The University of Waterloo Climate Institute brings together the research community and partners to advance strategic research and capacity building priorities at the local, national, and international scales. Our work empowers business, government and civil society to respond effectively to the climate crisis.
Based at the University of Waterloo, the Climate Institute harnesses a unique combination of strengths and depth of expertise to enhance the impact and excellence of innovative interdisciplinary research and education, and to deal head-on with the complexity and interconnectedness of social, political and technological dimensions of climate change.
Our key focus areas:
RESEARCH
Strategic research development and management across priority research areas (deep decarbonization and sustainability transitions; climate risks, resilience and adaptation; and climate science, modelling and observation).
TRAINING AND CAPACITY BUILDING
Supporting climate action through targeted professional development opportunities and the integration of climate education in academic programs.
KNOWLEDGE SHARING
Informing decision makers in policy, practice and innovation through tailored reports, briefs, facilitated workshops, data visualization, media engagement, and partnerships.
Learn more about the work at the Waterloo Climate Institute:
Discover the Waterloo Climate Institute's Municipal Climate Adaptation Certificate. This forward-thinking professional development opportunity is funded by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and is designed specifically for municipal staff who are looking to strengthen their climate resilience skills.
News
Climate Change Mitigation with Direct Air Capture
A new technical brief from the Waterloo Climate Institute explores Direct Air Capture (DAC) as an innovative engineering approach to directly removing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. Contributing to the overall reduction of atmospheric CO2 levels, DAC has the potential to effectively mitigate climate change, when used in combination with permanent storage solutions. Authors Monica Ho, Vahid Barahimi and Climate Institute member Eric Croiset outline the current readiness of DAC technologies and acknowledge their limitations the latest brief.
Climate Pedagogy Symposium: Educators Unite to Advance Climate Change Education
The Climate Pedagogy Symposium brought together educators from higher education institutions across the Waterloo region to share innovative approaches to climate change education (CCE). Hosted collaboratively by the Waterloo Climate Institute at the University of Waterloo, Conestoga College, and Wilfrid Laurier University, the event facilitated discussions on decolonizing CCE, active learning strategies, reflective and reflexive teaching, interdisciplinarity, and addressing climate emotions.
A new pilot initiative combines art and disaster risk data to imagine possible futures
A project with Waterloo Climate Institute Executive Director, Sarah Burch, launched a new pilot experimental project using field research data on community disaster risk and strategies to explore visualizations of possible futures using digital design and augmented reality. The pilot will explore different facets of transformation due to global environmental change and extreme weather events.