State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Poverty / Development11

  • Indicators Support MCC Goals for Low-Income Country Development

    Indicators Support MCC Goals for Low-Income Country Development

    One of the benefits of tying funding to achievement on a majority of indicators has been to increase the incentives for countries to perform well across a wide range of indicators.

  • Anchor Institutions Task Force Holds Annual Conference

    Anchor Institutions Task Force Holds Annual Conference

    In November 2016, the Anchor Institutions Task Force held its annual conference in New York City. Over 150 representatives from a variety of anchor institutions and partner organizations came together to discuss how anchor institutions can make valuable contributions to community and economic development through local partnerships.

  • CIESIN Teams with Facebook to Develop Open, Improved Settlement Data

    CIESIN Teams with Facebook to Develop Open, Improved Settlement Data

    New high-resolution population data will help us understand better how people are distributed in many countries throughout the world—as part of Facebook’s goal to connect people everywhere to the Internet.

  • Past This Absurd Election and Toward the Sustainable City

    Past This Absurd Election and Toward the Sustainable City

    Our cities can bring us together in wonderful shared experiences; now it’s time for our political processes to reflect rather than refute that reality.

  • Anchor Institutions and Employment

    Anchor Institutions and Employment

    Despite the significance of anchor institutions to local economies, popular and political discourse does not always emphasize their importance. Anchor institutions, such as universities and hospitals, provide various employment opportunities while contributing to the health of local economies in other ways.

  • Mass Transit in the Sustainable City

    Mass Transit in the Sustainable City

    An effective transportation system is to the sustainable city what a well-functioning circulatory system is to a healthy human being. New York City has developed along the path of its subway system.

  • Our Online Extractives Governance Course: What We’ve Learned

    Our Online Extractives Governance Course: What We’ve Learned

    Earlier this year, the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, the Natural Resource Governance Institute, and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) launched a free online course that allows anyone, anywhere to learn about how natural resources can be a catalyst, rather than an obstacle, to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

  • Interdependence, Sustainability, and a Sense of Place

    Interdependence, Sustainability, and a Sense of Place

    As important as global economic and cultural forces may be, I see the push for distinctive identity and a sense of place ensuring that communities and nation states will maintain their power in a more globally interconnected world. Part of it is expressed in Not in My Back Yard (NIMBY) local politics that resists development…

  • Land and Conflict in East Jerusalem: the Role of Urban Planning

    Land and Conflict in East Jerusalem: the Role of Urban Planning

    Without an urban civil culture, it is impossible to promote political and economic participation, and a non-unified Jerusalem will remain.

Composite banner with modern building at night and portrait of Dean Alexis Abramson that reads "Science for the Planet"

By studying thousands of buildings and analyzing their electricity use, Columbia Climate School Dean Alexis Abramson has been able to uncover ways to significantly cut energy consumption and emissions. Watch the Video: “Engineering a Cooler Future Through Smarter Buildings

  • Indicators Support MCC Goals for Low-Income Country Development

    Indicators Support MCC Goals for Low-Income Country Development

    One of the benefits of tying funding to achievement on a majority of indicators has been to increase the incentives for countries to perform well across a wide range of indicators.

  • Anchor Institutions Task Force Holds Annual Conference

    Anchor Institutions Task Force Holds Annual Conference

    In November 2016, the Anchor Institutions Task Force held its annual conference in New York City. Over 150 representatives from a variety of anchor institutions and partner organizations came together to discuss how anchor institutions can make valuable contributions to community and economic development through local partnerships.

  • CIESIN Teams with Facebook to Develop Open, Improved Settlement Data

    CIESIN Teams with Facebook to Develop Open, Improved Settlement Data

    New high-resolution population data will help us understand better how people are distributed in many countries throughout the world—as part of Facebook’s goal to connect people everywhere to the Internet.

  • Past This Absurd Election and Toward the Sustainable City

    Past This Absurd Election and Toward the Sustainable City

    Our cities can bring us together in wonderful shared experiences; now it’s time for our political processes to reflect rather than refute that reality.

  • Anchor Institutions and Employment

    Anchor Institutions and Employment

    Despite the significance of anchor institutions to local economies, popular and political discourse does not always emphasize their importance. Anchor institutions, such as universities and hospitals, provide various employment opportunities while contributing to the health of local economies in other ways.

  • Mass Transit in the Sustainable City

    Mass Transit in the Sustainable City

    An effective transportation system is to the sustainable city what a well-functioning circulatory system is to a healthy human being. New York City has developed along the path of its subway system.

  • Our Online Extractives Governance Course: What We’ve Learned

    Our Online Extractives Governance Course: What We’ve Learned

    Earlier this year, the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, the Natural Resource Governance Institute, and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) launched a free online course that allows anyone, anywhere to learn about how natural resources can be a catalyst, rather than an obstacle, to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

  • Interdependence, Sustainability, and a Sense of Place

    Interdependence, Sustainability, and a Sense of Place

    As important as global economic and cultural forces may be, I see the push for distinctive identity and a sense of place ensuring that communities and nation states will maintain their power in a more globally interconnected world. Part of it is expressed in Not in My Back Yard (NIMBY) local politics that resists development…

  • Land and Conflict in East Jerusalem: the Role of Urban Planning

    Land and Conflict in East Jerusalem: the Role of Urban Planning

    Without an urban civil culture, it is impossible to promote political and economic participation, and a non-unified Jerusalem will remain.