Project Cosmos

Europe broke multiple heat records in June 2026, with the UK, France, Spain, and Switzerland reporting unprecedented temperatures linked to climate change. At London climate action week, UN chief António Guterres urged methane reduction and AI companies to use renewable energy by 2030, while governments committed to accelerating global electrification.

Project Cosmos, launched by Carbon Brief in June 2026 after an 18-month research and development effort, aims to create the world’s largest database of climate change research. The database contains over 1.8 million unique publications linked by 40 million citation relationships and includes the Cosmos 500 rankings of most cited authors, publications, and institutions.

Carbon Brief's Project Cosmos, a database of 1.8 million climate change publications, ranks the most highly cited climate scientists using a citation score based on references within the database. The Cosmos 500 ranking differs from external citation counts like Google Scholar by focusing solely on references from Cosmos.

Carbon Brief's Project Cosmos is a collaborative database containing over 1.8 million climate change publications linked by 40 million citations. Built over 18 months with academic guidance, it aims to analyze climate science trends, identify research gaps, and rank key publications, authors, and institutions through the Cosmos 500.