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Policy & Ethics

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 2-Jun-2026 00:16 ET (2-Jun-2026 04:16 GMT/UTC)

Community-driven restoration in Spain recognized as best-practice example

Pensoft Publishers
Grant and Award Announcement

The SpongeBoost project supports policy-making, restoration and land-use planning by promoting cost-effective, nature-based solutions that strengthen water retention in landscapes and align with the EU Climate Adaptation goals. With the establishment of the “SpongeBooster of the year” award, SpongeBoost recognises outstanding initiatives that actively restore and support sponge landscapes and inspire others through implementation, communication, environmental education and cooperation.

Funder: Horizon Europe Climate

Have abortion-related laws affected broader access to maternal health care?

Wiley
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A study in Health Economics uncovers a major unintended consequence of abortion‐related regulations: a measurable decline in the availability of obstetricians and gynecologists.

Journal: Health Economics

Blaming beavers for flood damage is bad policy and bad science, Concordia research shows

Concordia University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Concordia researchers show blaming beaver dams for flooding in Quebec’s Charlevoix region (2005, 2011) is unfounded. Advanced modelling found failed dams had minimal impact on flood levels. Fast runoff and log jams from intense rainfall were more likely causes, and beaver structures support river health rather than worsen flooding.

Journal: Earth Surface Processes and Landforms

Ambitious climate policy ensures reduction of CO2 emissions

Heidelberg University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Global efforts to combat climate change in the last two decades have contributed to considerably cutting carbon emissions, according to a new study on climate policies conducted primarily by scientists from Germany and the United Kingdom, among them experts from Heidelberg University. It shows that states with larger and stricter policy portfolios are cutting their emissions most effectively.

Journal: Nature Communications

Pandemic, election crises mark 'critical events' in declining democratic accountability standards, governance scholar writes

University of Kansas
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Christopher Koliba, a governance scholar at the University of Kansas, has published a study documenting the politicization of the pandemic response and election crises of 2020 and 2021 and how they mark "critical events" in the decline of democratic accountability standards. He employs techniques used by historians to document the events and argues the weaponization of falsehoods and other approaches used in the twin crises violate several standards of accountability that mark strong democracies and show the need for commitment to democracy.

Journal: Perspectives on Public Management and Governance

Harvard study: Industrial research labs powered the golden age of U.S. innovation

Harvard Kennedy School
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The rise of industrial research labs fundamentally reshaped the U.S. innovation system in the early 20th century by enabling large-scale, science-based, team-oriented invention, according to new research from Harvard’s Growth Lab and the Complexity Science Hub (CSH). The findings, published in the journal Research Policy, suggest that new technologies, such as AI-powered digital collaboration tools, could play a similar role today by reducing coordination costs and potentially reshaping how collective invention is organized.

Journal: Research Policy

Climate policies are cutting carbon – new study shows

University of Oxford
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Countries with stronger and better-targeted climate policies are cutting carbon emissions significantly faster, a major new study finds. Analysing more than 3,900 policies across 43 economies, researchers show that climate policies have already avoided over 3 billion tonnes of CO₂ in a single year, with the biggest gains coming from policies focused on high-emitting sectors such as energy, industry and transport.

Journal: Nature Communications

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