The Competence Center Environment and Sustainability (CCES) based at ETH Zurich promotes interdisciplinary projects focussed on: Natural Resources; Sustainable Land Use; Climate & Environmental Change; Food, Environment & Health; and Natural Hazards & Risks. Several hundred researchers are involved in the 17 ongoing projects, coming in each case from between two and five institutions of the ETH Domain.
TRAMM (Triggering of Rapid Mass Movements in Steep Terrain), the first project that was launched, has already been completed. TRAMM delivered not only new fundamental scientific findings, in this particular case regarding the origin of landslides in steep locations, but also results which can directly be put to use in actual practice.
In addition to pure research projects, the CCES is also active in the area of technology platforms. Worthy of particular mention is the Swiss Experiment, within the framework of which researchers are developing new wireless measurement and communication technologies. These allow large volumes of environmental information to be captured, transferred, saved and automatically processed. The researchers work closely here with the Mobile Information & Communication Systems (MICS) National Center of Competence in Research, in Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and EU projects, and with industry.
CCES also cooperates with the Knowledge and Innovation Community Climate (Climate-KIC), an initiative of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). Leading European research institutes work in this initiative with industry partners to develop ways of helping to mitigate the consequences of climate change and adapt to changing climatic conditions.
As part of CCES@School, research findings from CCES projects are also prepared in a manner that can be understood by pupils at secondary school level and teaching material is provided.
