Topic description and stories

The climate crisis and biodiversity losses are affecting the planet at an alarming pace. Cambridge researchers are helping the response to these threats, building resilience, supporting the transition from fossil fuels to a zero-carbon future, and enabling us to act sustainably to protect the planet's precious resources and reduce waste.

The climate crisis: towards zero carbon

26 February 2020

Sir David Attenborough, Dr Jane Goodall DBE and leading Cambridge University researchers talk about the urgency of climate crisis – and some of the solutions that will take us towards zero carbon.

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Puffins

Protecting Europe’s seabirds

08 Dec 2022

New conservation guide launched to protect European seabirds at risk from climate change

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Mussels

Mussel memory

28 Nov 2022

How fresh-water mussels and a stretch of the River Thames connected two postgraduate scientists separated by over half a century.

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Researcher holding a mussel

Mussel survey reveals alarming degradation of River Thames ecosystem since the 1960s

28 Nov 2022

Scientists replicated a 1964 River Thames survey and found that mussel numbers have declined by almost 95%, with one species – the depressed river...

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Aeroplane flying

The future of aviation: how will we fly to COP in 2035?

18 Nov 2022

In the week of COP27 people across the world have flown to Sharm El Sheikh to discuss action on climate change. Aviation is a crucial way to bring us...

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An area of the Amazon rainforest cleared for soya production

Companies’ ‘deforestation-free’ supply chain pledges have barely impacted forest clearance in the Amazon

28 Oct 2022

More companies must make and implement zero-deforestation supply chain commitments in order to significantly reduce deforestation and protect diverse...

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Listening from afar

14 Sep 2022

A new, hands-off approach to monitoring biodiversity is saving time and money, and helping to identify sites where intervention is most needed.

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Floating ‘artificial leaves’ ride the wave of clean fuel production

17 Aug 2022

Researchers have developed floating ‘artificial leaves’ that generate clean fuels from sunlight and water, and could eventually operate on a large...

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Study lake in Norway

Natural clean-up: bacteria can remove plastic pollution from lakes

26 Jul 2022

A study of 29 European lakes has found that some naturally-occurring lake bacteria grow faster and more efficiently on the remains of plastic bags...

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Marine ecosystem

Experts predict top emerging impacts on ocean biodiversity over next decade

07 Jul 2022

Lithium extraction from the deep sea, overfishing of deeper-water species, and the unexpected ocean impacts of wildfires on land are among 15 issues...

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Conservation: it’s time to look at the evidence

29 Jun 2022

Professor Bill Sutherland is leading a conservation revolution to reverse the dramatic loss of global biodiversity

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Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina

Extreme weather and climate events likely to drive increase in gender-based violence

13 Jun 2022

As the climate crisis leads to more intense and more frequent extreme weather and climate-related events, this in turn risks increasing the amount of...

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Coastal development along the East Asia coastline

Satellite images reveal dramatic loss of global wetlands over past two decades

13 May 2022

An analysis of over a million satellite images has revealed that 4,000 square kilometres of tidal wetlands have been lost globally over twenty years...

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