Columbia Climate School

A global partnership between Columbia Climate School and UNICEF leaders is building climate knowledge and capacity to help protect more than a billion children worldwide facing multiple climate hazards, writes Miren Gil-Vernet.

The Climate School team—Lisa Dale, Jeff Schlegelmilch, and Gil-Vernet with support from the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Columbia University—has partnered with UNICEF leadership to deliver a series of trainings around the world and online.

The results: staff walk in without deep climate knowledge and walk out understanding how to start building climate into the projects they lead.

"The children exposed to climate hazards cannot wait for perfect knowledge or endless training. They need the people closest to them—the health workers, educators, engineers and policymakers—to act now with the understanding and tools to do it," writes Gil-Vernet.

"This is how the Columbia Climate School reaches beyond academia to share knowledge and learn from inspirational practitioners," says Dale.

Learn more via State of the Planet:
https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2026/08/13/when-knowledge-travels-translating-climate-awareness-into-action/

📷 The Climate Leadership Capacity Strengthening Programme in Panama. Photo courtesy of Miren Gil-Vernet Pagonabarraga

We are very pleased to welcome our inaugural Climate, Earth and Society Distinguished Fellows, five exceptional leaders who will enrich our teaching, research, and impact:

🔷 Rohit “Rit” Aggarwala is a leader in urban sustainability and infrastructure who previously served as New York City’s Chief Climate Officer and Commissioner of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection.

🔷 Justin Brice Guariglia is a visual artist whose work explores changing ecosystems and humanity’s relationship with the natural world through collaborations with scientists and other thinkers.

🔷 Mareva Grabowski-Mitsotakis is an entrepreneur and creative leader focused on sustainable business practices, cultural heritage, and innovation in the creative economy.

🔷 Sarah B. Kapnick is a climate scientist and Global Head of Climate Advisory at J.P. Morgan, who previously served as Chief Scientist at NOAA, where she advanced climate research and prediction.

🔷 Miranda Massie is the founding director of The Climate Museum, where she has pioneered the use of arts, storytelling, and community engagement to build public understanding and action on climate change.

“By bringing accomplished leaders into our community, the program creates opportunities for our students, researchers, and faculty to engage with new perspectives, learn from experience, and explore how knowledge can be translated into meaningful action. I am delighted to welcome this year’s Fellows and to have them contribute to the intellectual life of the school,” says Alexis Abramson, dean of the Columbia Climate School.

Learn more via State of the Planet: https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2026/08/17/columbia-climate-school-welcomes-inaugural-cohort-of-climate-earth-and-society-distinguished-fellows/

We welcome Garrett Albistegui Adler, an interdisciplinary environmental social scientist, to the Columbia Climate School faculty.

Albistegui Adler's research examines the political and social impacts of climate change and climate variability, focusing on understanding, testing, and ultimately preventing the links between climate stress and violent conflict.

“Garrett brings an impressive combination of scholarly rigor, interdisciplinary thinking and a deep commitment to education. His expertise at the intersection of climate and society will only strengthen our teaching and research community,” says Alexis Abramson, dean of the Columbia Climate School.

Learn more via State of the Planet: https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2026/08/13/columbia-climate-school-welcomes-environmental-social-scientist-garrett-albistegui-adler

Ethiopia and the African Union can make COP32 more effective by focusing on scalable plans for energy systems, finance reform, food security, and nature restoration, writes Lisa Sachs, director of the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment and our MS in Climate Finance program.

"As the continent that contributes least to global emissions and bears the greatest costs, Africa needs a framework that translates a global problem into a commensurate global response. The solutions are well within reach; the barrier is neither the capital nor the technology, but the architecture for implementation," writes Sachs.

Learn more via State of the Planet: https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2026/08/12/how-ethiopia-can-make-cop32-the-summit-that-actually-delivers

📷 Addis Ababa aerial view. Credit: PMO Ethiopia, Public domain, via Commons

Climate researchers Marco Tedesco and David Sathuluri of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory reflect on how a single week of heat, smoke, and flooding exposed the vulnerability of NYC, and how compound event science must be translated into actionable tools that cities and states can use to manage emergencies, allocate resources, and protect people.

"The work ahead means building indices that integrate across hazards, coupling them to the social data that determine who actually gets hurt, and giving emergency managers a way to see the compound picture as clearly as they now see the single-hazard one. It means the climate science of compound events finding its way into a firehouse and a mayor’s dashboard," write Tedesco and Sathuluri.

Learn more via State of the Planet: https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2026/08/11/accounting-for-compounding-climate-events-in-emergency-management/

📷 Smoke from Canadian Wildfires over New York City in June 2023. Credit: Newell Reinvention via Commons

MS Climate Finance student Guy Ningabo, just one of three recipients of a prestigious Stanley Park Climate Finance Scholarship, believes better impact finance can transform renewable energy in Africa.

Learn about his journey from Burundi, East Africa to Columbia Climate School and what keeps him motivated. Via State of the Planet: https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2026/08/07/climate-finance-student-guy-ningabo-believes-better-impact-finance-can-transform-renewable-energy-in-africa/

📷 Guy Ningabo hiking in the Ngong Hills in Kajiado, Kenya. Credit: Guy Ningabo

3 Insights 🔎
1️⃣ Extreme heat and aging power grids are escalating public health and infrastructure risks. 🌡️
2️⃣ Pacific Ocean circulation patterns help explain diverging wildfire trends. 🔥
3️⃣ High-resolution geospatial mapping is vital for responding to epidemic outbreaks in remote regions. 🗺️

📩 Subscribe: climate.columbia.edu/join
👉 Get the details: https://mailchi.mp/climate/aug5-1229?e=3b13600315

✅ Stay connected with leaders in the field:
🔹 Follow Columbia Climate School
🔹 Follow Dean Alexis Abramson on LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/alexis-abramson-63843/)

Wildfires across France and Spain are threatening more than homes and landscapes. The economic damage is reaching tourism, agriculture, vineyards, and communities that depend on Europe’s summer economy.

Lisa Sachs, director of the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment and our MS in Climate Finance program, discusses the growing financial toll of extreme wildfires, the challenges of protecting vineyards as water becomes scarcer, and why preparation and climate adaptation are becoming increasingly important.

Via CGTN America.

Europe’s wildfires threaten tourism, vineyards and local economies Wildfires across France and Spain are threatening more than homes a...

State-run last-resort insurance plans push rates up for everyone, reduce incentives for fire-resistant homes and development, and can’t substitute for long-term solutions, write Lisa Dale, Columbia Climate School MA Climate & Society director, and Kelly Pohl, Headwaters Economics associate director. Via Governing.

The Holes in States’ Wildfire Insurance Safety Net State-run last-resort insurance plans push rates up for everyone, and they reduce incentives for fire-resistant homes and development. The plans can’t substitute for long-term solutions.