Columbia Climate School

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Columbia Climate School Innovative education, groundbreaking research, and just solutions for climate, Earth, and society.

We're not your average academic institution with researchers and students buried under mounds of books and papers. From expeditions through the Southern Ocean to measuring core samples in the Arctic, something new is being discovered each day. Here we’ll capture those stories and more of how the Earth works and how we can sustainably make our lives here better.

A 3°C temperature spike in the Eastern Pacific Ocean is changing weather patterns around the planet. This climate phenom...
10/24/2026

A 3°C temperature spike in the Eastern Pacific Ocean is changing weather patterns around the planet. This climate phenomenon, El Niño, brings more frequent and intense heatwaves, greater drought and wildfire risk, and heavier rainfall. El Niño can affect nearly every part of daily life and industry, from the food we eat to how we travel.

On Oct 27 6pm ET, join us for Bracing for the Strongest El Niño on Record, an exclusive webinar on Columbia Giving Day* eve, with our panel of climate experts, Columbia Climate School professors of climate Sheila Foster, Radley Horton, and Mingfang Ting. Register: https://columbiauniversity.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_qUwDPQ5wQmOPyfImCpbdWw #/registration

You'll have an opportunity to ask the questions the headlines don’t answer. Get the science behind the forecasts, find out what it means for your life and work, and learn what to expect in the months ahead.

*Columbia Giving Day is Wednesday Oct 28! Learn more about how our Giving Day donors help advance bold research, empower future climate leaders, and propel evidence-based climate solutions: https://givingday.columbia.edu/pages/columbia-climate-school

Columbia Alumni Association

Putting data centers in space once seemed fanciful. Today, a growing number of companies have started doing so. Astrophy...
10/22/2026

Putting data centers in space once seemed fanciful. Today, a growing number of companies have started doing so.

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, Director of Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, joined lead authors of a forthcoming report on space-based data centers, including: Columbia Climate School Dean Alexis Abramson, Center on Global Energy Policy Inaugural Fellow David Sandalow, and Non-Resident Fellow Nobuo Tanaka, former International Energy Agency Executive Director.

🎥 AI Data Centers: Is Space the Next Frontier hosed by the Center on Global Energy Policy and Columbia Climate School: https://youtu.be/qZvl0Hcpf3g

🌿 Climate LIVE K12, our free interactive online learning series, features our experts and students talking biodiversity,...
10/22/2026

🌿 Climate LIVE K12, our free interactive online learning series, features our experts and students talking biodiversity, climate finance, climate action in sports, plastic pollution, safe water, El Niño, and wildfire management.

💚 We welcome students, educators, families, and lifelong learners of all ages to explore climate and sustainability with us!

🌎 Learn more via State of the Planet and RSVP for each session to join us: https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2026/10/21/discover-climate-live-k12-sessions-for-2026-27/

🗓️ Up Next: On Nov 18 4-4:30pm ET, join us for Biodiversity Matters: What Is It, and Why Should We Care? with expert Jenna Lawrence.

10/21/2026

Meet Shelly Shan ’27, a student in our MS in Climate Finance program! Join her for a day of classes and campus life in NYC.

⚡ Interests: Renewable energy investing, project finance, and energy market research.
🐋 Fun fact: Marine animal lover, she has been on nine whale-watching trips along the East Coast!

✨ Curious about climate and finance? Explore our MS in Climate Finance program at climate.columbia.edu/ms-climate-finance.

Inspired by the freedom found in the mountains, Columbia University M.S. in Sustainability Management Program alum Jitha...
10/19/2026

Inspired by the freedom found in the mountains, Columbia University M.S. in Sustainability Management Program alum Jithamanyu Thoppey M calls for restoring ecosystems and building communities where every living being can flourish authentically.

In October 2025, Thoppey M summited Mera Peak in the Himalayas to raise funds for Wild Tomorrow, a conservation organization working to restore endangered ecosystems and protect wildlife in South Africa. What began as a physical challenge became a deeply personal reflection on identity, belonging, and freedom.

"Climbing to raise funds for restoration, research on human-elephant coexistence, and my q***r journey had taught me the same lesson: when a landscape becomes fragmented, life adapts. But adaptation is not the same as freedom. If we want different outcomes, we have to change the conditions that shape them," writes Thoppey M.

Read "Finding My Wild: A Summit for Pride and the Planet" via State of the Planet: https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2026/10/14/finding-my-wild-a-summit-for-pride-and-the-planet/

📷 The author on the summit of Mera Peak in Nepal at 5:30am local time on October 14, 2025. Credit: Jithamanyu Thoppey M

📢 Join in-person (climate.columbia.edu/events/ai-data-centers-space-next-frontier) or via Zoom: columbiauniversity.zoom....
10/19/2026

📢 Join in-person (climate.columbia.edu/events/ai-data-centers-space-next-frontier) or via Zoom: columbiauniversity.zoom.us/s/99695871938

Are space-based data centers technically and economically feasible? What risks would mega constellations of space-based data centers create? Are current national and international governance regimes adequate to address these risks?

On Oct 20 5pm ET, join the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA and Columbia Climate School for AI Data Centers: Is Space the Next Frontier?, a panel discussion with lead authors of a major new report:

* Neil deGrasse Tyson, Frederick P. Rose Director, Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, Astrophysicist, Author, and Host, StarTalk Podcast
* Alexis Abramson, Dean, Columbia Climate School, and Professor of Climate
* David Sandalow, Inaugural Fellow, Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA, and Host, AI, Energy, and Climate Podcast
* Nobuo Tanaka, Non-Resident Fellow, Center on Global Energy Policy, and former International Energy Agency Executive Director

Learn more/register: https://www.climate.columbia.edu/events/ai-data-centers-space-next-frontier

Global trade, technological disruption, geopolitical tensions, and climate change are reshaping our interconnected world...
10/16/2026

Global trade, technological disruption, geopolitical tensions, and climate change are reshaping our interconnected world. But the forces behind today's challenges have evolved over thousands of years.

Ages of Globalization—a new Columbia Plus course blending self-paced and live sessions with Columbia University professor and director of the Center for Sustainable Development Jeffrey Sachs—connects historical developments to today's shifting global order, exploring how we got here and what history can teach us about where we're headed.

➡️ RSVP for free live webinar on Nov 5, learn more, and enroll: https://plus.columbia.edu/content/ages-globalization

10/16/2026

🔥 New Online Professional Learning Course: Climate Finance

Led by Lisa Sachs, director of the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment and our MS in Climate Finance program, this course demystifies how capital moves in response to climate change, why it often fails to flow where it’s needed most, and how financial tools can be matched to different climate needs.

You’ll gain practical insights into:
• How financing needs differ across mitigation, adaptation, resilience, and loss and damage.
• Why capital doesn’t always reach the places and solutions that need it most.
• The strengths and limits of tools like green bonds, ESG investing, carbon markets, and net-zero pledges.
• How to match climate needs with the right financial instruments.

➡️ Learn more and enroll today: https://plus.columbia.edu/content/climate-finance

No prior financial background is needed. By the end of the course, you will have a practical framework for moving beyond climate finance labels and pledges to diagnose what needs financing; identify what is preventing capital from flowing; and evaluate the financial tools, institutions, and reforms that can help address those barriers.

🌍 This course is part of our new Climate Foundations for Executive Leadership series, on-demand professional learning courses in collaboration with Columbia Plus.

From the impact of suspending US embassy reporting on air quality to why two extreme heatwaves had different impacts to ...
10/15/2026

From the impact of suspending US embassy reporting on air quality to why two extreme heatwaves had different impacts to how to make vulnerable populations in smaller cities more visible, it's our monthly research roundup from State of the Planet: https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2026/10/06/september-research-roundup-select-papers/

Additional highlights:
* How Earth-Observation Data Can Better Support Humanitarian Decisions
* How Scientists Can Make Better Use of the Unprecedented Volume of New Data Collected at Sea

📷 Dense smog blankets Metro Manila skyline. Credit: MDV Edwards

🗓️ Oct 17 Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Open House (openhouse.ldeo.columbia.edu) = Hands-on science fun and discovery...
10/15/2026

🗓️ Oct 17 Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Open House (openhouse.ldeo.columbia.edu) = Hands-on science fun and discovery!
🌊 An "ultra strong" El Niño is set to break historical records.
🌡️ Dangerous heat days far are expanding beyond summer.
🔥 Cities could reduce methane emissions and save money lost to wasted natural gas.

➡️ Get the details: mailchi.mp/climate/oct8-51636?e=83aaf7147e
📩 Subscribe: climate.columbia.edu/join

✅ Stay connected:
🔹 Follow Columbia Climate School
🔹 Follow Dean Alexis Abramson on LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/alexis-abramson-63843/)

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