Our impact
From idea to impact
The Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability powers excellence across all areas of scholarship that, together, are crucial for advancing the long-term prosperity of the planet.
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Data centers, extreme weather and a lack of federal climate regulation could put major strains on the U.S. power grid. Alice Hill, a former White House senior director for resilience policy, discusses what it will take to protect energy systems in a warming world and why investing before disaster strikes always beats recovering after.
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Team BioGangs designed a biodigester that uses invasive water hyacinth plants to generate biogas for low-income communities in Indonesia. In January, the group competed in the 2026 Global Sustainability Challenge’s regional finals for Pacific Asia and Australasia.
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A team of students from Nigeria, Peru, and India has designed a system that combines solar power and a biomass generator to help small-scale farmers efficiently dry crops such as cocoa and coffee. On Feb. 13-15, the group will compete in the 2026 Global Sustainability Challenge’s regional finals for Europe and Africa.
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With support from a grant from the TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy, Earth system science master's student Mustafa Sultan is building an efficient HVAC system for the modern electricity grid.
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With support from the TomKat Center, two Stanford alumni are working to transform biowaste such as palm fibers into oil feedstocks for advanced fuels.
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Founded by two Stanford postdoctoral scholars and supported by an Innovation Transfer Grant from the TomKat Center, startup Electroflow Technologies converts abundant saltwater brines in the U.S. into a key material needed for batteries.
2025 Progress report
When we took the bold step three years ago of launching Stanford’s first new school in 75 years, our ambition was to reimagine academia and establish a unifying framework that fosters interdisciplinary collaboration across all dimensions of sustainability.
Our community has made incredible progress towards our mission of building a thriving, enduring future for humanity and the planet through research, education, and impact.
The 2025 progress report highlights the innovative work and critical discoveries from our community during the 2024-25 academic year.