The Columbia Climate School is

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

's school of trans-disciplinary

climate research Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "slope"; and , ''-logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. Climate concerns the atmospheric ...

. Announced in July 2020, the Climate School is the first new school to be established at the university in 25 years. Since 2021, the Columbia Climate School has been the official university partner of

The Climate Group Climate Group is a nonprofit organisation with a mission to drive climate action, fast, and achieve a world of net zero carbon emissions by 2050, with greater prosperity for all. The organisation builds influential networks of business and gove ...

for

Climate Week NYC Climate Week NYC is a charity event that takes place in New York City every year. Its purpose is to promote climate action by appealing to "business leaders, political change makers, local decision takers and civil society representatives". Clima ...

annually. The school currently offers a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

(M.A.) in Climate and Society and a number of other programs in partnership with various schools across Columbia University. __TOC__

Leadership

The school was formerly led by founding dean

Alexander Halliday Sir Alexander Norman Halliday (born 11 August 1952) is a British geochemist and academic who is the Founding Dean Emeritus of the Columbia Climate School, and Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. He joined the Earth Institu ...

(who also directs Columbia's

Earth Institute {{Infobox organization , name = The Earth Institute , image = Ei blue1.gif , map_size = , map_alt = , map_caption = , map2 = , type = , tax_id ...

) and co-founding deans Jason Bordoff, Ruth DeFries, and

Maureen Raymo Maureen E. Raymo (born 1959) is an American Paleoclimatology, paleoclimatologist and Marine (ocean), marine geologist. She is the Co-Founding Dean Emerita of the Columbia Climate School and the G. Unger Vetlesen Professor of Earth & Environment ...

. As of July 1, 2023, Jeffrey Shaman has acted as the school's Interim Dean. On August 19, 2024 it was announced that Alexis Abramson will serve as the dean, starting January 1, 2025.

Faculty

Full-time faculty members of the school include: * Jason Bordoff * Ruth DeFries * Jessica Fanzo *

* Jeffrey Shaman *

Sheila Foster Sheila Rose Foster is a legal scholar, and an author. She is a tenured Professor of Climate at the Columbia Climate School. Foster is most known her research in the areas of environmental law and justice, urban land use law and policy, and state ...

History

In 2025, the

Department of Government Efficiency The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is an initiative by the second Trump administration within the federal government of the United States. Its stated objective is to modernize information technology, maximize productivity, and cut ...

(DOGE), announced the termination of a contract for "nonpersonal services to complete manuscript presenting updated pCO2 climatology" from Columbia's Climate School, for the NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory (GML). According to HigherGov, this contract was for Columbia University to do "monitoring, quality control, analysis, and presentation of ocean partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) observations collected as part of the NOAA Surface water pCO2 measurements from ships program". This contract started on June 30, 2022, and was originally set to end on June 30, 2025, prior to DOGE's termination on March 7, 2025.

References

Columbia University colleges and schools Educational institutions established in 2020 2020 establishments in New York City {{NewYork-university-stub