Topic: sustainability

According to the figures, the university’s total greenhouse gas emissions have fallen by more than 2.7 times. Considering the number of staff and students, emissions per person have decreased by as much as 3.4 times.

A recently completed study on conspiracy theories, the most extensive one ever conducted in Europe, found that narratives circulating across national borders adapt to local history, cultural memory and social tensions. A book presenting the study’s findings has now been published, co-edited by Mari-Liis Madisson, Associate Professor of Semiotics at the University of Tartu.

Bachelor’s and master’s students of the University of Tartu are invited to apply for the ENLIGHT Inclusion and Sustainability Awards that will be presented at the Teaching and Learning Conference in Bern on 22-24 October 2026. The awards acknowledge students who have demonstrated dedication to promoting diversity, inclusion, accessibility and sustainability through their projects, initiatives or research.

In 2025, the study that drew the most attention in public digital channels was led by Professor of Botany Meelis Pärtel and confirms the negative effect of human activity on wildlife biodiversity.

University of Tartu Associate Professor in Climate Physics Velle Toll received the Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) to quantify the extent to which air pollution particles cool the Earth’s climate. The results of Toll’s work would help fill a gap in our detailed understanding of human-induced climate change and improve the accuracy of climate projections.

New data reveal a major conservation gap for networks of underground fungi that sustain plants, carbon flows, and soil health.

Everyone should strive for a sustainable lifestyle, and the university community can set an example for others.