State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

metrics

  • The Importance of Sustainability Metrics to Sustainability Management

    The Importance of Sustainability Metrics to Sustainability Management

    A key step in developing the management capacity to build an environmentally sustainable economy is creating meaningful, actionable sustainability metrics.

  • Why We Will Meet the Challenge of the Climate Crisis

    Why We Will Meet the Challenge of the Climate Crisis

    Technology solves problems and creates problems, and then new technology is needed to solve the problems created by earlier technologies. It’s an endless cycle.

  • Sustainability Ethics and Metrics

    Sustainability Ethics and Metrics

    Today’s increasing emphasis on metrics in sustainability policy and management presents an interesting challenge for ethics. When ethics are discussed, probably one of the last things to come to mind is measuring them, particularly in numeric terms.

  • Assessing Global Metrics for Agriculture

    On October 1, I attended a symposium entitled “Going Beyond Rhetoric: Metrics for Assessing Global Agriculture,” hosted by the Earth Institute and convened at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.  Fifteen stories in the air, we were surrounded by miles of urban landscape — Queens to the east, Manhattan to the west, and no…

Collage of Turkiye beach scene and Columbia University Campus with text: UN Climate Change Conference COP31, Antalya, Turkiye, Nov 9-20, 2026

COP31, the 2026 United Nations Climate Change Conference, aims to advance dialogue, strengthen consensus, and accelerate climate action on a global scale. From November 9–20, 2026 in Antalya, Türkiye, heads of state, ministers, scientists, business leaders, and civil society will gather to advance efforts in emission targets, climate finance, and adaptation and resilience. Once again, our experts, students, and global thought leaders from Columbia Climate School and across Columbia University are contributing to key events, sharing insights, and helping shape the dialogue toward ambitious, science-based solutions. Learn More

  • The Importance of Sustainability Metrics to Sustainability Management

    The Importance of Sustainability Metrics to Sustainability Management

    A key step in developing the management capacity to build an environmentally sustainable economy is creating meaningful, actionable sustainability metrics.

  • Why We Will Meet the Challenge of the Climate Crisis

    Why We Will Meet the Challenge of the Climate Crisis

    Technology solves problems and creates problems, and then new technology is needed to solve the problems created by earlier technologies. It’s an endless cycle.

  • Sustainability Ethics and Metrics

    Sustainability Ethics and Metrics

    Today’s increasing emphasis on metrics in sustainability policy and management presents an interesting challenge for ethics. When ethics are discussed, probably one of the last things to come to mind is measuring them, particularly in numeric terms.

  • Assessing Global Metrics for Agriculture

    On October 1, I attended a symposium entitled “Going Beyond Rhetoric: Metrics for Assessing Global Agriculture,” hosted by the Earth Institute and convened at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.  Fifteen stories in the air, we were surrounded by miles of urban landscape — Queens to the east, Manhattan to the west, and no…