News Archive

Pioneering study reveals that limiting global warming to 1.5ºC could reduce the global economic costs of climate change by two thirds. If warming continues to 3ºC, global GDP will decrease by up to 10 percent - with the worst impacts in less developed countries.

Philippe Mathys has long been interested in research. The 28-year-old student of Agricultural Sciences opted for Agroscope in Tänikon in the Canton of Thurgau for his professional internship and took away important lessons about practice, politics and research.

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a policy principle that shifts the burden of waste management from local authorities to producers. Yet, a study by Jakob Pruess suggests that EPR is much more than just an upstream shift of product take-back schemes. Comparative analyses should reflect the heterogeneity of EPR design, he argues, based on a statistical analysis of 25 European countries.

Can some insights from weather and climate research be used to improve preparations for a future pandemic? Researchers at ETH Zurich's Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science believe that lessons from four areas of weather and climate research could lead to cross-disciplinary inspiration.

On the occasion of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin and around sixty other high-ranking guests from politics, research and business visited an exhibition at the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF). There, among others, the Department of Environmental Systems Science (D-USYS) gave an insight into its research in the field of agricultural sciences.

At “Scientifica 21”, research groups from ETH and the University of Zurich presented their latest research. In the middle of the atrium of the ETH main building, the Institute of Agricultural Sciences presented their research for the agriculture of the future.

On 4 June 2021, the Federal Council appointed Beate Jessel as the new Director of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL). Her function as the Director of the WSL is linked to a joint professorship at ETH Zurich and EPFL.

Rachael Garrett holds the new Chair of Environmental Policy, which is jointly funded by D-USYS and D-GESS. She comes from Boston. Her research focuses on the causes and consequences of land use changes and the loss of woodland through deforestation and agriculture.

Mohammad Ali Nejad Ebrahimi, Vincent Humphrey, Caitlin Proctor and Timothy Thrippleton have been awarded the ETH Medal for their outstanding doctoral theses.

Ruben Kretzschmar and Heini Wernli, two of a total of ten researchers at ETH Zurich, have received a prestigious Advanced Grant this year from the European Research Commission (ERC). Both research teams have now commenced their work. In this report we are initially introducing one of the projects: IRMIDYN led by Ruben Kretzschmar.

After the disintegration of the polar vortex in the Arctic stratosphere, an icy easterly wind blows in Central Europe. IAC professor Daniela Domeisen explains the connection between why Siberian conditions currently prevail in Europe, while New Yorkers can enjoy summery warmth.

Anja Bürkli, Tino Colombi, Alexander Haumann and Timofei Sukhodolov have been honoured with the ETH Medal for their outstanding Doctoral theses.

The amplitude of the seasonal cycle of CO₂ in the world’s oceans is increasing. This has been verified by an international team of researchers, amongst them Nicolas Gruber, professor of climate physics at the Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics (IBP). The fluctuations are to be interpreted as a gigantic human footprint in the sea, which could considerably disturb a sensitive equilibrium in the world's oceans.  

In the newly structured course, «Environmental Problem Solving», roughly 150 environmental science students are concerned with a specific sustainability problem. In doing so, they learn to analyze complex topics, create suggestions for solutions and, above all keep their wits about themselves.

The Alp Weissenstein research station, situated below the Albula Pass and with pastures ranging in altitude from 1,900 to 2,600 metres above sea level, has belonged to ETH Zurich since 1967. Now the building has been completely renovated, transforming what was once a guest house into a state-of-the-art research centre.