Using spatial and connectivity analysis, this project will pinpoint existing barriers to potential movement corridors in order to identify suitable areas for pollinator habitat installation or restoration. Although quantitative data tools will be at the heart of our technical analysis, we also want to understand the experience of the farmers to assess whether or not expanding pollinator habitat is feasible. ArcGIS and Google Earth will be used to establish current conditions, followed by a connectivity analysis using Circuitscape, an open-source modeling tool that is used for wildlife corridor design and movement ecology.
This Impact Project aims to support and advance initial implementation of the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement). The project will analyze the New England/Corner Rise Seamounts and the Northeast Pacific Seamounts as potential sites for proposed Marine Protected Areas (MPA) or Area-Based Management Tools (ABMT) under the BBNJ Agreement. Both seamounts serve as critical, nutrient-rich habitats for deep-sea biodiversity, and create feeding grounds for marine mammals, seabirds, and commercially important fish species.
This project will evaluate the impact of tourism in Kotor and develop feasible management strategies to optimize the relationship between environmental impact and socioeconomic benefit. Management strategies will be informed by socioeconomic and environmental models. A critical piece of this project includes understanding how local businesses in Kotor experience and depend on cruise tourism. By balancing environmental protection with economic and social considerations, the proposed strategies seek to center equitable outcomes for local communities and enhance residents’ quality of life while maintaining the long-term viability of the tourism sector. As global tourism continues to expand and place increasing pressure on natural and social systems, this project aims to develop evidence-based sustainable tourism models that can be applied to destinations worldwide.
This project aims to provide the Economic Research Institute (ERI) of the Ministry of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan with a data-driven decarbonization strategy for Almaty and Astana. Specifically, the project seeks to establish baseline carbon and pollutant footprints for the residential heating and urban transport sectors; identify which policy interventions, such as coal-to-gas transition, heat pump adoption, or public transit electrification, yield the highest emission reductions per dollar invested; and develop a carbon-neutral roadmap that integrates these technical solutions within Kazakhstan's existing national policy framework.
Considering the water needs of fire-resilient plant species, this project focuses on alternative water sources, such as greywater, treated wastewater, and stormwater infiltration that could support the cost-effective maintenance of VGBs. Through assessing existing regulations, energy requirements, technical feasibility, and incorporating community perspectives, this project will develop an integrated framework to identify how and where VGBs can effectively mitigate wildfire risk.
This project will analyze the sports broadcast production process to identify key emission sources, develop a standardized carbon footprinting methodology aligned with GHG Protocol principles, and establish industry benchmarks for common sports broadcast scenarios. The resulting tools and guidance will help studios and production companies complete more accurate corporate GHG inventories, comply with emerging regulatory requirements, and design meaningful emissions reduction strategies.
This project partners with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to expand FishKit's capabilities, an open-access platform designed to support community-based fisheries management. Currently, FishKit's toolbox relies on fisheries-dependent data that many small-scale fisheries struggle to obtain. This project will expand FishKit's capabilities to include fisheries-independent data, better supporting the sustainable management of these fisheries. The team will develop an accessible framework and an evaluation tool for analyzing fisheries-independent data, informed by a review of survey methodologies and engagement with end users.
InterWoven will address this bottleneck for apparel and footwear brands by translating legal frameworks into clear, actionable steps for regulatory compliance. By clarifying exactly what is needed to build a compliant disclosure, InterWoven empowers companies to prepare strategically rather than reactively. InterWoven supports sustainability teams as they move from scoping to compliance to action on one platform.
In this project, we aim to quantify the socioeconomic benefits associated with the SMRP, assess ecosystem service benefits by restoring fish passage and river connectivity, develop a transferable valuation framework to better communicate returns on public investment, and to produce communication tools to assist in demonstrating the value of restoration to stakeholders and policymakers.
This project, conducted in partnership with The Nature Conservancy Hawaiʻi and the Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Forestry and Wildlife, seeks to identify and map high-potential restoration areas, characterize wetland bird interactions, and incorporate Traditional Ecological Knowledge to inform and advance this effort to restore the Ukumehame wetlands of West Maui.
This project will identify suitable areas to implement locally-tuned models of forest restoration and agroforestry in the Upper Guinean Forest region, accounting for future risks from climate change and land conversion to ensure the long-term success of Natural Climate Solutions (NCS), and develop regional planning and management recommendations to mitigate risks to NCS and bolster community resilience through restoration and agroforestry.
This project supports the Division of Petroleum Market Oversight (DPMO) at the California Energy Commission, which is responsible for providing guidance and recommendations to state policymakers regarding the transportation fuels market and fuels prices. It aims to produce an evidence-based conceptual framework for understanding and navigating this supply transition.
In an effort to address the intersection between California’s current housing crisis and escalating climatic risks, this project supports the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara (HACSB) in the redevelopment of Presidio Springs - a senior low-income housing complex. The team will conduct a material audit of the original development, identify sustainable and climate-resilient building materials, and formulate recommendations for green design strategies to reduce both the embodied and operational carbon footprint of the complex.
This project addresses the growing challenge of managing coastal retreat in California due to rising sea levels and extreme weather events. Beaches, wetlands, infrastructure, and private property are all at risk, and while traditional adaptation strategies like seawalls and beach nourishment offer temporary relief, they often come with significant ecological and social trade-offs. Managed shoreline retreat—strategically relocating infrastructure and development away from vulnerable shorelines—offers a more sustainable long-term solution, but it remains underused due to political resistance, high upfront costs, and a lack of clear guidance for implementation.
Coral reefs around Mo’orea, French Polynesia, have not recovered as expected after a major marine heatwave in 2019. This project will identify what is limiting recovery and help inform strategies to support healthier reefs in the future.
As California leads the country in a shift towards more sustainable energy generation sources with electrification playing a massive role, what are the technological, social, policy, and economic barriers to electrification on a community scale? How can electrification impact and benefit disadvantaged communities? Previous studies on full neighborhood electrification and decarbonization have attempted to answer these questions but have never fully characterized the effects and interactions between gas and electric systems.
Groundwater is a critical water source for agriculture in hyper-arid regions, but increasing irrigation often depletes it faster than it can be replenished. This project will create an accessible, reproducible workflow using satellite data to analyze how agricultural water use relates to groundwater decline, helping researchers and decision-makers support more sustainable water management.
Urban watersheds face ongoing pollution challenges, especially from urban runoff. Heal the Bay is a Los Angeles-based organization that has been monitoring water quality at local beaches for decades, and expanded their efforts to Los Angeles (LA) County rivers in the last ten years. Our group’s objectives are to analyze the last ten years of water quality data from Heal the Bay’s monitoring programs to investigate the water quality in areas where stormwater capture projects have been implemented.
France’s vineyards are increasingly threatened by climate change and disease, leading to long-term losses of grapevines. This project will use high-resolution geospatial data to identify and measure missing vines, providing a scalable and reproducible approach to support vineyard monitoring and long-term management decisions.
Kelp Help aims to close critical gaps in kelp forest monitoring and restoration by leveraging Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology to improve the detection, monitoring, and analysis of kelp canopy coverage and condition.
