World Solve

climate impacts hitting the poorest hardest remains one of the most urgent challenges of our time. Systems currently in place are inadequate for the scale and complexity of the problem. A successful approach must work where resources are scarcest and demonstrate clear, measurable results. It should identify possible harms, respect local agency, and show how the solution can be maintained and expanded by the communities it is meant to serve.

Growing desalination could produce concentrated brine and chemical waste at scales that threaten coastal ecosystems. The challenge is improving recovery and discharge methods while accounting for cumulative regional impacts. Decisions must account for people who will inherit long-lived infrastructure, environmental changes, and institutional commitments. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.

Growing desalination could produce concentrated brine and chemical waste at scales that threaten coastal ecosystems. The challenge is improving recovery and discharge methods while accounting for cumulative regional impacts. The solution must produce useful coordination and accountability while minimizing collection of sensitive personal and behavioral data. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.

Growing desalination could produce concentrated brine and chemical waste at scales that threaten coastal ecosystems. The challenge is improving recovery and discharge methods while accounting for cumulative regional impacts. The design must remain functional when standards, trade routes, data access, and diplomatic cooperation are unreliable. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.

Growing desalination could produce concentrated brine and chemical waste at scales that threaten coastal ecosystems. The challenge is improving recovery and discharge methods while accounting for cumulative regional impacts. The solution must work with limited capital, intermittent services, and local maintenance capacity. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.

Current approaches to technologies enabling the continuous monitoring of air quality and its health impacts at high resolution either underperform under variable field conditions or generate externalities that undermine long-term sustainability and equity. Closing the gap requires coordinated advances in science, systems design and enabling institutions.

Science, tourism, and fishing activities leave infrastructure, pollution, and disturbance, but their combined effects are under-studied. Spatial-impact mapping and cumulative-effects assessment platforms are needed.

Soot deposited on snow and ice reduces albedo, increasing absorption of solar radiation and melt rates. Emission-control technologies and monitoring frameworks can mitigate impacts.

Sector-by-sector rules may miss combined pressures. Integrated cumulative-impact planning platforms could improve governance.

Acoustic disturbance may affect whales, seals, and birds, but data are sparse. Acoustic monitoring networks and impact models can inform regulation.

Post-Ukraine shock adjustments and the green transition have made energy prices a salient political and economic issue. Demand-response platforms and hedging tools for SMEs can mitigate impacts.

Post-Ukraine shock adjustments and the green transition have made energy prices a salient political and economic issue. Demand-response platforms and hedging tools for SMEs can mitigate impacts.

Extreme events cause health impacts and infrastructure damage, testing adaptation plans. Urban heat and flood-risk modelling tools plus nature-based solution marketplaces can support responses.

Loose aggregates behave differently from solid rock in impacts and mining. In situ missions and modeling can guide hazard mitigation and resource use.

Long-term low-dose exposure impacts cells and tissues in complex ways. Space biology experiments can inform health protocols.

Poor maternal nutrition and inadequate diets cause long-term cognitive and health impacts. Integrated nutrition programs combining food, health, and education services can reduce stunting.

Floods, earthquakes, and storms hit ill-prepared cities. Risk-sensitive planning and early-warning systems can reduce impacts.

Intensive agriculture degrades land and biodiversity. Sustainable farming and diets can mitigate impacts.

Consumers cannot see environmental and social impacts. Traceability systems and reporting standards are needed.

Communities already losing land and livelihoods see little support. Operationalizing loss-and-damage funds is critical.