News

This week School of Environment Enterprise and Development researchers, Juan Moreno-Cruz, Neil Craik and Burgess Langshaw Power shared with Canadians their perspective on solar geoengineering as a potential way to manage climate change. As published in The Conversation they describe what exactly solar genoengineering entails. 

Splettstoesser is one of two 2021 Canadian recipients of the CCAE TD Insurance Meloche Monnex Fellowship in Advancement awarded by the Canadian Council for Advancement of Education (CCAE). The opportunity gives a chance for her to spend a year fully immersed in the world of university advancement splitting time being mentored by her former boss Maryam Latifpoor-Keparoutis at the Faculty of Environment’s Advancement Department and working with Kris Cates-Bristol at the University of Waterloo’s Central Office of Advancement team on developing skills for a future in the field.

The University of Waterloo’s Water Institute (WI) and Interdisciplinary Centre on Climate Change (IC3) are advancing climate change efforts by delivering a uniquely designed, three-week virtual summer school. Ninety-four participants from more than 15 countries participated in this year’s program, which ran from May 31^st to June 18^th, 2021.

Environment assistant professor Kelsey Leonard has been named the faculty's newest Canada Research Chair. With global warming now raising sea levels, Leonard’s position as Chair in Indigenous Waters, Climate and Sustainability will help her explore ways of facilitating Indigenous Knowledge to restore our threatened ocean, lakes and rivers, while asserting Indigenous sovereignty.

Green and social finance has grown rapidly in recent years, especially in the private sector. As economies across Asia and the Pacific work to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, how can governments nurture green and social finance to ensure that the recovery is inclusive, resilient, and sustainable? The Asian Development Bank (ADB) explored these issues in a recent report forecasting the drivers and impacts of green and social finance and its prospects in the region.

PhD candodate Blessing Ajayi and Prof. Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger share their piece: The Global Economy, Sustainable Development Goals, and International Law Cooperation for sustainable development through trade and investment agreements in a post-COVID 19 world.
 

By protecting, better managing, and restoring nature, Canada can reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, concludes Nature United’s ground-breaking Natural Climate Solutions for Canada. The new study published in Science Advances shows that Natural Climate Solutions can help Canada mitigate up to 78 Mt CO2e annually in 2030—an amount equal to the current greenhouse gas emissions from powering every single home in Canada for about three years.

On May 19, 2021 member of the University of Waterloo community received an email from President and Vice-Chancellor Feridun Hamdullahpur declaring it will join communities and other post-secondary institutions around the world in declaring a Climate Emergency.

With the declaration, Waterloo recognizes: 

Waterloo’s Interdisciplinary Centre on Climate Change (IC3) is pleased to welcome Dr. Sarah Burch, leading climate change and sustainability researcher, as the new executive director. Burch holds a Canada Research Chair in Sustainability Governance and Innovation and is an associate professor in the department of Geography and Environmental Management in the Faculty of Environment at the University of Waterloo.

With the global aviation industry facing challenges related to COVID-19, Suzanne Kearns an associate professor of aviation in the Faculty of Environment caught up with International Civil Aviation Organization as part of their Women in Aviation video series. Kearns shares concrete examples on how technology can help fill the diversity gap. She also discusses how a more sustainable aviation sector can be achieved amidst challenges created by the pandemic.