Research

The University of Waterloo released the "Global Futures: Innovation Update", featuring Waterloo Climate Institute members, Amelia Clarke and Christopher G. Fletcher from the Faculty of Environment, and Dillon Browne from the Faculty of Arts. The publication entitled "The futures we imagine for humanity and our planet" shares insights into new and innovative research across disciplines.

Shahan Salim, a PhD a PhD candidate in the School of Public Health Sciences and a member of the Waterloo Climate Institute’s COP 28 delegation, has designed a platform to use data from low-cost air quality sensors to monitor and predict adverse outcomes related to air pollution exposure in low-income countries.

Kelsey Leonard, Climate Institute member and professor in the School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability, is the director of The WAMPUM Lab which has partnered with the Collaboratory for Indigenous Data Governance to co-develop a report for the UN to prioritize Indigenous Peoples’ in the digital ecosystem.

Waterloo professor is part of an emerging field that calls for establishing a governance framework for ocean-based climate interventions

Dr. Neil Craik, law professor in the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development and Waterloo Climate Interventions Strategies Lab member, is part of a growing area of research critically assessing the impacts and governance challenges of large-scale climate interventions in the world’s oceans.

Canada’s National Adaptation Strategy (NAS) provides a framework to move the country toward a climate-resilient future. The strategy lays out a critical foundation for Canada’s adaptation efforts but experts agree that this is only the first step, and that the success of the strategy will be measured by how we implement and carry out the adaptation plan. To better understand the strategy and its potential impact, the University of Waterloo’s Climate Institute hosted a webinar that brought together several of Canada’s leading adaptation experts who participated in its development.

In the first case study of its kind in Canada, researchers from the University of Waterloo, including Waterloo Climate Institute member Paul Parker, analyze data-driven improvements in Canada’s first zero-carbon, net-positive energy building showing how they play a vital role in that building generating more energy than it consumes.

Small isolated wetlands that are full for only part of the year are often the first to be removed for development or agriculture, but a new study, led by researchers at the University of Waterloo, including Waterloo Climate Insitute member Nandita Basu, shows that they can be twice as effective in protecting downstream lake or river ecosystems than if they were connected to them. 

Researchers from the University of Waterloo and Seneca College, including Olaf Weber environment professor and Waterloo Climate Institute member, have developed a new grading system for waste that could divert a billion pounds of clothes and other fabric items from landfills. The new method will evaluate an item’s quality from A to F and whether it can be resold, recycled or tossed. In testing this method, they found that more than half of textile waste in Canada could be reused and almost a quarter could be recycled. 

Recent studies suggest that flares in oil and gas fields are considerably less efficient than previously thought, a discrepancy that could be responsible for additional annual emissions equivalent to those produced by up to 8.8 million cars in the United States alone. To help tackle this urgent problem, a research team led by Dr. Kyle Daun, an engineering professor at the University of Waterloo and Waterloo Climate Institute member, is working with a sophisticated infrared camera to more accurately measure how well flares convert methane into CO2. In the future, he and the team hope to include other institute members like Dr. Maria Strack and Dr. Laura Hug to use the technology for measuring methane emissions in wetlands and landfills.

The Government of Canada has announced new federal funding of over $585,000 for a research project that will examine how much flooding will cost in the future and how public policy can contribute to Canada’s resilience to climate change. This project, completed as a partnership between l'Université du Québec à Montréal, the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC), the Université Laval and the University of Waterloo, builds on Dr. Daniel Henstra and Dr. Jason Thistlethwaite’s previous work with Canada's Task Force on Flood Insurance and Relocation.