Our episode today is about shipping and its impact on climate change. In today’s episode, we will talk about some of the work by colleagues from the Tyndall Centre at Manchester University including the International Maritime Organisation's - the IMO’s in short - new shipping and climate strategy, technology like wind ships and electrification of ships, as well as the demand side of shipping. International shipping emits around 700 million tonnes of CO2 a year, equivalent to emissions from Germany. So the sector is a major contributor to climate change. The IMO  is the United Nations spec ..read more

Our episode today is about one of the most controversial topics at COP28 – abated fossil fuels through carbon capture storage technology. At COP28, COP president Sultan Al Jaber claimed there is no science behind fossil fuel phaseout. At a press conference, IPCC chair Jim Skea said that in 1.5C-compatible scenarios “by 2050, fossil fuel use is greatly reduced and unabated coal use is completely phased out.” He added that oil use by 2050 is reduced by 60% and gas by 45%. According to Jim Skea, Al Jaber was “attentive to the science” and “fully understood it”. Understandably, this has caused so ..read more

 Our episode is about heating and cooling buildings – quite timely as we enter the colder winter months. According to the Climate Change Committee, 29 million homes need to be upgraded to low carbon systems by 2050. This is not an easy task. According to Parliament, UK houses are one of the oldest and worst insulated in all of Europe and data from the CCC says that heat decarbonisation in each home will cost £10,000 on average per household – posing a major challenge to reach targets. In addition, UK policy does not currently reflect the standards to which houses need to be built to reduc ..read more

Many faith leaders have signified their commitments to climate action. For example, Pope Francis of the Catholic Church penned the Laudato Si, critiquing consumerism and irresponsible development and calls on people for swift and unified global action. The pope has also committed to net zero by 2050. The Church of England has also committed to net zero by 2030. Their plan includes reducing emissions from Cathedrals, churches, dioceses, and schools. Rowan Williamson, when he was the Archbishop of Canterbury, launched the second phase of the Tyndall Centre back in 2006, speaking to us about how ..read more

Our episode is about biomass and why it is key for achieving net zero. Simply put, biomass energy is renewable energy that comes from plants and animals. Some biomass energy sources include crops like corn, soy beans, and sugar cane. According to the UK Parliament, bioenergy is currently the second largest source of renewable energy in the UK, generating 12.9% of the total UK electricity supply in 2021. How can biomass energy help us reach net zero and what about concerns about deforestation and land use? Our guest for this episode is Andrew Welfle of the Tyndall Centre at the University of Ma ..read more

Our episode today is about citizen engagement in climate governance. More specifically, we will talk about climate assemblies, where representatives of the public come together and discuss issues. Citizen assemblies in the climate sphere are becoming more popular, especially in the UK and Europe. But how do they work and why are they important in the context of the climate crisis? Can we all join a citizen assembly? Our guest is Stephen Elstub of the Tyndall Centre at Newcastle University. Stephen joined the Department of Politics at Newcastle University in 2015 and is currently the Director o ..read more

In common with many places in the world, the UK has been experiencing high temperatures over the last couple of years, and not a great deal of rain, reminding us of the need to adapt to the consequences of climate change. Our episode focuses on adaptation, and some of the reasons why policy and practice are lagging behind where we need them to be. The Adapt Lock-in project has been working to understand this gap better, looking at experience in three countries – the UK, the Netherlands and Germany. Our guests today have been working on this project over the last 3 years.  Tim Rayner is a ..read more

Our episode is about plastic recycling, in time for International Plastic Free Day, which is was last May 25th. Did you know that if every person in the world stopped using one single-use piece of plastic for one day, we’d avoid over 7.6 BILLION plastic items on that single day according to the International Plastic Free Day organised by Free the Ocean? The plastic problem is enormous, but how can we better solve the plastic problem?  “One Bin To Rule Them All” is a project that has been working to develop a framework for eliminating consumer choice and confusion in plastic waste manageme ..read more

Our episode today is about art and climate change. What is the role of art in the climate crisis? How can museums respond to the climate crisis? The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Art is one of the most prominent university museums in the UK. It is located in the University of East Anglia campus, and has a collection of global art. Recently, the Sainsbury Centre hired a Curator of Art and Climate Change (and he is here with us today), the very first of its kind in the UK.  Our guests today are Jago Cooper and John Kenneth Paranada. Jago is the Director of the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts ..read more

A recent paper by Harry Smith, Dr Nem Vaughan, and Dr Johanna Forster, highlights the risks of countries relying on nature-based solutions to achieve net-zero. To date, around 146 countries have set out a net zero target, committing to reducing their emissions across the decades ahead. Some emissions, however, are ‘difficult-to-decarbonise’ and are balanced out by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The study found that once the bulk of the emissions have been reduced, most countries plan to remove the left-over ‘difficult-to-decarbonise’ emissions through forests and soils, which can ..read more