The use of artificial beaver dams to replicate the ecological benefits created by the industrious rodents shows promise for offsetting damage to fish habitat, water quality, and biodiversity arising from climate change. But as the use of such “beaver mimicry” spreads, particularly in the Pacific Northwest, there are key gaps in the research and a need for more studies that examine whether the outcomes seen in specific projects are broadly applicable.

Ten years ago, on 12 December 2015, the Paris Climate Agreement was signed at the UN Climate Conference. In order to limit global warming to well below two degrees, only a certain amount of CO₂ may be emitted worldwide. While the focus was originally on national emission targets, more than 200 subnational regions and almost 300 cities have now adopted their own targets. But how many emissions are they fairly entitled to? Researchers at the University of Graz have now developed transparent criteria for fair distribution at the subnational level for the first time and determined corresponding greenhouse gas budgets for all European regions. The distributive justice framework and analysis, published today in the scientific journal Nature Communications, may serve as a useful starting point, and can be operationalised for other countries, e. g. the USA or China.

Five LMU researchers have been awarded Consolidator Grants by the European Research Council. Their projects deal with climate change, strokes, quantum physics, mitochondria, and cancer diagnosis.