State of the Planet

AI is a two-sided coin, with tremendous potential to benefit the environment while also requiring an immense amount of water and energy. How will these two opposing dynamics balance out—or can they?

The Coney Island Creek dune planting project started in 2021, with the goal of increasing coastal resilience and giving community members hands-on experience protecting their environment.

The Coney Island Creek dune planting project started in 2021, with the goal of increasing coastal resilience and giving community members hands-on experience protecting their environment.

How do we power the AI boom without blowing past climate goals and breaking the grid?

On May 15, M.A. in Climate and Society and M.S. in Climate Finance students gathered to celebrate their accomplishments.

This year, professors Kristina Guild Douglass and Michel Sadelain will both hold the ceremonial role.

Scientists estimate that Indonesia will lose its two remaining glaciers by 2030—a warning for glaciers around the world.

Climate finance in the multipolar era will be driven less by collective targets and more by the need to manage geopolitical security risks in a less stable world.

Researchers have solved a long-standing atmospheric puzzle: how rising carbon dioxide cools the stratosphere even as it warms Earth’s surface and lower atmosphere.

Campbell Award winner Marina Saguar Urquiola is helping to solve climate change through adaptation finance.

The study also points to broader lessons: as glaciers retreat in warming regions, the risk of related hazards can increase, and improved monitoring may help reduce some of those dangers.

We invite readers to share their most pressing questions about climate, science and sustainability.

Maureen Raymo was awarded a Nemmers Prize in recognition of her pioneering development of hypotheses that explain climate change across Earth’s history.

Kaplan studies the ways ice sheets, mountain glaciers, climates and landscapes changed in the past.

Annika Bellot focuses on international law and decarbonization efforts to help save small island states like Dominica, where she grew up.

Laramie Jensen’s interest in inorganic and analytical chemistry led her to the ocean. And then to the North Pole.

On a beautiful spring day last week, the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce and the Columbia Climate School hosted “Earth Day 2026: Climate and Environmental Justice in New York City” at Columbia University’s Faculty House. Now in its fifth year, the annual conference was created to highlight the critical climate-driven health and environmental impacts affecting […]

Aynsley Kretschmar, a soon-to-be graduate of the M.A. in Climate and Society program, reflects on the skills she’s gained from her time at Columbia, as well as what she’s most excited about for her future.

M.A. in Climate and Society student Erin Frank shoots film around New York City. She says her camera and climate coursework have more in common than she expected.

Caine’s new book depicts a small community in the glacier-fed Peruvian Highlands as it navigates climate change and social pressures.