IESM is an academic unit of the College of Science in UP Diliman. Merging the erstwhile Environmental Science Program (ESP) and the Department of Meteorology and Oceanography (DMO), the institute is envisioned to serve as a center of excellence in the environmental and atmospheric sciences in Asia Pacific; investigating natural phenomena contributing to many major decisions toward sustainable development in the country and the region.

IESM aims to contribute towards the advancement of the science of human impact and responses of the changing environment, and to understand and forecast weather systems and climate, reduce and manage atmospheric and hydro-meteorological hazards. In the past 19 years, IESM has grown much stronger with a total of 9 full time faculty members, 4 professorial lecturers and 1 professorial fellow, all with PhD degrees. After moving into its new home in 2014, research in IESM has increased significantly.

Recently, IESM has been designated as the Center of Excellence for Environmental Science by the Commission on Higher Education. Furthermore, IESM is the Regional Training Center for the World Meteorological Organization Region V.