How do you apply for a job at the European Commission and what skills are in demand? And what is it like to work for the Commission? In March 2022, Helena Larsson Haug, Senior Expert at the European Commission’s Directorate-General Competition (DG COMP), visited Lund and shared her experiences and thoughts on these questions with students envisaging the option of an EU-career. With more than 20 ye

https://www.cfe.lu.se/en/article/working-european-commission - 2025-08-29

The Director General of the National Board of Trade (‘Kommerskollegium’), Anders Ahnlid, visited Lund on 30 March 2022. At a seminar organized by the Centre for European Studies, he presented an overview of how the global trading system came into being, evolved during and after the Cold War, and might develop in light of the challenges imposed upon it by the current war in Ukraine. Anders, who has

https://www.cfe.lu.se/en/article/global-trading-system-war-war - 2025-08-29

Thomas Pugh, principal investigator at BECC and researcher at MERGE, is one of the researchers behind a new study that is published in Science. In the study, the researchers compared results from three major modeling approaches that provide information on different aspects of risk on the impact of climate change on forests in the 21st century. Forests harbor enormous biodiversity and are a major c

https://www.becc.lu.se/article/climate-risk-analysis-earths-forests-21st-century - 2025-08-29

Wild bees that ingest the neonicotinoid clothianidin when they feed from nectar of rapeseed flowers grown from clothianidin-coated seeds, become lethargic. In addition, strawberries pollinated by these bees become smaller. These are the results of a study conducted by three BECC researchers at Lund University. Wild and managed bees are important providers of pollination services and benefit the pr

https://www.becc.lu.se/article/smaller-strawberries-after-pollination-red-mason-bees-have-ingested-neonicotinoid-clothianidin - 2025-08-29

Image: IStock Tree-planting has been widely seen as an effective way of binding carbon as carbon dioxide levels rise in the atmosphere. But now, BECC researcher Louise C Andresen among others, are warning that forests on nutrient-poor land won’t be an additional carbon sink in the long term. As forests age, their uptake of CO2 declines and, each time forests are planted, there is a risk of additio

https://www.becc.lu.se/article/planting-trees-not-always-effective-way-binding-carbon-dioxide - 2025-08-29

China has suffered an extreme heat wave this summer and the Yangtze River has been completely dried up in parts. This is the topic of a new episode of the Swedish podcast Kinapodden with BECC-researcher Deliang Chen as one of the guests. China has suffered an extreme heat wave this summer. The Yangtze River has been completely dried up in parts, resulting in an acute energy shortage. In a new epis

https://www.becc.lu.se/article/becc-researcher-deliang-chen-guests-kinapodden-talk-about-drought-along-yangtze-river - 2025-08-29

A new study led by Lund University with researchers at BECC shows that cities negatively affect the diversity of birds. There are significantly fewer bird species in urban forests compared with forests in the countryside - even if the forest areas are of the same quality. The researchers examined 459 natural woodlands located in or near 32 cities in southern Sweden. They counted the occurrence of

https://www.becc.lu.se/article/less-bird-diversity-city-forests - 2025-08-29

Climate change threatens slow-growing tree species that are important carbon storages according to a new thesis by BECC researcher Maria Witteman. The rainforest's ability to store carbon may decrease in step with climate change according to a new thesis from the University of Gothenburg written by BECC researcher Maria Witteman. The photosynthesis of leaves becomes less effective at higher temper

https://www.becc.lu.se/article/rainforest-grows-warmer-trees-become-overheated - 2025-08-29

Effects of a warmer Arctic are not only negative for the climate, according to a new thesis from the Centre for Environmental and Climate Science at Lund University, Sweden. Modelling showed that moving the tree line upwards could increase carbon storage, as trees sequester more carbon in their biomass than tundra plants. But the results are uncertain. The Arctic – the area north of the Arctic Cir

https://www.becc.lu.se/article/complex-consequences-warmer-arctic - 2025-08-29

How can we protect society from the extremities of a changing climate while also protecting nature and enhancing biodiversity? BECC-researchers Johanna Alkan-Johansson and Helena Hanson are guests in this episode of the podcast by nordics.info. Listen to a dialogue about how nature-based solutions are used in the Nordics, their benefits and their downsides. How can we protect society from the extr

https://www.becc.lu.se/article/becc-researchers-nature-based-solutions-nordicsinfo-podcast - 2025-08-29

Jonas Ardö and Johannes Rousk are Principal Investigators at BECC. They have both received funding from the recent Formas call that focus on climate and agriculture. In the call “Carbon storage as a climate measure in agriculture” from Formas, six projects received funding to increase knowledge about carbon storage in Swedish agricultural and to support Swedish food production.  Two of the project

https://www.becc.lu.se/article/two-becc-pis-receive-funding-formas-research-climate-and-agriculture - 2025-08-29

After this summer meeting, one cannot understate the importance of and unmistakeable delight in meeting in-person after a long, pandemic-sized hiatus. On the shores of the Baltic Sea, in the crisp early autumn of Skåne, a group of 28 ClimBEco PhD students spent two nights and two days getting to know one another and learning about the topic of sustainable coastal environments. Hosted by the Simris

https://www.becc.lu.se/article/reflections-climbeco-summer-meeting-2022 - 2025-08-29

Just before the start of COP27, IPCC released a popular science version of its latest report on climate change. Deliang Chen, professor at MERGE and BECC, is one of the authors and comments the summary, which is also available for download. To make science on climate change and its effects more available to all, IPCC has released a popular science version of its latest report written in a plain la

https://www.becc.lu.se/article/ipcc-summary-all - 2025-08-29

Swedish, previously uncut forests have been converted to plantations at a steady rate since 2003. In a new study, BECC-researcher Anders Ahlström and his research team find that old forests have been cut and lost by ∼1.4% per year since 2003, and at this rate they will disappear by the 2070s. Natural ecosystems that have experienced limited direct human impact are threatened by land use change. On

https://www.becc.lu.se/article/old-unprotected-forests-might-disappear-2070s-sweden - 2025-08-29

Just over two weeks after the climate summit in Egypt, the leaders of the world’s countries are meeting again, this time to address another acute crisis facing humanity – the loss of biodiversity. Two researchers with a membership in BECC will attend the meeting. In this article they comment the upcoming meeting together with three of their BECC-affiliated colleagues. The article is published on C

https://www.becc.lu.se/article/it-time-put-biodiversity-agenda-five-lund-researchers-challenges-cop15 - 2025-08-29

BECC researchers are active in media during COP15. Join us in the conversation! As a research environment focused on biodiversity and ecosystem services in a changing climate, COP15 in Montreal and the Convention on Biological Diversity is of utmost important for us. Many of our researchers are engaged in what is happening across the sea. Some of their voices has been heard in media and we have ga

https://www.becc.lu.se/article/voices-becc-regarding-cop15 - 2025-08-29

Life in the city is tough – if you are a baby bird you are markedly affected by a certain type of air pollution and by which trees are close to the nest, new research shows. Underlying the study is a new more detailed way of investigating what factors in an urban environment impact birds and animals. Cities are generally a harsh environment for birds and other animals to live in, but researchers d

https://www.becc.lu.se/article/nestling-birds-city-clearly-affected-air-pollution-and-which-trees-surround-them - 2025-08-29

The COP15 summit is over, and the world has received a sister deal to the "Paris Agreement", a global framework to protect biodiversity on the planet. - It is a great moment for biodiversity. We needed this set of goals and hope. But there is lots of work to be done and only a few years left, says BECC researcher Maria Blasi, who was present during the negotiations in Canada. These are Maria Blasi

https://www.becc.lu.se/article/maria-blasi-after-attending-cop15-key-outcomes-biological-diversity - 2025-08-29

Plant protection products are used in agriculture for more predictable and better harvests. Honeybees and other flower-visiting insects are exposed to residues of these substances when they collect pollen and nectar in the landscape. According to a new study from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and Lund University, pollen was found to contain high concentrations of many subst

https://www.becc.lu.se/article/pollinators-exposure-pesticides-swedish-agricultural-landscape - 2025-08-29

Have you made adjustments to your garden to make it more welcoming for pollinators? If so, you have probably made a valuable contribution, according to a new study from Lund University. The researchers evaluated the national ‘Operation: Save the Bees’ campaign, and their results indicate that what private individuals do in their gardens really can make a positive difference. The fact that pollinat

https://www.becc.lu.se/article/what-you-do-your-garden-help-pollinators-works - 2025-08-29