Rethinking climate impacts through human wellbeing
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 18-Jun-2026 03:16 ET (18-Jun-2026 07:16 GMT/UTC)
A new study by IIASA researchers offers a pioneering way to understand how climate change affects people’s lives over the long term. Using a global model and the Years of Good Life (YoGL) metric, the research shows that today’s emissions shape future wellbeing, especially for younger generations.
Environmental phenomena and their consequences can disrupt social structures and destabilize political systems. An interdisciplinary research team demonstrated this using the example of the late Tang dynasty in medieval China.
Insects are often seen as invaders due to high-profile species like the yellow-legged (Asian) hornet, the harlequin ladybird and fire ant. but new research reveals insects are also major victims of invasive alien species – exacerbating population declines and reducing their ability to provide vital services for biodiversity and people from pollination to pest control. The first global analysis of its kind, led by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), revealed that invasive alien species reduce abundance of terrestrial insects* by 31% on average and reduce species richness by 21%. Invasive animals outcompete or eat insects while invasive vegetation replaces native plants that insects feed upon.
For the first time, a study from researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego integrates climate-related damages to the ocean into the social cost of carbon— a measure of economic harm caused by greenhouse gas emissions.
Environmental research in the tropics is heavily skewed, according to a comprehensive study led from Umeå University. Humid lowland forest ecosystems receive a disproportionate amount of attention, while colder and drier regions that are more affected by climate change are severely underrepresented.
New research involving the University of East Anglia (UEA) reveals how fast the world’s river deltas are sinking and the human-driven causes.
Home to hundreds of millions of people, until now it was unclear what the rate of delta elevation loss is, or what is driving delta subsidence.
In a new study published today in Nature, scientists report that land subsidence caused by humans - through the extraction of groundwater - is the main culprit.
A six-year study, led by PhD researcher Sarah Watts of the University’s Faculty of Natural Sciences, looked at the impact of deer management on mountain woodland.