Sustainable Earth

Topic description and stories

The climate crisis and biodiversity losses are affecting the planet at an alarming pace. Cambridge researchers are helping the response to these threats, building resilience, supporting the transition from fossil fuels to a zero-carbon future, and enabling us to act sustainably to protect the planet's precious resources and reduce waste.

The climate crisis: towards zero carbon

26 February 2020

Sir David Attenborough, Dr Jane Goodall DBE and leading Cambridge University researchers talk about the urgency of climate crisis – and some of the solutions that will take us towards zero carbon.

New lab to focus on creating sustainable energy source

27 Apr 2012

Research will explore using sunlight to convert greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and water to syngas, the precursor to liquid fuel.

Assessing protected area effectiveness

30 Mar 2012

A new study published in Conservation Letters aims to measure whether parks and reserves in the tropics succeed in protecting forests.

Elephants at Kruger National Park, South Africa

Demise of large animals caused by both man and climate change

05 Mar 2012

Research provides new insights about what caused the extinction of many of the world’s big animals over the last 100,000 years.

Landscape, literature, life

29 Feb 2012

Over the past few years, the genre of ‘nature writing’ has seen a new sense of urgency, fostered by a growing awareness of a natural world under...

Conservation clusters: making the case

21 Feb 2012

A new study reveals how the gathering together of conservation organisations in one location – a ‘conservation cluster’ – can work best to reap...

The crystal ball of conservation

15 Feb 2012

An innovative horizon-scanning exercise, which has just delivered its latest report, highlights emerging topics of relevance to the world’s natural...

A lost world? How zooarchaeology can inform biodiversity conservation

10 Feb 2012

A new study of tropical forests will provide a 50,000-year perspective on how animal biodiversity has changed, explored through an archaeological...

Research, policy, practice: conservation in the round

07 Feb 2012

Conservation scientists working in partnership with practitioners and policy makers are building practical tools for real-world conservation.

Canopy commerce: forest conservation and poverty alleviation

03 Feb 2012

Innovative approaches for protecting the future of Sierra Leone’s Gola Forest – globally important for its biodiversity and its carbon reserves – are...