Professors Stephen Porder and Timmons Roberts offered research-driven perspectives on climate change, energy policy, and equity during recent testimonies to state policymakers, urging them to stay the course on Rhode Island’s climate commitments.
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News from IBES
A week of climate collaboration across Brown
Brown Climate Week, March 2–7, 2026, will spotlight Brown’s climate research, career exploration, and sustainability leadership through talks, conferences, networking events, and more.
IBES Professor Timmons Roberts expressed support for a proposed bill that would hold fossil fuel companies financially responsible for their emissions.
Testifying before the RI House Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, IBES Professor Stephen Porder discussed how the state could electrify the economy to meet mandates outlined in the Act on Climate.
Capital News Service
Climate action moves forward despite Trump’s policy rollbacks. Will it be enough?
Baylor Fox-Kemper, an IBES Faculty Fellow and Professor of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, offered commentary on the clean-energy economy and climate change.
February 2, 2026
News from Brown
Parts of the tropics may warm more than expected as CO2 rises, study finds
A reconstruction of temperature in Colombia during the Pliocene, when CO2 levels were similar to today, suggests that parts of the tropics might soon experience more dramatic warming than previously expected.
University of Colorado Boulder
Some tropical land may experience stronger-than-expected warming under climate change
A new study led by former IBES Voss Postdoc Lina Pérez-Angel used lake sediments from the Colombian Andes to reveal that, when the planet warmed millions of years ago under carbon dioxide levels similar to today’s, tropical land heated up nearly twice as much as the ocean.
Erica Walker, an IBES Faculty Affiliate and Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, discussed her new research project, for which students in Mississippi will be trained to collect air quality, noise, and light pollution measurements.
Brown Bookstore
2025-2026 Brown University Book Award
"Floating Coast: An Environmental History of the Bering Strait" by IBES and History Associate Professor Bathsheba Demuth has been selected as the 2025-2026 Brown University Book Award.
January 30, 2026
News from Brown
Childhood lead exposure associated with increased depressive symptoms in adolescence
A federally funded study led by Brown University researchers links increased childhood blood lead concentrations with increased depressive symptoms in adolescence, with larger increases when exposure occurred later in childhood.
Rhode Island House of Representatives
Stephen Porder Testifies to RI House Committee on Environment and Natural Resources
"There is no way to comply with the Act on Climate and continue to rely on gas and oil," IBES Professor Stephen Porder testified at the Rhode Island State House.
Corwin Zigler, a professor of biostatistics and an IBES affiliate, was consulted as an expert for this reporting.
IBES Assistant Professor Rachel Wetts and coauthor Loredana Loy reveal that "appeals to class-based resentment against cultural elites are one prominent strategy to urge publics to reject climate mitigation strategies."
The new suite of student offerings includes a 500% increase in paid internships and research opportunities as well as professional development workshops, alumni networking, and an annual Climate Career Fair.
With IBES as the lead sponsor, Brown’s first-ever Climate Week is an open invitation for students, faculty, alumni, and community members to come together to explore how research, policy, and practice intersect to drive meaningful climate solutions.
Assistant Professor of Epidemiology Erica Walker, an IBES affiliate faculty member, offered commentary on the public health impact of pellet mills in the American South, which are 50% more likely to be located in communities with a high proportion of poor and nonwhite residents.
American Physical Society
Brad Marston on science, democracy, and the hard work ahead
Brad Marston — an IBES faculty fellow, professor of physics, and 2026 president of the American Physical Society — discussed his research and priorities for the year ahead, including focusing on climate science and the role of democracy in scientific discovery.
Professor of Engineering Yue Qi, an IBES affiliate and deputy director of Brown's Initiative for Sustainable Energy, is a senior author on a study that found a nanoscale silver coating could be the key to making ultra-powerful solid-state batteries work.
This opinion piece cites recent research from the IBES-based Climate and Development Lab, led by Professor Timmons Roberts.
News from IBES
WATCH | GIS Career Panel
Held during the 2025 Geography Awareness Week, the November 19 panel brought together professionals who have built diverse careers in transportation, utilities, government, and environmental planning.
According to a new report from the IBES-based Climate and Development Lab, opposition to climate legislation from Rhode Island’s main utility company and business interests are slowing climate legislation in the state.
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
Interpersonal and Self-Inflicted Violence Linked to Temperature Spikes
This article relays key findings from a new study of which Marianthi-Anna Kioumourtzoglou, a professor at IBES and the School of Public Health, is a co-author.
IBES and Epidemiology Professor Marianthi-Anna Kioumourtzoglou is among the authors of this new study, which links violence and temperature spikes.
bioGraphic
Pachyderm Pharmacies
Voss Postdoc Elodie Freymann, who studies self-medicating behavior among chimpanzees in Uganda, offered commentary about new research on elephants' search for medicinal plants.
Climate and Development Lab
Who’s Obstructing Climate Action in the Rhode Island Legislature?
Members of the IBES-based Climate and Development Lab found that Rhode Island Energy and the Public Utilities Commission are among the entities obstructing climate action in the state.
Experts from finance, insurance, policy, and environmental science joined IBES for a timely conversation on how escalating climate and nature-related risks are reshaping economic stability—and what tools can help safeguard our financial future.
IBES Director Kim Cobb discussed the physical and economic toll of 2025's most devastating weather events, including the Palisades and Eaton Fires and Hurricane Melissa.
This letter to the editor cites research from the IBES-based Climate and Development Lab.
IBES Director Kim Cobb was interviewed about the role of the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the Trump administration's recent moves to shutter it.
IBES Fellow Baylor-Fox Kemper, a professor in the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, offered commentary for this article.
IBES Director Kim Cobb described the National Center for Atmospheric Research as “the beating heart of our field” and called its end “unthinkable.”
IBES Director Kim Cobb called plans to shutter the National Center for Atmospheric Research "a national security risk."
Through on-the-ground interviews and new insights on misinformation, IBES faculty members Myles Lennon and Timmons Roberts uncovered what COP30 achieved—and what still stands in the way.
Canary Media
The man behind the fall of offshore wind
Professor Timmons Roberts offered commentary on opposition to offshore wind, which is often based in misinformation.
PEN America
Snapshots of Censorship: Tilting at Windmills
Professor Timmons Roberts penned this column, which reflects on recent political threats to academic research.
Gatesi, an Engineering Physics and ENVS concentrator, is researching “the most promising alternative” to standard lithium ion batteries by manipulating Lithium Lanthanum Zirconium Tantalum Oxide (LLZTO) to be more sustainable.
Yue Qi — an engineering professor, IBES affiliate, and deputy director of Brown's Initiative for Sustainable Energy — discussed her new study, which offers guidance for designing sodium-ion batteries.
The Brown Daily Herald
Fighting the College Hill floods: Brown takes steps to contain stormwater
IBES Director Kim Cobb offered commentary on Brown's efforts to increase climate resilience on campus.
The New York Times
Many Fighting Climate Change Worry They Are Losing the Information War
IBES Professor Timmons Roberts offered commentary on "sophisticated and extremely well funded" disinformation campaigns that have "succeeded at undermining climate action globally.”
November 26, 2025
News from Brown
Expanding seasonal immunization access could minimize off-season RSV epidemics
Researchers found differences in how respiratory syncytial virus spreads among children in rural versus urban communities and concluded that year-round immunizations would minimize risks of large seasonal outbreaks.
This article cites commentary from IBES Director Kim Cobb, who discussed COP30 and the global state of clean energy on CNN.
The IBES-based Climate Social Science Network, led by Professor Timmons Roberts, recently released "Climate Obstruction: A Global Assessment," which explores who is blocking action on climate change and how they are doing it.
November 20, 2025
News from Brown
Research provides new design specs for burgeoning sodium-ion batteries
A study provides new guidance for designing sodium-ion batteries, which are emerging as a less expensive and more environmentally friendly complement to lithium-based batteries.
The Brown Daily Herald
Brown begins work on $7 million microplastics research initiative
IBES Fellow Baylor Fox Kemper and Affiliate Mara Freilich, both faculty members in the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, are among the Brown researchers involved in the new SIMCoast initiative.
Bay to Bay News
Eidman: Big Oil is duping us about offshore wind
This column cites reports from researchers at the IBES-based Climate and Development Lab.
Earth Journalism Network
Countries Sign A Declaration To Fight Climate Disinformation At COP30
IBES Professor Timmons Roberts is among the prominent voices who advocated against climate disinformation at COP30 in Brazil.
Facing Future
The Phosphorus Conundrum
IBES Professor Stephen Porder and UVM Associate Professor Eric Roy, a former Voss postdoc, joined this episode of Facing Future to explain their work on the phosphorous cycle.
IBES Director Kim Cobb reflected on the absence of a US delegation at COP30 and the state of global climate action.
Professor Laurence C. Smith and colleagues are leading research on the melting Arctic and examining where meltwater ultimately ends up.
Global Issues
Without Truth, There Can Be No Climate Justice—Experts
IBES Professor Timmons Roberts discussed climate disinformation at COP30 in Belém, Brazil.