Sustainability2
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How Sustainable Are Reusable Cups? A New Tool Aims to Find Out
Columbia Climate School and Closed Loop Partners developed a novel impact assessment tool to calculate the carbon emissions and cost implications of a wide range of single-use and reusable packaging designs.
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NYC’s Composting Rates Are Low. A Sustainability Expert Thinks AI Will Offer a Solution. Eventually.
Steve Cohen, director of Columbia’s M.S. in Sustainability Management program, discusses the present and future of food waste programs in NYC.
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Rings of Time: Seeking Clues to the Future in Urban Timber
Lamont scientists are working with lumber salvage companies to preserve old timbers from demolished structures that offer rich clues to climate data and human history.
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Four Columbia Women Are Reimagining Rice Farming to Tackle Climate Change
Clean Crop is an ambitious startup project that blends policy, economics, sustainability and development.
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Alumni Spotlight: How Columbia Prepared Me for Work at the Nature Conservancy
Alison Miller, a senior leader at the Nature Conservancy, reflects on her time in Columbia’s MPA-ESP program and how it helped shape her career path.
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Denning Fellows Explore Sustainability Around the World
Three students traveled across the globe this summer to work on projects in global policy, climate vulnerability, and urban research and fieldwork.
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Can Tariffs Lead to a More Circular Economy?
While controversial and often politically divisive, tariffs may have the opportunity to shift production and consumption patterns toward sustainability.
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Alumni Spotlight: Bridging Science, Policy and Strategy for Climate Action
Tiffany Wu, a graduate of the MPA-ESP program, now works on climate and sustainability projects spanning carbon markets, corporate greenhouse gas accounting and clean energy.
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Sustainable Development Program Awards 2025 Departmental Honors
Four graduating students were selected for their outstanding academic achievements in sustainable development.

AGU25, the premier Earth and space science conference, takes place December 15-19, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. This year’s theme—Where Science Connects Us—puts in focus how science depends on connection, from the lab to the field to the ballot box. Once again, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Columbia Climate School scientists, experts, students, and educators are playing an active role, sharing our research and helping shape the future of our planet. #AGU25 Learn More
