Carbon Brief launches Project Cosmos, its largest climate research database
Carbon Brief launched Project Cosmos, a climate research database of 1.8 million papers, and ranked the 500 most-cited climate authors and institutions.
Photo by Ann H on Pexels
Carbon Brief launched “Project Cosmos” on June 23, 2026, describing it as the world’s largest and most complete climate research database. The collection holds more than 1.8 million academic papers, books, and reports, mapping more than a century of study on climate change. Carbon Brief built the database around the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and released an initial ranking, the “Cosmos 500”, of the most highly cited publications, authors, and institutions in the field.
Inside the Project Cosmos climate research database
The climate research database starts from the IPCC, which has published six sets of reports since its first in 1990, each longer than the last. Those reports reference more than 100,000 other papers, books, and reports, and Carbon Brief used that body as the core of the collection. It then expanded the core using four further data sources to reach the full 1.8 million records. Every publication links to at least one other through its references, which Carbon Brief visualised as a “galaxy” of connected research, navigable through an interactive map.
Cosmos 500: who dominates climate science
To show the database’s scope, Carbon Brief ranked the 500 most highly cited publications, authors, and institutions. The most highly cited climate scientist is Professor Philippe Ciais, who has researched the planet’s carbon cycle for nearly four decades. The United States tops the tables for both authors and institutions, with almost half of the 500 most-cited authors based at US institutions. Carbon Brief noted this concentration as a concern for the field’s future, given pressure on US climate science under the Trump administration.
The ranking also exposes narrow representation. Experts from global south countries account for only 4% of authors in the Cosmos 500, with China the most highly cited among them, and only 10% of the listed authors are women.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Publications in the database | more than 1.8 million |
| Publications referenced by IPCC reports (the core) | more than 100,000 |
| IPCC report cycles since 1990 | 6 |
| Most-cited publications, authors and institutions ranked | 500 |
| Most-cited climate scientist | Prof Philippe Ciais |
| Cosmos 500 authors at US institutions | almost half |
| Cosmos 500 authors from global south countries | 4% |
| Cosmos 500 authors who are women | 10% |
Source: Carbon Brief, “Project Cosmos” and “Cosmos 500” (23 June 2026).
Carbon Brief framed the launch as a starting point rather than a finished product. It said the climate research database could be used to track how interest in different research areas has shifted over time and to identify gaps and openings for future work, and it invited academics, journalists, and analysts to propose co-authored studies and literature reviews using the data. The value of such large collections depends on data quality, a theme covered in reporting on the important role of big data in sustainability and on how sustainability indicators must evolve in 2025 and 2026.
Background
Mapping a research field by its citations, known as bibliometrics, is well established, but climate science has lacked a single open collection on this scale. The IPCC itself does not run experiments; it assesses published literature, and the volume it reviews has grown with each cycle, which is why Carbon Brief used the IPCC reference list as a backbone. Carbon Brief is a United Kingdom-based, un-paywalled publication covering climate science and energy policy, edited by Leo Hickman since 2015 and funded by the European Climate Foundation. It is known for data-led analysis and regular briefings, including its Daily Briefing, DeBriefed, and China Briefing newsletters. Project Cosmos extends that data-led work, turning the scattered record of climate research into a single searchable map and an open invitation to study how the field has grown.
Sources: Carbon Brief; Carbon Brief (Project Cosmos)
Featured image: photo by Ann H on Pexels (free Pexels license).
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I specialize in sustainability education, curriculum co-creation, and early-stage project strategy. At WINSS, I craft articles on sustainability, transformative AI, and related topics. When I’m not writing, you’ll find me chasing the perfect sushi roll, exploring cities around the globe, or unwinding with my dog Puffy — the world’s most loyal sidekick.
