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While the Swiss village of Blatten has received global scientific and media attention after the devastating glacier collapse in May 2024, a similarly tragic—yet lesser-known—event occurred on August 5 in the Indian Himalayas. EClim member Simon Allen highlights the case of Dharali and Harsil, where more than 50 lives were likely lost. Unlike Blatten, no […]

Last month, EClim member Christian Huggel, together with Brian McArdell, led an intensive field-based course on Natural Hazard and Risk Analysis in Mountain Regions (GEO805) for University of Zurich students. After a day of learning how to simulate debris flows with RAMMS AG, the group headed to the Matter Valley (Herbriggen – St. Niklaus) for […]

At the conclusion of the International Mountain Conference (IMC) in Innsbruck, a special session co-organized by Christian Huggel (EClim, University of Zurich), Mylène Jacquemart, and Jan Beutel brought together close to 20 presentations focused on the glacier avalanche disaster in Blatten, Switzerland. In less than four months, researchers from Switzerland, France, Italy, Austria, Germany, and […]

We’re proud to share that AskWMO, a conversational AI tool designed to make authoritative climate knowledge more accessible, has received the Royal Meteorological Society’s Award for Innovation. 🌍🤖 EClim member Saeid Ashraf contributed to the development of AskWMO, a pilot tool that integrates AI and Natural Language Processing (NLP) to provide trusted, transparent, and traceable […]

More than a month after the catastrophic glacier collapse and avalanche that devastated the Swiss mountain village of Blatten on 28 May 2025, recovery efforts are progressing—but significant challenges remain. EClim’s Christian Huggel shares his impressions after a visit to the Lötschental valley and reflects on the community assembly held to discuss reconstruction plans. 📌 […]

We are proud to share the latest open-access publication co-authored by EClim members Veruska Muccione and Saeid Ario Vaghefi, now available in PLOS Climate: Title: Mapping climate change education research: A scoping review (2008–2023)Read the paper here This comprehensive review analyzes more than 6,000 peer-reviewed publications using human coding and natural language processing (NLP) to […]

What began as a casual coffee conversation in 2019 has grown into a global force in AI for climate and finance. The Sustainable and Resilient Economy AI Lab (SUREAL) at the University of Zurich—home to EClim’s Saeid Ario Vaghefi—is now pioneering tools to make sustainable finance smarter, more transparent, and more impactful. 🌱 Key milestones […]

Periods of water scarcity are expected to become increasingly frequent and severe as climate change intensifies. But what are the economic consequences, and how can we adapt? EClim members Saeid Ario Vaghefi and Veruska Muccione are contributing to a new research effort under the Swiss NCCS-Impacts program, as part of the project “Costs of Climate […]

As climate-related disasters intensify in mountain regions—from the Blatten avalanche in Switzerland to the recent glacial flood in Rasuwa/Purepu, Nepal—the need for robust early warning systems (EWS) and hazard monitoring is more urgent than ever. EClim’s Simon Allen joined an expert panel hosted by The Stimson Center on July 30, sharing insights on designing and […]

After months of dedicated work, the GLOFCA project has launched a fully refreshed platform to reflect the growing momentum behind its mission: reducing the risk of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) in four Central Asian countries—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. EClim plays a central role in the project’s implementation through key contributions from Simon Allen, […]