IBES Postdoc Jared Heern looked at the bios of more than 800 public utility commissioners serving in all 50 states between 2000 and 2020, finding that 25% had worked in the fossil fuel or utility industries compared to 19% with a background in environmental regulation.

IBES Fellow and Epidemiologist Joseph Braun authored a new study, which found that exposure to PFAS during pregnancy was linked to slightly higher body mass indices and an increased risk of obesity in children.

On 31st May, DEEPS Professor and Chair of the WMO Research Board Amanda Lynch invited the Nineteenth World Meteorological Congress to adopt eight recommendations developed by her Board to advance key elements of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) mission.

Professor Timmons Roberts penned a letter to the editor advocating for offshore wind's economic, health, and environmental benefits. Offshore wind, he wrote, "is simply the only resource we have in New England that is at the scale to meet the increased electricity demand and get off fossil fuels."

Fossil fuels have caused atmospheric carbon dioxide to reach its highest levels in more than 4 million years, AP reported. IBES Director Kim Cobb commented, "The relentless rise in atmospheric CO2 is incredibly worrying if not wholly predictable."

Professor Timmons Roberts reflects on a recent study that estimates the amount of money wealthy nations would owe poorer nations for their role in the climate crisis. "Whether a fund for compensating countries for climate impacts will ever move forward is uncertain, but that does not invalidate the need for us to have a clear-eyed perspective of what is owed," he writes.

Kasper Multipurpose Room, Stephen Robert Campus Center, 75 Waterman Street
1:00-3:00PM, Wednesday, May 3rd.

Tuesday, April 18 | 12:00pm-12:50pm
Urban Environmental Lab, Room 106, 135 Angell Street

The fourth annual student-run Future of Sustainable Investing Conference (FSIcon) will take place on Brown's campus this Friday, March 10. The event brings together investors, professionals, academics, and students for a full-day summit, challenging them to think critically about how investing can shape our future.

In an interview with meteorologist Jeff Berardelli, IBES Director Kim Cobb discusses how and why marine limestone functions as a climate proxy. “I’m proud to say that the corals that I work with in the middle of the Pacific Ocean are as good, if not better than the temperature records from satellites,” says Cobb.

“The American West is going to have to learn how to do more with less,” says Laurence Smith, IBES Professor and Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Studies. In a recent episode of the NPR Short Wave podcast, Smith argues that strategically managing rivers in the present will pave the way for a better, climate-adapted future.

Visiting Professor of Environment and Society Robert Brulle offered commentary on research showing that scientists at oil giant Exxon were ‘uncannily accurate’ in their climate change modeling since the 1970s. These findings support ongoing efforts to hold Exxon and other fossil fuel companies accountable for deliberate climate misinformation.

11 Brown students attended a special #UnitedNations conference supporting Pakistan's post-flood rebuilding efforts. The opportunity was made possible through the course "Climate Extremes and Human Rights: Winter Session in Geneva," co-led by IBES and EEPS Professor Amanda Lynch.

Even with the decelerated population growth of the past six decades, global population reached 8 billion people on Nov. 15. The climate emergency and the past population growth crisis represent existential challenges requiring sustained global efforts. Our success on the population issue holds key lessons for addressing the climate crisis as well.

Recent U.S. migration data shows that Americans continue moving to areas prone to wildfire, despite increased risk spurred by climate change. In a recent article from Inside Climate News, IBES Associate Research Professor Elizabeth Fussell says the situation demonstrates how “the public has not fully acknowledged the climate emergency.”

This critical river and its tributaries — responsible for transporting more than $17 billion worth of farm products and 60 percent of all U.S. corn and soybean exports annually — has been stricken by drought since September, amid a time of global grain shortage and soaring food prices.

Created by scholars at the Climate Solutions Lab in Brown University’s Watson Institute, the map reveals what economic benefits individuals and communities could reap if the U.S. pursues a net-zero energy policy.

A new study found that in Providence, R.I., and other cities, rising floodwaters are exposing more people to industrial pollution, and the issue is disproportionately affecting lower-income communities of color.

A climate scientist and professor who comes to Brown from Georgia Tech, Cobb will lead IBES, an academic hub for scholars exploring the interactions between natural, human and social systems.

Since its inception, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) itself has been the target of corporate obstructionism.

In this episode of New Security Broadcast, Colgan spoke at a recent Wilson Center event featuring his new book, Partial Hegemony: Oil Politics and International Order.

NPR's A Martinez talks to Jeffrey Colgan, Director of Brown University's Climate Solutions Lab, about how the United States plans to help Europe diminish its reliance on Russian natural gas.

Leah VanWey, an accomplished scholar and academic leader who serves currently as dean of Brown’s School of Professional Studies, has been appointed the University’s next dean of the faculty, effective July 1, 2022.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine has set off a flood of speculation about his motives. Myriad factors — including perceptions of Russia’s historical ties to Ukraine and regional security concerns — probably drive his ambitions. But Russia’s personalist domestic politics and its oil and gas wealth also contributed to this aggression.

"If science were more inclusive, it would have a richer and deeper understanding of pressing issues facing society, including the climate crisis", said Meredith Hastings, Co-author of a recent article in the journal Nature Geosciences.

This week a peer-reviewed study confirmed what many have suspected for years: major oil companies are not fully backing up their clean energy talk with action. Now the PR and advertising firms that have been creating the industry’s greenwashing strategies for decades face a reckoning over whether they will continue serving big oil.

Brulle said “This is the first robust, empirical, peer-reviewed analysis of the activities – of the speech, business plans, and the actual investment patterns – of the major oil companies regarding their support or opposition to the transition to a sustainable society".

Professor Christopher Horvat teamed up with director Stephen Smith on the documentary Albedo: In Search of a Frozen Ocean.

Staff Writer Kate Mekechuk attended the Department of Anthropology’s Boas Talk by Dr. Myles Lennon who discussed “Affective Energy: The ‘Equicratic’ Politics of Solar Technology From Wall Street to West Harlem.”

Lynch will lead a board of approximately 30 international scientists and researchers responsible for establishing the WMO’s research priorities and coordinating scientific programs and projects across the world. The board plays a key role in the WMO’s mission to track weather, climate and water resources globally and disseminate that information to its 193 member states and territories.

Electric and gas utilities spent $24 million on lobbying state lawmakers between 2013 and 2020, four times that spent by renewable energy firms and more than eight times that of environmental organizations, according to the analysis from the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society.

Connecticut should be a “best-case scenario” for progress on climate change, given that the economy is not reliant on fossil fuel extraction and there’s a “Democratic trifecta” in state government, said Timmons Roberts, professor of environmental studies and sociology at Brown and executive director of the Climate Social Science Network.

The Transportation Climate Initiative was held up as a crucial part of driving down emissions and raising revenue each year to pay for key programs to address climate change. It’s now on pause.