News

A new policy brief from the Waterloo Climate Institute led by Nesma Hassan and Prof. Amr ElAlfy is calling for a more consistent approach to airline sustainability reporting.

Aviation contributes significantly to climate change, and its emissions could triple by 2050 without stronger mitigation efforts. Airlines are facing growing pressure from regulators, investors, and the public to demonstrate credible sustainability performance, yet current reporting remains inconsistent and incomplete.

The Waterloo Climate Institute equips municipal leaders with interdisciplinary skills to integrate climate action into infrastructure, planning and decision-making. As extreme weather events escalate across the world, communities are seeking the skills and tools needed to prepare. The University of Waterloo’s Climate Institute empowers business, government and civil society to respond effectively to the climate crisis. Through its new Municipal Climate Adaptation Certificate, the Climate Institute is advancing national climate leadership by helping municipal professionals, elected officials and Indigenous community members respond to climate risks with informed, practical and collaborative action.

Researchers have created the first map of a network of subglacial lakes in the Canadian Arctic showing 33 bodies of water under glaciers.  

Using a decade of ArcticDEM satellite data of the Earth’s surface height, a team of researchers including the University of Waterloo developed a method that allowed them to track the draining and filling of active subglacial lakes in unprecedented detail.  

New modelling shows almost one in three Americans will routinely breathe air considered unhealthy for sensitive people by the year 2100 due to climate change, a sevenfold increase compared to the turn of the century. 

The international study, led by the University of Waterloo, found that about 100 million people in the United States will live in areas where average air quality during smog season is poor enough to trigger alerts advising vulnerable people to stay indoors. 

Waterloo researchers launch strategies to help businesses plan for and invest in climate resilience.

Around the world, climate and disaster risks are disrupting production, transportation and market access, posing growing challenges for businesses, trade support institutions and governments. Boards and senior executives are increasingly being held accountable for managing climate-related exposures. At the same time, physical climate impacts are already influencing loan pricing, intensifying the financial sector’s direct exposure to climate risk.

From February 2 to 5, 2026, the Climate Institute convened nearly 300 participants for a national virtual forum, Designing Climate-Ready Education for the Next Generation of Professionals. This was the second national forum under the Accelerating Climate Education for the Next Generation of Professionals (ACE) project. 

New research into the impact of climate change on snow sports provides recommendations to increase the climate-resilience of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

A new policy brief from the Waterloo Climate Institute led by Dr. Laura Neary, Prof. Roland Hall and Prof. Brent Wolfe is urging governments and stewardship bodies to act quickly to establish long-term lake monitoring in the Peace-Athabasca Delta (PAD), the world’s largest freshwater boreal delta, amid growing pressures from climate change and major energy developments.

Waterloo researchers are helping shape the next global scientific assessment that will guide world leaders from climate promises to action. These researchers are from the University of Waterloo’s Faculty of Environment and members of the Waterloo Climate Institute: Dr. Sarah Burch, Dr. Vanessa Schweizer and Dr. Andrew Trant. We caught up with them to learn their roles in producing the upcoming Seventh Assessment report, how it relates to their work at Waterloo and what keeps them motivated.

A new policy brief from the Waterloo Climate Institute and the Christmas Tree Lab, led by Prof. Kelsey Leonard, highlights the need for climate resilience measures for Ontario’s Christmas tree industry.  To ensure the industry’s long-term sustainability, the brief proposes five key action areas for all levels of government: upholding cultural heritage, aligning crop insurance policies to tree farming, addressing climate-driven pests and diseases, integrating Christmas tree farms into climate policy, and promoting post-holiday tree recycling.