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Global Leaders In Climate Change Research, Action And Academics

UC San Diego’s long-term commitment to climate change research dates to 1957 when oceanographer Roger Revelle first introduced the scientific hypothesis that humanity’s use of fossil fuels causes significant environmental changes. Since then, we’ve led the world’s climate change research in many areas, including founding the Keeling Curve and contributions to Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change climate reports. In addition, we've supported the transformational understanding of climate change's effects on our oceans, atmosphere, polar regions, societies, energy systems, food production, etc.

Today, our commitment is stronger than ever as we face compounding, urgent needs for climate change science and solutions. As a foundational aspect of our strategic plan, researchers and students across campus work together to understand and protect the planet.

Interdisciplinary Climate Change Research Themes

UC San Diego nurtures and supports a collaborative and interdisciplinary research culture that advances the frontiers of climate science knowledge and develops mitigation strategies informed by broad academic disciplines.

Climate Science and Impacts

Understanding the physical, dynamic and chemical interactions of climate change to predict humanity’s ongoing impact.

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Adaptation and Solutions

Supporting positive response to climate change impacts through green industry ingenuity and social engagement.

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Policy

Evaluating and recommending economic and governmental policy models on local, regional, national and global scales.

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Climate Justice

Seeking to understand the ethics of climate change and mitigate impacts on vulnerable and Indigenous populations.

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Summer Heat Wave Experts

Extreme heat is rising at an unprecedented pace. UC San Diego faculty are leading experts on climate trends; the impact of heatwaves on the workforce, public health and society; and mitigations.

View Our Heat Experts

UC San Diego’s History Of Climate Research

In the 1950s, Scripps Institution of Oceanography researchers helped sound the alarm that human activities create fundamental changes in nature.

Scripps History

A Legacy of Sustainability

Sustainability is part of our institutional DNA, and we’ve become one of the nation’s most sustainable universities.

Sustainability Commitments

A Strategic Vision

Identified as a multidisciplinary area in which our campus has deep and broad expertise, Understanding and Protecting the Planet is one of the university’s grand research themes. We aim to communicate environmental change, create economically viable solutions that enhance society's resilience and recommend necessary policy changes.

Strategic Plan

Featured Research Centers and Initiatives

Deep Decarbonization Initiative

The mission of the UC San Diego Deep Decarbonization Initiative is to help understand and guide the global economy as it moves toward net-zero carbon emissions.

Deep Decarbonization Initiative

Center for Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation

The Center for Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation (CCCIA) aims to build a more resilient future through the advancement of climate science, academic-community partnerships and adaptation strategies.

CCCIA

Climate Action Lab

The Climate Action Lab's mission is to reduce global heating by changing human behavior. We are social scientists—economists, psychologists, urban planners, political scientists, anthropologists, etc.

Climate Action Lab

Climate News at UC San Diego