Climate Change

The exterior of the Vagelos building lit up with dramatic lighting.

An illuminating celebration to a brighter, greener future

Members of the Penn community celebrated an energy research milestone: the unveiling of the new Vagelos Laboratory for Energy Science and Technology.

The other emissions coming from cars

Tiny tire particles discharge into the environment every time a vehicle brakes, accelerates, or rounds a curve. In a UN brief, geochemist Reto Gieré and colleagues aim to educate the world about this lesser-known environmental obstacle.

A large setup infrastructure for mining gold and other minerals in Australia.

A greener, cleaner way to extract cobalt

Penn researchers led a collaborative effort pioneering safer, more sustainable technique to extract elements critical to battery-powered technologies. Findings pave the way for getting value from materials that would otherwise be considered waste.

As California pushes increased ethanol use, experts sound the alarm on environmental impacts

Danny Cullenward of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the Weitzman School of Design says that the negative impacts of biofuels on land are difficult to overstate.

Penn bets big on green

Penn’s Climate and Sustainability Action Plan outlines the University’s efforts to combat climate change during the next five years.

Collaborating on agricultural climate solutions, from plants to animals

The new Penn Plant Adaptability and Resilience Center brought together faculty speakers from five schools for its Climate Solutions for the Living World symposium.

Penn lays out ambitious new roadmap for climate and sustainability action

Penn’s Climate and Sustainability Action Plan 4.0 outlines sustainability goals for fiscal year 2025-29 and lays out Penn’s path toward carbon neutrality by 2042.

How the subtle but significant consequences of a hotter planet have already begun

R. Jisung Park of the School of Social Policy & Practice discusses his book “Slow Burn: The Hidden Costs of a Warming World.”

Why do we keep developing in climate disaster zones?

Jessica Varner of the Weitzman School of Design says that the federal buyout timeline for homes destroyed by natural disasters opens the door to predatory buyers. William “Billy” Fleming of Weitzman says that adaptation requires various types of interventions that deal with the urgent effects of climate change.

Climate policy under a second Trump presidency

Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences discusses how much a president can do or undo when it comes to environmental policy.

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