ICTA - Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals

The Institute of Environmental Science and Technology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) is a multidisciplinary centre that promotes academic research and postgraduate education on environmental sciences. It aims to improve our understanding of global environmental change, and the nature and causes of environmental problems. In addition, it studies policies, strategies and technologies to foster a transition to a sustainable economic and societal model.

The ICTA-UAB addresses major global environmental and sustainability challenges related to anthropogenic climate and global change. Researchers at ICTA-UAB undertake advanced research in specific areas of environmental science, divided into three general areas, namely “Earth and life sciences”, “Social environmental sciences” and “Technology, environment and society”.

About the Unit of Excellence María de Maeztu ICTA-UAB is the only research centre in environmental sciences to be identified as a Unit of Excellence by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO), the highest institutional recognition of scientific research in Spain.

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2026-01-14
18:10
9 p, 2.9 MB A food system innovation : Vegetable production in rooftop greenhouses in Barcelona / Macall, Diego Maximiliano (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Gabarrell Durany, Xavier (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Biològica i Ambiental) ; Villamayor Tomás, Sergio (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Romero i Sànchez, David (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Matemàtiques)
As the world's population continues to urbanize, cities are uniquely positioned to lead a new wave of agricultural innovation by integrating the productive components of their food systems directly into their infrastructure. [...]
2026 - 10.1016/j.cities.2025.106698
Cities (Amsterdam), Vol. 171 (April 2026) , art. 106698  
2026-01-13
20:10
15 p, 9.8 MB Adapting urban areas to rising temperatures : Strategies to reduce heat and vulnerability in a warming world / Ventura, Sergi (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Miró, J. R. (Servei Meteorològic de Catalunya. Departament de Territori i Sostenibilitat) ; Camacho, David (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Casellas, Enric (Servei Meteorològic de Catalunya. Departament de Territori i Sostenibilitat) ; Segura Barrero, Ricard (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Martilli, Alberto (Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (Espanya)) ; Villalba, Gara (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Biològica i Ambiental)
The need for cities to prepare for the increasing frequency, persistence, and intensity of heat waves (HWs) makes modeling these events essential for evaluating the effectiveness of heat adaptation strategies. [...]
2026 - 10.1016/j.uclim.2025.102757
Urban climate, Vol. 65 (February 2026) , art. 102757  
2026-01-14
13:11
15 p, 4.6 MB False solutions : How do fossil fuel companies reproduce their power through the energy transition / Llavero Pasquina, Marcel (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
In response to mounting political and social pressure to transform their business models, the fossil fuel industry is attempting to portray itself as "part of the solution" to the climate crisis by emphasising its investments into renewable energy, biofuels, green hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, and carbon offsets. [...]
2025 (Eckstein, Sarah Kate) (Daley, Freddie) (Rugh, Nathaniel) (Glimmerveen, Judith) - 10.1016/j.erss.2025.104367
Energy research & social science, Vol. 130 (December 2025) , art. 104367  
2026-01-14
19:10
10 p, 3.1 MB Unlearning through spirituality : Mongolian and Western animistic traditions as pathways to enhance sustainability / Segura, Jesse (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Gerber, Julien-Francois (Erasmus University Rotterdam) ; Sekulova, Filka Tsvetkova (Universitat de Barcelona)
This paper explores how animistic rituals-specifically the ovoo offering in Inner Mongolia-can serve as embodied engagements with what Roy Bhaskar (1975) calls the "real": a deeper layer of reality shaped by unseen causal and spiritual forces. [...]
2026 - 10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104296
Environmental science & policy, Vol. 175 (January 2026) , art. 104296  
2026-01-14
19:10
7 p, 417.2 KB A potential turning point for Bolivia's biodiversity conservation / Moraes, R. Mónica (Universidad Mayor de San Andrés. Instituto de Ecología) ; Fernández-Llamazares, Álvaro (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Aguirre, Luis F. (Universidad Mayor de San Simón. Centro de Biodiversidad y Genética) ; Maillard, Oswaldo (Fundación para la Conservación del Bosque Chiquitano) ; Romero-Muñoz, Alfredo (Humboldt University-Berlin. Geography Department) ; Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Biologia Animal, de Biologia Vegetal i d'Ecologia
2025 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02937-8
Nature ecology & evolution, December 2025  
2026-01-12
17:10
1 p, 253.2 KB Corrigendum to : "Electoral consequences of urban interventions : The case of superblocks, school streets, and bike lanes in Barcelona" / Fernández Núñez, Marta Beatriz (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) ; Orrego Oñate, Jaime Pablo (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) ; Triguero-Mas, Margarita (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya) ; Marquet Sardà, Oriol (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
The authors regret not having properly included the reference number for the funding acquired to do such article. We acknowledge the financial support for this article from the Generalitat de Catalunya FI-Joan Oró Programme (AGAUR, FI-1 00812, 2023) as well as, the European Research Council Starting Grant ATRAPA (GA101117700), ECOMOV project (TED2021-129280B-I00). [...]
2025 - 10.1016/j.cities.2025.106667
Cities (Amsterdam), November 2025, art. 106667  
2026-01-09
17:11
15 p, 1.6 MB Experienced climate change impacts help explain subjective well-being-Evidence from 14 nature-dependent communities / Reyes-García, Victoria (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Attoh, Emmanuel M. N. A. N. (International Water Management Institute) ; Barrington-Leigh, Christopher (McGill University) ; Benyei, Petra (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Calvet Mir, Laura (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Chakauya, Rumbidzayi (IKS and Resilience Insights. Bristol (Regne Unit)) ; Al Faisal, Abdullah (McGill University) ; Galbraith, Eric (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Glauser, Marcos (Iniciativa Amotocodie. Asunción (Paraguay)) ; Izquierdo, Andrea E. (Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (Argentina)) ; Junqueira, André B. (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Li, Xiaoyue (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; López-Maldonado, Yolanda (Indigenous Science. Mérida (México)) ; Miñarro, Sara (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Porcher, Vincent (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Porcuna Ferrer, Anna (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Schlingmann, Anna (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Singh, Priyatma (The University of Fiji) ; Torrents-Ticó, Miquel (Children's Hospital, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland)
Climate change profoundly affects well-being in complex and interconnected ways. However, the relationship between climate change and well-being has been explored in only a handful of settings, most of which are industrialized. [...]
2025 - 10.1002/pan3.70230
People and Nature, December 2025  
2026-01-09
11:35
24 p, 5.0 MB Carbon leakage in production networks under asymmetric climate policies / Grugni, Elisa (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Savin, Ivan (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; van den Bergh, Jeroen C. J. M. (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Climate policies are typically designed at the regional level. This generates differences in implicit carbon prices across countries that can alter the structure of trade patterns and undermine the effectiveness of environmental regulations through carbon leakage. [...]
2026 - 10.1016/j.jedc.2025.105241
Journal of economic dynamics & control, Vol. 183 (February 2026) , art. 105241  
2026-01-08
17:10
16 p, 6.1 MB Wet and dry seasons modulate coastal coccolithophore dynamics off South-western Nigeria (Gulf of Guinea) / Adekunbi, Falilu O. (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Grelaud, Michael (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Langer, Gerald (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Chukwu, Lucian O. (University of Lagos) ; Alvarez, Marta (Instituto Español de Oceanografía (A Coruña)) ; Odunuga, Shakirudeen (University of Lagos) ; Schulz, Kai G. (Southern Cross University (Australia)) ; Ziveri, Patrizia (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Biologia Animal, de Biologia Vegetal i d'Ecologia)
Coccolithophores are calcifying unicellular phytoplankton at the base oxf the marine food web, playing a key role in pelagic calcium carbonate production. While their sensitivity to environmental change is well established, their ecological importance in tropical coastal systems remains underexplored, particularly along the African coastline. [...]
2025 - 10.5194/bg-22-7865-2025
Biogeosciences, Vol. 22, Num. 23 (December 2025) , p. 7865-7880  
2026-01-08
20:28
20 p, 10.3 MB Impact of Submarine Groundwater Discharge on Microbial Communities in a Highly Anthropized Coastal Lagoon (Mar Menor, SE Spain) / Romano-Gude, Daniel (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia) ; Dordal-Soriano, Júlia (Institut de Ciències del Mar) ; Rodriguez Puig, Julia (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Bravo, Andrea G. (Institut de Ciències del Mar) ; Alorda-Montiel, Irene (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Física) ; Alorda-Kleinglass, Aaron (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Física) ; Diego-Feliu, Marc (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya) ; Romera Castillo, Cristina 1982- (Institut de Ciències del Mar) ; Mallenco-Fornies, Rebeca (Institut de Ciències del Mar) ; Gilabert, Javier (Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena) ; García Orellana, Jordi (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Rodellas, Valentí (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Física) ; Ruiz González, Clara (Institut de Ciències del Mar)
Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) supplies large quantities of nutrients and other terrestrial elements to coastal ecosystems, impacting marine biota and ecosystem functioning. Despite the relevance of prokaryotes for marine biogeochemistry, little is known about their responses to groundwater inputs. [...]
2025 - 10.1111/mec.70201
Molecular ecology, Vol. 34, Num. 24 (December 2025) , art. e70201  
Focus on:
The Barcelona Lab for Urban Environmental Justice and Sustainability (56)
Environmental and Climate Economics (ECE) (88)
Integrated Assessment: Sociology, Technology and the Environment (IASTE) (65)
Integrated Earth System Dynamics Laboratory (IESD) (27)
Observatori de la Tordera (15)
Sustainability and Environmental Protection (Sostenipra) (149)