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The climate crisis presents us with a mighty challenge: to profoundly reshape our relationship with the planet, and make a safer, healthier, more prosperous future. UCL is working with global and national partners to lead the push for change.
Our interdisciplinary discovery work ranges from predicting the extinction risk of animal and plant species most vulnerable to climate change, to addressing the climate impact on health around the world, and aims to inspire the next generation of leaders to create positive change.
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Understanding climate change｜The Anthropocene｜Built environment and transport｜Climate justice and governance｜Sustainable energy solutions ｜Climate resilience and adaptation｜Human health and climate change｜Sustainable economics and finance
Landmark Arctic research expedition
UCL scientists seek to answer questions about the Arctic climate system and how it affects global climate models, including investigating why the north pole is warming twice as fast as the global average.
Collaborating for climate prediction
UCL has joined the Met Office Academic Partnership transforming data sciences to secure the UK's world-leading position in weather forecasting and climate prediction.
28 trillion tonnes of ice lost in 26 years
A team including UCL scientists has found that 28 trillion tonnes of ice have disappeared from the surface of the earth since 1994 due to global heating.
Understanding changing oceans
There has been a dramatic decrease in cold-water plankton during the 20th century, in contrast to thousands of years of stability, according to a new UCL-led study.
How can satellites help us measure changes to the Arctic ocean?
The Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling uses satellites to map changes in the sea ice scape. Showing how quickly the Arctic Ocean will transform to have ice-free summers with huge implications for marine ecosystems, weather and our global climate.
The Anthropocene
UCL Anthropocene is an initiative in the social and historical sciences that addresses the relations between transformations in the global environment, including climate change, and major shifts in politics, economy, and society, that have happened historically, and are taking place today.
Climate change and bumblebee decline
Increasingly hot temperatures appear to be driving declines in bumblebee populations across Europe and North America, according to a UCL and University of Ottawa study.
Ecological disruption from climate change
A UCL-led study shows that warming global climate could cause sudden, potentially catastrophic losses of biodiversity in regions across the globe throughout the 21st century.
Charting the effect of heatwaves on ocean coral
A new joint study of coral reefs by UCL and researchers at ZSL (Zoological Society of London) has discovered that two-thirds of the shallow reefs in the Central Indian Ocean have died after two successive marine heatwaves.
Rewilding is essential to the UK's net zero commitment
Increasing the total forest cover of the UK to 18% would contribute one quarter of the emissions reduction needed to meet the UK's net zero by 2050 ambition.
Gender, climate change and urbanisation
The Bartlett's Development Planning Unit and Genre en Action are examining the links between gender, climate change and urbanisation.
A Legal Toolkit for the Paris Climate Commitments
Created in conjunction with the Commonwealth Secretariat, the UN and UCL this climate change legal toolkit is a global resource; helping countries to develop legal frameworks for the effective implementation of the Paris Agreement and their nationally determined contributions.
Is the climate crisis changing social norms?
UCL researchers are showing how climate change has altered social norms around the world, including an in-depth look at the resulting marriage crisis in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
Just Environmental Law
The climate crisis is putting pressure on traditional assumptions of 'good' decision making. Do we need to assert the values underpinning public involvement in environmental decision making?
Carbon offset market needs radical reform
The global voluntary carbon market, which allows companies to invest in environmental projects around the world to offset their own carbon footprint, could undermine global warming without an overhaul.
Farmer led regenerative agriculture in Africa
UCL's Institute for Global Prosperity is working with farmers across Africa to help them re-gain the centre ground in the design and implementation of their own agricultural futures, supporting carbon sequestration, biodiversity enhancements and ecosystem services.
Research into London's cycling lane capacity
About a sixth of London’s streets are wide enough to accommodate protected cycle lanes, amounting to over 2,000km of track that could be created quickly to improve safety as lockdown is eased, new UCL analysis has found.
Equitable Urban Planning in the Global South
UCL researchers are undertaking urban planning modelling to inform inclusive decisions related to dignified housing, energy access and comfort for off-grid communities.
Can there be a low carbon shipping industry?
Created by UCL's Energy Institute this new map uses 250 million data points to show the carbon emissions from all the ships in the world in a given year, highlighting the true scale of shipping’s role in the climate crisis.
Improving the performance of electric vehicles
As part of the Faraday Laboratory, UCL engineers and chemists are researching and developing the batteries of the future, helping to accelerate the world's electric vehicle revolution.
Making the UK's buildings carbon neutral
The Building Stock Lab at UCL has developed a method for modelling buildings to analyse their energy performance and ultimately improve the UK's building stock in the transition to carbon neutrality.
How can cities become circular?
The Circular Cities Hub links an international network of cities, professionals, and academics researching and delivering circular urban development; helping cities to mitigate for climate change and adapt to it. The latest project -Going Circular - seeks to model the impact of a variety of circular development pathways on greenhouse gas emissions.
To keep the cold out of our homes do we have to keep the fresh air out?
Academics from the UCL Energy Institute have won the Napier Shaw Bronze Medal by demonstrating the benefits of joined up thinking in airtightness construction and ventilation strategy.
A low carbon and smart cities vision for transport
As part of the MaaSLAB team, UCL researchers study all surface modes of transport for passengers and freight to design a transition to a more sustainable era of mobility.
Transitioning to sustainable energy
UCL researchers provide energy market modelling and local regulations analysis within the Energy Open Piazza Consortium, which aims to assemble the elements required to adopt a transformative energy solution in the built environment.
AI to solve problems in the energy system
The Energy Systems and Artificial Intelligence Lab (ESAIL) aims to deploy the most cutting edge algorithms and AI methods to solve problems of sustainability, from reducing energy consumption to the intelligent use of resources.
What are the challenges of a net zero future?
New funding for the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC), which extends across 20 institutions and is hosted by the UCL Energy Institute, will enable engineers, social scientists and natural scientists to conduct vital research into the challenges of a net zero emissions future.
Lebanon's pathway to sustainable energy
UCL's Institute for Global Prosperity's RELIEF Centre is researching how Lebanon, as a potential oil and gas producer, can limit its exposure to carbon risk and follow a cleaner pathway to sustainable energy through optimised models for energy and economic diversification.
Switching to electric heat pumps
Can the UK's electricity system cope if millions of homes switch from gas boilers to electric heat pumps to reduce fossil fuel consumption? UCL researchers use real evidence to show what time of day and year will prove most problematic for the National Grid.
The Internet of Energy Things
The rapid rise of local and community based renewable energy generation, plus changes in how energy is delivered has led some people to trade energy locally. How can blockchain technologies enable this in the UK?
New material engineered to capture carbon dioxide emissions
Researchers at UCL and Newcastle University have developed a new class of self-forming membrane to separate carbon dioxide from a mixture of gases.
Human action in the face of climate change
UCL's Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction and Institute for Global Health are exploring what humanity can learn from the history of disaster vulnerability. Their research looks at how communities are actively opposing the narrative of human helplessness in the face of environmental change.
Will three billion people really live in temperatures as hot as the Sahara by 2070?
Professor Mark Maslin comments on human adaptability and adversity in relation to a new study which suggests that climate change will shift billions of people out of their temperature comfort zone.
Groundwater resilience
Research carried out by UCL academics as part of the Climate and Water Research Unit (CWRU) shows that groundwater resources are more resilient to global change than previously thought.
How much does climate change influence migration?
UCL researchers are developing a robust, repeatable, and verifiable method to calculate the number of people migrating due to climate change; and on climate change displacement narratives and their negative impact.
Strengthening community climate resilience
UCL academics are part of the international project OVERCOME, establishing a transnational research network for digital innovations which increase community resilience against climate hazards and associated disease outbreaks.
If we free up space in cities, we can plant trees.
Professor Izaskun Chinchilla proposes that redesigning cities to include more green spaces will help urban residents survive the effects of climate change.
UCL research reveals rise in heat-related deaths linked to climate change
The last two decades have seen a 54% increase in heat-related deaths in older people linked to worsening climate change.
The impact of climate change on epilepsy
EpilepsyClimateChange is a group of concerned epilepsy clinicians and researchers, climate scientists, advocates and others from UCL and beyond seeking to foster and undertake research, raise awareness and promote measures to reduce carbon emissions related to epilepsy health care.
Cities for sustainability and health
Working with thirteen partner organisations across four continents the CUSSH project is helping cities to develop in ways which improve both population health and environmental sustainability.
Managing the health effects of climate change
UCL scientists are part of the Lancet-Countdown - a collaboration between universities and UN agencies - that tracks how climate change affects public health. Their data makes clear how climate change is affecting our health, the consequences of delayed action and the health benefits of a robust response.
Learning from the pandemic to prevent environmental catastrophe
According to research, The dynamics of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic share “striking similarities” with the twin environmental crises of global heating and species extinction.
Adapting UK care settings to climate change
UCL researchers are part of ClimaCare - a 28-month long research inititative studying the climate related heat risks in care settings.
Climate targets and economic growth
It is possible to reduce emissions whilst still achieving economic growth suggests a new study led by UCL academics, commissioned by the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra.
Nobel prize-winning economics of climate change is misleading and dangerous
Professor Steve Keen disagrees with the assertions of Noble Prize winner William Nordhaus on climate change and asserts climate change will negatively affect industries and economies worldwide.
British carbon tax leads to 93% drop in coal-fired electricity
Research led by UCL shows that a tax on carbon dioxide emissions in Great Britain, introduced in 2013, has led to the proportion of electricity generated from coal falling from 40% to 3% over six years.
Multinationals’ supply chains account for a fifth of global emissions
By mapping the emissions generated by multinationals’ assets and suppliers abroad, UCL researchers found that the flow of investment is typically from developed countries to developing ones – meaning that emissions are in effect outsourced to poorer parts of the world.
Global Financial Flows for Solar Energy
UCL ISR examines the role of heterogeneous actors and their relationships driving investments in solar energy projects globally. The research group employs multidisciplinary methods to construct networked markets of financial flows and identify points for policy intervention.
A world-first Sustainable Development Goals-oriented tax system?
UCL IIPP is providing research and policy analysis, to develop and economic framework to support the Biscay Government towards their ambition to launch a Sustainable Development Goals-oriented tax system.
Priming public sector finance for the green transition
UCL’s Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP) is working with EIT Climate-KIC, on a research and policy engagement project, which aims to influence the activities of public sector financial institutions (PSFIs) towards the green transition.