Research ideas tagged “climate”

What carbon capture costs

Carbon capture and storage, carbon removal and direct air capture appear on about 34 recent papers, mostly in economics, while governments now pay large subsidies for them. How much does a tonne captured actually cost in the projects that run, and which uses are worth the subsidy?

Papers in the last 30 days — carbon capture and storage: 3 · carbon dioxide removal: 1

Islamic finance and the green transition

Islamic banking, Islamic finance and sukuk appear on 65 recent papers, but only 16 of them carry a green, sustainability, ESG or climate keyword. Green sukuk issuance has grown in the Gulf and Southeast Asia. Is Sharia-compliant finance a natural fit for sustainable investment, or just another label?

Activist investors on both sides of the energy transition

Shareholder activism appears on only 11 recent papers, and 8 activism papers carry a climate or ESG keyword. Activist funds have pushed oil companies in opposite directions: toward climate targets in 2021, away from renewable spending more recently. Which campaigns win, and what happens to the companies' strategies and emissions afterwards?

Papers in the last 30 days — shareholder activism: 1

Evacuating from wildfires

Forest fires, wildfire risk and smoke appear on 48 recent papers, split among economics, AI and operations research, and evacuation planning on 4. Fires now reach cities, and evacuations have failed with deadly results. Do evacuation models fit how people actually leave, and where should the roads, shelters and warnings be?

Papers in the last 30 days — evacuation planning: 1

Rail freight and the modal shift that does not come

Rail freight, railway operations and intermodal freight transport appear on 55 recent papers, with 14 in the last quarter against about 12 per quarter before. Governments want freight moved from trucks to rail for climate reasons, yet rail's share keeps falling in most of Europe and the US. Which bottlenecks (terminals, reliability, pricing) matter, and what would change shippers' choices?

Papers in the last 30 days — rail freight: 1 · railway operations: 2

Parametric insurance and catastrophe bonds

Reinsurance, catastrophe bonds and parametric insurance appear on only 25 recent papers in the finance and operations research journals, although catastrophe bond issuance has reached records and parametric covers are spreading to poorer countries. Do payouts arrive when they are needed, and who bears the basis risk?

Slow ships, clean fuels and the port queue

Port operations, maritime logistics, container shipping and port congestion appear on dozens of recent papers in the operations research journals, while ship emissions and maritime decarbonization appear on 9 and 8. Shipping now pays for carbon in Europe and faces a global fuel standard. Do slower ships and new fuels cut emissions, or shift them to ports and queues?

Papers in the last 30 days — container shipping: 3 · port operations: 1

When insurers leave

Insurance appears on more than 400 recent papers in the finance and economics journals, but only 52 of them carry a climate or disaster keyword, and property insurance barely appears. As insurers withdraw from wildfire- and hurricane-prone regions, who holds the risk, and what happens to house prices and mortgages?

Papers in the last 30 days — natural disasters: 5

Heat and the productivity of work

Extreme heat and heat waves appear on 47 recent papers, and temperature keywords on 208, but only 29 of those carry a productivity, labour, worker or firm keyword. As summers get hotter, how much output is lost on hot days, in which industries, and does adaptation close the gap?

Papers in the last 30 days — extreme heat: 1 · heat waves: 1

Flood risk in mortgage lending

Climate risk is one of the most frequent keywords in the finance journals, yet only 5 of 82 recent mortgage papers carry a flood, climate-risk or disaster keyword. Do lenders price flood risk into mortgages, and do they pass the riskiest loans to government-backed buyers?

Papers in the last 30 days — mortgage lending: 1 · flood risk: 1

Do climate stress tests change lending?

Stress testing appears on 40 recent papers in the finance journals, and climate stress testing on 12. Central banks in Europe and Asia have run climate scenarios on their banks. Did banks that fared badly in the scenarios cut lending to exposed borrowers, or only write longer reports?

Papers in the last 30 days — stress testing: 2

Climate migration, measured

Migration keywords appear on 283 recent papers, with 85 in the last quarter against about 61 per quarter before, but only 20 of them carry a climate, weather, drought, flood or disaster keyword, and "climate-induced migration" on 3. Do people move because of climate shocks, how far, and does the move help?

Papers in the last 30 days — internal migration: 2

The carbon border adjustment and the exporters it hits

Carbon leakage appears on 28 recent papers and the EU's carbon border adjustment on a handful, with the topic fading (5 papers in the last quarter against about 8 per quarter before) just as the mechanism starts charging in 2026. Which exporters pay, do they clean up or divert trade, and does leakage actually fall?

Papers in the last 30 days — carbon leakage: 1 · CBAM: 2

Which carbon credits are real?

Carbon credits and offsetting appear on 22 recent papers, with 9 in the last quarter against about 4 per quarter before, but only 3 carry a quality, additionality, integrity or greenwashing keyword. After investigations found that many forest credits avoided no emissions, the market shrank and new integrity labels appeared. Do buyers now pay for quality?

Decarbonizing aviation, flight by flight

Airline, air traffic and aviation keywords appear on 142 recent papers, and the topic is fading, with 24 papers in the last quarter against about 38 per quarter before. Sustainable aviation fuel mandates began in Europe in 2025, and emissions trading now covers flights. Do the operations models and the climate policies meet, and what do the mandates cost per tonne?

Papers in the last 30 days — airline industry: 1

AI weather forecasts and their economic value

Weather forecasting, precipitation forecasting and typhoons appear on 45 recent papers, mostly in AI journals, and only 9 carry an economic, energy, agricultural, insurance or market keyword. Machine learning models now beat the physics-based systems on many measures at a fraction of the cost. Who captures the value, and does it reach the farmers, utilities and insurers who need it?

Papers in the last 30 days — weather forecasting: 1