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Financing resilience for ocean economies
Perry World House’s ‘Financing Resilience for Ocean Economies’ workshop brought together policymakers, practitioners, and academics to discuss how to close the $175 billion annual investment gap in ocean resilience.
4/21/2026
What happens when an iceberg melts?
With ice balls, lasers, and cameras, School of Arts & Sciences’ Hugo Ulloa recreated a melting iceberg in his lab. This project revealed that icebergs don’t sit passively on the water’s surface but actually release dense, cold water and jet across the surface, churning and mixing everything in their paths.
4/20/2026
How markets can help society adapt to climate change
Environmental and labor economist R. Jisung Park co-authored a new paper reporting that carefully designed markets and supportive public policy can help individuals and communities more effectively approach climate adaptation.
3/6/2026
Beating the heat: Designing cooling for bodies in motion
Dorit Aviv, director of Weitzman’s Thermal Architecture Lab, studies how humans, technology, and design intersect, paving the way for the development of novel approaches to cooling people efficiently.
2/18/2026
Solar solutions for farmers in The Gambia
For students in Engineers Without Borders at Penn, collaborating with Gambian farmers to design an irrigation system is a way to both address food insecurity in the smallest country in mainland Africa and apply their knowledge from the classroom in the real world.
2/16/2026
Green Lab’s Freezer Inventory Project: Turning a ripple of change into a wave
The Freezer Inventory Project, launched in late 2023, aims to improve the efficiency of a major energy strain: ultra-low temperature freezers.
2/9/2026
How plants ‘hedge their bets’ for better reproductive outcomes
Penn biologists reveal how plants respond to seasonal flowering cues while protecting the stem cells at their growing tip, enabling continuous reproduction in changing environments.
1/22/2026
Mia McElhatton: How climate change affects migration
Fourth-year philosophy major Mia McElhatton is investigating the effects of climate change on how people move from place to place.
12/11/2025
Bringing COP30 from Brazil into Penn classrooms
Penn Carey Law professors Bill Burke-White and Ken Kulak attended COP30, this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference, and incorporated their experiences into their International Climate Change and Energy Law and Climate Change courses.
12/8/2025
Measurable progress in campus sustainability goals
An FY25 progress report highlights achievements on the goals of the University's Climate & Sustainability Action Plan 4.0 on campus and beyond.
12/3/2025
In the News
The New York Times
The weather is getting wilder, and some see a dire signal in the data
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences comments on the consequences of global warming.
3/19/2026
New Scientist
Why global warming is accelerating and what it means for the future
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences discusses the impacts of aerosols and natural fluctuations on global warming.
3/16/2026
USA Today
A deadly climate change effect is even worse than feared, study finds
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences comments on a study that indicates underestimation of potential sea-level rise.
3/8/2026
CNN
Doomsday Clock 2026: Scientists set new time
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences comments on the Doomsday Clock.
1/27/2026
Boston Globe
When will the big nor’easters return? Boston in midst of second-longest streak without hefty snowfalls.
Research from Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences shows how strong nor’easters are becoming stronger.
1/13/2026
Philadelphia Inquirer
30.7 inches of snow fell in Philly on this week in 1996. Don’t bet against an encore some winter soon
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences published a paper about warmer sea temperatures influencing snowstorms.
1/7/2026
San Francisco Chronicle
Home insurance costs are up 150% in one part of California. This map shows premiums by county
Benjamin Keys of the Wharton School says climate change is making insuring homes riskier and more expensive.
12/10/2025
Associated Press
UN says world must jointly tackle issues of climate change, pollution, biodiversity and land loss
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences welcomes a recent UN climate report’s emphasis on tackling issues across governments and society.
12/9/2025
The Wall Street Journal
It’s getting harder to figure out whether you live in a flood zone or not
A Wharton School study found that homes damaged by Hurricane Harvey in 2017 were far less likely to default if they were inside the federal flood zone.
11/9/2025
Los Angeles Times
Bill Gates doesn’t regret his controversial climate memo
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says, “We don’t have decades to address the climate crisis.”
11/5/2025
Turning peels into pavers: How Penn designers turn food scraps into biodegradable building materials
The Weitzman School’s Laia Mogas-Soldevila and Yasaman Amirzehni transform unavoidable food waste—like fruit peels and eggshells, which account for 14.8% of post-consumer restaurant food waste—into durable, biodegradable building materials in collaboration with Penn Dining.
3/31/2026
Solar solutions for farmers in The Gambia
For students in Engineers Without Borders at Penn, collaborating with Gambian farmers to design an irrigation system is a way to both address food insecurity in the smallest country in mainland Africa and apply their knowledge from the classroom in the real world.
2/16/2026
Weitzman Hall, renewed and expanded, celebrated at opening ceremony
The Penn community gathered to celebrate the opening of Weitzman Hall, the Weitzman School of Design’s first new building in nearly 60 years.
2/9/2026
Green Lab’s Freezer Inventory Project: Turning a ripple of change into a wave
The Freezer Inventory Project, launched in late 2023, aims to improve the efficiency of a major energy strain: ultra-low temperature freezers.
2/9/2026
How plants ‘hedge their bets’ for better reproductive outcomes
Penn biologists reveal how plants respond to seasonal flowering cues while protecting the stem cells at their growing tip, enabling continuous reproduction in changing environments.
1/22/2026
Weighing sustainability of real vs. fake Christmas trees
Engineering professor Lorena Grundy says people looking to make a sustainable decision should consider how many years they would use an artificial tree, how they plan to dispose of a real tree, and how the tree was transported.
12/18/2025
Measurable progress in campus sustainability goals
An FY25 progress report highlights achievements on the goals of the University's Climate & Sustainability Action Plan 4.0 on campus and beyond.
12/3/2025
Where water meets artificial intelligence
As part of the new Water-AI Nexus Center of Excellence collaboration, The Water Center at Penn is helping answer key questions around technology and sustainability.
11/3/2025
The making of Weitzman Hall
As the Weitzman School of Design prepared to open its first new building in more than 50 years, members of the design, preservation, and construction teams were highlighted in a series of conversations about the making of Stuart Weitzman Hall.
10/24/2025
Craig Roncace puts his green thumb to work
As Penn’s urban park manager, Craig Roncace leads a versatile team in charge of outdoor maintenance, waste management, and sustainability initiatives across campus.
10/9/2025
Sustainability in the News
Billy Penn
This app makes recycling bigger items work for students, colleges and businesses
Nina Morris of the sustainability office discusses reduction of campus move-out waste.
11/4/2025
The Washington Post
He got an entire country running on clean energy. Can he do it again?
Angela Pachon of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy in the Weitzman School of Design comments on the importance of a track record when advocating for sustainable energy.
9/21/2025
Associated Press
In a reversal, plans for U.S. natural gas power grow, complicating progress on climate
John Quigley of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the Weitzman School of Design says that the construction of every new natural gas plant is a setback for climate goals.
2/27/2025
CalMatters
California’s controversial new fuel rules rejected by state legal office
A report by the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the Weitzman School of Design predicted that fuel standard changes in California could increase the cost of gas by 85 cents a gallon through 2030.
2/20/2025
Inside Climate News
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.
12/2/2024
Philadelphia Citizen
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.
11/27/2024
WHYY (Philadelphia)
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.
11/14/2024
Salon.com
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.
11/13/2024
Associated Press
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.
11/12/2024
The Wall Street Journal
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.
11/10/2024
A message about Penn’s endowment and sustainability
November 29, 2022
The world gathering in Egypt for COP27 reminds us of the urgency of our collective fight against climate change. Faculty, student, and staff attendees from Penn represent the energy and talent that so many Penn community members contribute to this crucial effort.
Update on Endowment Net-Zero Goal
March 02, 2022
In April 2021, the Office of Investments set a goal of reducing the net anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions associated with the endowment’s investments to zero by 2050. Since then, we have collaborated with Penn’s Investment Board to develop a framework for achieving net zero.
A message to the Penn community on combating climate change
April 07, 2021
Combating climate change is one of the paramount challenges of our time. We write today to update the University community on a significant new initiative that Penn is undertaking.
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