As the climate is changing at an accelerated pace and the Earth’s biodiversity is at risk, fighting against climate change will require pooling together experts from an array of fields. To that end, scientists from the University of Lausanne (UNIL) and EPFL teamed up to create the Center for Climate Impact and Action (CLIMACT).
Announced at the beginning of 2021 and recently inaugurated, this cross-disciplinary research center will serve as a focal point for climate-change experts and an effective interface between science and society.
“Doing nothing is not an option,” says Nicolas Tétreault, Executive Director of CLIMACT. “Scientists from different fields need to work together and develop holistic solutions to this challenge. The problem has numerous dimensions, and must be addressed as such.”
CLIMACT, a center with its work cut out for it
The multifaceted nature of climate change is what prompted CLIMACT’s founders to draw on a broad panel of experts from not only core science and engineering fields like climatology, biology, physics and chemistry, but also softer subjects like economics, sociology and psychology.
The center supports cross-disciplinary research that spans both universities and addresses societal, scientific and technological challenges through innovative, systemic approaches and close collaboration with business leaders and policymakers. It has formed working groups to examine specific topics such as how to better incorporate climate issues into curricula, what new degree programs can be offered and what pilot projects can be set up with students and associations from both universities.
Through their expansive contact networks, the Center’s employees will seek to recast the climate discourse with a focus on the benefits and positive aspects of the shifts that society will inevitably need to make.
