11/15
Sustainability
Penn IUR, the United Nations Environment Programme unveil new framework to address gap in urban nature finance
The Penn Institute for Urban Research has released a report for the United Nations Environment Programme Cities Unit’s State of Finance for Nature in Cities, From Grey to Green: Better data to finance nature in cities, during COP16 Colombia.
With dozens of events, Climate Week 2024 will focus on solutions
The fifth Climate Week at Penn, designed to help people find their place in the climate movement, takes place Oct. 14-18.
Celebrating the dedication of Amy Gutmann Hall
On a breezy, overcast early fall day, members of the Penn community gathered to dedicate the University’s new center for data science and artificial intelligence: Amy Gutmann Hall.
Soft materials, sustainability, and the environment
Chinedum Osuji, a faculty fellow of the Environmental Innovations Initiative, discusses his research and its connections to sustainability and the environment, and how industry and researchers can work better together.
Fungi on the front lines against environmental injustice
The collective efforts of the Symbiotic Architecture for Environmental Justice research community are making former industrial sites reborn as vibrant community gardens, and safe, green spaces for children to play a reality.
A greener approach to end the academic year
Efforts have expanded this year to ensure student Move-Out for the summer break is more clean, green, and convenient than ever before. On campus, PennMOVES—operated by Business Services—is in full effect, partnering with Goodwill to collect materials students can’t take with them when they leave campus.
Exploring sustainable development and the human impact of natural disasters
The School of Social Policy & Practice’s Chenyi Ma focuses on the social determinants of health and behavioral outcomes in disaster contexts, including public health emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic.
How Penn Medicine is going green for good health
The University of Pennsylvania Health System prioritizes sustainability in its day-to-day practices, while envisioning novel approaches to greening efforts.
Penn celebrates operation and benefits of largest solar power project in Pennsylvania
Solar production has begun at the Great Cove I and II facilities in central Pennsylvania, the equivalent of powering 70% of the electricity demand from Penn’s academic campus and health system in the Philadelphia area.
What’s That? Sun shades at the Vagelos Lab
The shades account for solar geometry to make for an eye-catching view from the east and west—all while reducing energy usage.
In the News
Exxon CEO wants Trump to stay in Paris climate accord
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences voices his concern about the possibility that the U.S. could become a petrostate.
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Amid Earth’s heat records, scientists report another bump upward in annual carbon emissions
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that total carbon emissions including fossil fuel pollution and land use changes such as deforestation are basically flat because land emissions are declining.
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How can we remove carbon from the air? Here are a few ideas
Jennifer Wilcox of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the Weitzman School of Design says that the carbon-removal potential of forestation can’t always be reliably measured in terms of how much removal and for how long.
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California air regulators approve changes to climate program that could raise gas prices
Danny Cullenward of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the Weitzman School of Design says that many things being credited in California’s new climate program don’t help the climate.
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Climate scientists fear Trump will destroy progress in his second term – and the outcome could be ‘grim’
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that a second Trump term and the implementation of Project 2025 represents the end of climate action in this decade.
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Corporations using ‘ineffectual’ carbon offsets are slowing path to ‘real zero’, more than 60 climate scientists say
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences signed a pledge asserting that corporate carbon offsets are ineffectual and hinder the energy transition.
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