From the Director: Director Steven Cohen's most recent State of the Planet blog articles on sustainability & politics
Program News:
Check out the book launch event of Sustainability Metrics and Management: The Path from Innovation to Routine by Steven Cohen, William Eimicke, and Guo Dong.
This book is a comprehensive guide to sustainability metrics and management, introducing readers to key concepts and techniques. It details the measurement process needed to produce reliable and verifiable sustainability metrics and discusses the relationship to financial performance. The authors show how to integrate sustainability into the core of organizational management and make it a routine part of administration. They also emphasize…
By Camryn Louder, Master of Science in Sustainability Science Alumna (’26SPS, Sustainability Science), School of Professional Studies
Reagan Russell is a Howard University graduate and a 2025 Columbia HBCU Fellow currently enrolled in Columbia’s M.S. in Sustainability Management (SUMA) program. With a strong emphasis on climate and energy equity, Russell brings a unique, multifaceted perspective to the Columbia School of Professional Studies (SPS) experience. She draws on her identity as a Bahamian-American to explore how climate change, energy systems, and policy decisions disproportionately…
In his post-election victory speech, Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani proclaimed that in these politically dark times, “New York will be the light.”
It’s up to us to make sure that the light is sustainable.
Read more of this op-ed from RSPM Director Steven Cohen via Crain's New York Business: https://www.crainsnewyork.com/Reprint-NB26016ColumbiaUniversity
A new mayoral administration is bringing leadership changes across city agencies, including the Department of Environmental Protection.
The DEP oversees both environmental protection and the city’s vast water and sewer infrastructure.
Rit Aggarwal led the agency throughout the Adams administration and stepped down from the role last Friday to make way for Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s incoming commissioner.
Aggarwal joined “Mornings On 1” Thursday to reflect on his time at the department and the challenges of managing the city’s environmental and infrastructure systems.
Watch the video on Spectrum…
From November 10–21 activists, policymakers, researchers, and delegates from across the world gathered in Belém, Pará, Brazil as part of the 30th annual UN Climate Change Conference, also known as COP30. The Climate School’s Research Program on Sustainability Policy and Management (SPM) played an active role, helping shape the international dialogue toward ambitious, research-backed sustainability solutions.
SPM, along with the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, co-convened the “Beautiful Bays, Better Lives, Ocean Civilization Storytelling Session” on November 10…
The COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil, has come to an end. After two busy weeks of presentations, discussions and negotiations between global leaders, researchers, public citizens, nonprofit organizations and activists, the question of whether the first COP to take place in the Amazon delivered on its climate promises depends on who you ask.
Dong Guo, professor of practice in sustainability management at Columbia’s School of Professional Studies, and the associate director of the Research Program on Sustainability Policy and Management at the Columbia Climate School, gave his insights on…
SPM Associate Director Christoph Meinrenken and Closed Loop Partners’ Center for Circular Economy teamed up to build a novel tool to rigorously assess the carbon emissions and cost implications of a wide range of single-use and reusable packaging designs.
The Research Program on Sustainability Policy and Management now has a new mailing list for all our latest updates on SPM-led panels, book talks, seminars and more.
Marking the 20th anniversary of the publication of PlaNYC: A Greener, Greater New York, the Research Program on Sustainability Policy and Management (SPM), the History Department and the School of International and Public Affairs will host a conference exploring the plan’s evolution, implementation, and long-term impact. In conjunction with the event, we’ll be publishing an edited book. SPM is currently seeking proposals for chapters and/or panel topics.
On April 19th, SPM's Associate Director Dr. Satyajit Bose will be featured as a keynote speaker at Columbia's first Climate Finance Summit.
The Research Program on Sustainability Policy and Management sponsored the Circular Supply Chains for Critical Minerals Hackathon as part of the 14th Annual Sustainability Symposium at Columbia. Read all about the hackathon and the winning team here!
SPM's director, Dr. Steve Cohen, talks about the advantages and disadvantages of paper shopping bags with Rachel Nuwer for the New York Times.
Dr. Dong Guo, Associate Director of the Sustainability Policy and Management Research Program, and Dr. Anyi Wang, Associate Research Scholar a the Sustainability Policy and Management Research Program, presented their innovative research on urban sustainability metrics in the China Pavilion at COP29.
The Research Program on Sustainability Policy and Management would like to congratulate Dr. Christoph Meinrenken for being selected to the GHG Protocol Scope 3 Technical Working Group, following a long career of innovative research on carbon footprinting.
The Practicum on the Practical Applications of Environmental Research is a new course meant to give students the opportunity to understand and experience environmental research from conceptualization, funding allocation and financing to execution, public-private partnerships and turning research into a business.