Climate Change

Green spaces or trees can mitigate urban heat, but it takes time for the cooling effects to develop. Modelling using satellite data can show how much time is needed.

In the scientific journal Nature, a team including a member of Eawag published a study on the development of biodiversity in European inland waters, based on invertebrates.

EPFL engineers propose a system-wide integration solution for carbon capturing and mineralisation in the cement production, steel manufacturing, and waste incineration sectors. 

Soil is the most species-rich habitat on earth. This is the conclusion of an overview study by a Swiss research team. According to the study, two thirds of all known species live in the soil. Fungi are the group with the most soil-dwelling species, namely about 86 percent, followed by plants with their roots.

Since the start of this year, a suite of instruments has been hard at work detecting a broad spectrum of aerosols at the MeteoSwiss weather station in Payerne, in Vaud Canton. This pioneering project – a joint initiative between EPFL, the Swiss Federal Office of Meteorology Climatology and European partners – aims to improve pollen forecasting and to gain further insights into the critical impact that bioaerosols, smoke and dust have on cloud formation and climate.

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI and ETH Zurich have performed calculations to work out how air traffic could become climate-neutral by 2050. They conclude that simply replacing fossil aviation fuel with sustainable synthetic fuels will not be enough. Air traffic would also have to be reduced.