focus of the ongoing COP is to decide on a new finance regime. Major polluters will be asked to massively increase their financial contributions to developing nations. Researchers from IIASA and CMCC show that Loss and Damage needs of vulnerable countries range between roughly 130 and 940 billion Dollars in 2025 alone. On top of money for mitigation and adaptation.
IIASA researchers provide over one hundred central banks all over the world with scenarios that help them make the financial sector more resilient to climate change. The scenarios have recently been updated to reflect advances in climate policies and assess risks more comprehensively. This work was conducted by a scientific consortium to support the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS).
Assessing Climate Change Risk in Europe (ACCREU)
What are the biggest challenges in the fight against climate change that affect the way cities live? And how can science and diplomacy bridge political divides and accelerate global transformations? IIASA Director General Hans Joachim (John) Schellnhuber, a world-renowned climatologist and pioneer of interdisciplinary research, will offer the answers and present his vision for a sustainable future that focuses on innovative solutions to environmental challenges and transformational change towards a fairer and more sustainable society in this installment of the Prague Institute of Planning and Development Urban Talks series. The talk will be followed by a Q&A session.