State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Sustainability97

  • The White House Pushes Clean Energy While Coal States Push the Past

    The fact that we are addicted to energy and still require fossil fuels should not be taken to mean that we couldn’t get off of fossil fuels while increasing energy efficiency. We can and we will. But no one is going to give up the current energy system until a cleaner one comes along that…

  • Citi’s Sustainability Strategy

    Citi’s Sustainability Strategy

    In 2015, Citi announced a new environmental finance goal to lend, invest and facilitate $100 billion over 10 years towards activities focused on environmental solutions and reducing the impacts of climate change globally.

  • For Sustainability, Rethink Our Systems

    For Sustainability, Rethink Our Systems

    Increasingly, systems thinking is embraced as a critical framework for approaching sustainability and resilience. Such an approach helps us look beyond an analytical, cause-and-effect mode of doing business that often only yields short-term solutions and unintended consequences.

  • Program Backs Start-up Competition at Dhaka University

    Program Backs Start-up Competition at Dhaka University

    The Sustainable Development program at the Earth Institute is helping to sponsor a start-up competition for students at Dhaka University in Bangladesh.

  • Volkswagen Needs to Adopt 21st Century Sustainability Management

    While it is true that many nations do not enforce their environmental and occupational health and safety rules, a quick study of economic history demonstrates that the trend is toward more enforcement rather than less enforcement. And even when the government ignores noncompliance with the law, NGOs and consumers notice it.

  • Natural Capital in Business Planning: Challenges and Opportunities

    Natural Capital in Business Planning: Challenges and Opportunities

    Natural capital—the world’s stocks of natural assets that include soil, air, and water—provides us with a great deal of services essential to human life and, increasingly, to companies’ bottom lines.

  • Volkswagen’s Shame and Challenge to Sustainability Management

    Let’s remember that America is part of a global economy, and if we are not aggressive about sustainability we may find ourselves left behind and noncompetitive in the new businesses that emerge in renewable energy and recycled materials.

  • Alum Leads Coach’s Sustainability Initiatives

    Alum Leads Coach’s Sustainability Initiatives

    “I’ve worked my entire career within the private sector, and have a good understanding of how the company is driven by the shareholders. I hope to understand how sustainability decisions are compromised by business decisions, and to truly recognize where that happy medium currently is, and how far it can be pushed while still making…

  • Arctic Oil Drilling: Deluding Communities About the Benefits of Resource Extraction

    We continue to need resources that the earth provides and someday we may even mine other planets. But communities that rely on mining alone, or even depend on resource extraction as their primary source of revenue, are asking to be left behind in the modern global economy.

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

  • The White House Pushes Clean Energy While Coal States Push the Past

    The fact that we are addicted to energy and still require fossil fuels should not be taken to mean that we couldn’t get off of fossil fuels while increasing energy efficiency. We can and we will. But no one is going to give up the current energy system until a cleaner one comes along that…

  • Citi’s Sustainability Strategy

    Citi’s Sustainability Strategy

    In 2015, Citi announced a new environmental finance goal to lend, invest and facilitate $100 billion over 10 years towards activities focused on environmental solutions and reducing the impacts of climate change globally.

  • For Sustainability, Rethink Our Systems

    For Sustainability, Rethink Our Systems

    Increasingly, systems thinking is embraced as a critical framework for approaching sustainability and resilience. Such an approach helps us look beyond an analytical, cause-and-effect mode of doing business that often only yields short-term solutions and unintended consequences.

  • Program Backs Start-up Competition at Dhaka University

    Program Backs Start-up Competition at Dhaka University

    The Sustainable Development program at the Earth Institute is helping to sponsor a start-up competition for students at Dhaka University in Bangladesh.

  • Volkswagen Needs to Adopt 21st Century Sustainability Management

    While it is true that many nations do not enforce their environmental and occupational health and safety rules, a quick study of economic history demonstrates that the trend is toward more enforcement rather than less enforcement. And even when the government ignores noncompliance with the law, NGOs and consumers notice it.

  • Natural Capital in Business Planning: Challenges and Opportunities

    Natural Capital in Business Planning: Challenges and Opportunities

    Natural capital—the world’s stocks of natural assets that include soil, air, and water—provides us with a great deal of services essential to human life and, increasingly, to companies’ bottom lines.

  • Volkswagen’s Shame and Challenge to Sustainability Management

    Let’s remember that America is part of a global economy, and if we are not aggressive about sustainability we may find ourselves left behind and noncompetitive in the new businesses that emerge in renewable energy and recycled materials.

  • Alum Leads Coach’s Sustainability Initiatives

    Alum Leads Coach’s Sustainability Initiatives

    “I’ve worked my entire career within the private sector, and have a good understanding of how the company is driven by the shareholders. I hope to understand how sustainability decisions are compromised by business decisions, and to truly recognize where that happy medium currently is, and how far it can be pushed while still making…

  • Arctic Oil Drilling: Deluding Communities About the Benefits of Resource Extraction

    We continue to need resources that the earth provides and someday we may even mine other planets. But communities that rely on mining alone, or even depend on resource extraction as their primary source of revenue, are asking to be left behind in the modern global economy.