Tag: climate change

Scaffolding on Big Ben, London, with a view of a lamppost in the foreground
Policy

It is time be more ambitious – the UK’s Climate Change Act needs strengthening

Joanna Haigh, co-director of the Grantham Institute — Climate Change and the Environment, and John Krebs, emeritus professor of zoology at the University of Oxford and former member of the UK Committee on Climate Change, consider why the UK needs a more ambitious Climate Change Act.  The UK’s Climate Change Act is a pioneering and far-sighted piece of legislation, ushered in ten years ago by a remarkable cross-party … Continue reading It is time be more ambitious – the UK’s Climate Change Act needs strengthening

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Canada shown on a cheap globe
business, Mitigation, Policy

Canada and climate change: the transition to a low-carbon economy is a golden opportunity

Alyssa Gilbert, Director of Policy and Translation at the Grantham Institute, heads to the “energy engine” of Canada to talk climate change, cleantech and collaboration. This week I am heading to Canada, where I grew up, for the first time in six years. I am very excited about returning to Canadian soil (er, or snow), and particularly interested to meet a range of people involved … Continue reading Canada and climate change: the transition to a low-carbon economy is a golden opportunity

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Headshots of some leading ladies in climate change and environmental science at Imperial - Helen ApSimon, Ana Mijic, Jenny Nelson, Clementine Chambon, Joanna Haigh, Jess Wade
Communicating climate change, IPCC, Policy

Leading ladies in climate and environmental science, and why their profile counts

To mark International Women’s Day, archivist Anne Barrett, author of “Women At Imperial College Past Present and Future”, and Alice White, Wikimedian in Residence at the Wellcome Library, have organised a Wikipedia ‘edit-a-thon’ at Imperial College London to create and improve Wikipedia pages about women in science. In this blog, equality advocate Dr Jess Wade, Research Associate in Physics, explains the rationale behind the project, … Continue reading Leading ladies in climate and environmental science, and why their profile counts

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Graphic showing a thermometer rising, with a 2 written at the top to imply a 2 degree temperature rise
Communicating climate change, IPCC, Research

The lower the climate sensitivity the better – but what we need is zero carbon

Following the publication of a paper presenting a new narrower estimate of “equilibrium climate sensitivity” – a measure of how future greenhouse gas emissions could alter the climate – Professor Joanna Haigh, co-director of the Grantham Institute, explains the implications of climate sensitivity and why it should be interpreted carefully. What concerns me about a recent paper published in Nature is the interpretation of its … Continue reading The lower the climate sensitivity the better – but what we need is zero carbon

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Climate negotiations, Communicating climate change, Student blogs

Creative, critical and charged – the young voices of COP23 

Earlier this month, just before the 23rd Conference of the Parties (COP23) kicked off in Bonn, Research Postgraduate Luciana Miu attended the 13th Conference of Youth (COY). Organised by YOUNGO, the official youth-constituency to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), COY has taken place before every COP since 2005. Representing the Alumni Association of Climate-KIC, the EU’s largest climate innovation initiative, Luciana … Continue reading Creative, critical and charged – the young voices of COP23 

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Group photo of energy ministers at the IEA Ministerial, Nov 2017
Policy

Now we can have a genuinely global energy body

While the 23rd Conference of the Parties (COP23) has been going on in Bonn, another international meeting – also significant for climate change and environment issues – took place in Paris. Neil Hirst, Senior Policy Fellow at the Grantham Institute, explains why the International Energy Agency’s Ministerial Meeting was an important step forwards for climate change mitigation.   While talks continue at this year’s climate … Continue reading Now we can have a genuinely global energy body

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The Imperial College London delegation at COP23
Climate negotiations

COP23: The Fijian approach, the ‘Paris Rulebook’, and a potential showdown…

Alyssa Gilbert, Director of Policy and Translation at the Grantham Institute, anticipates the comings and goings of the COP23. Representatives from nearly two hundred countries are coming together this week in an annual meeting to push forward global progress in tackling climate change. Participants in the 23rd Conference of the Parties (COP23) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), are converging on … Continue reading COP23: The Fijian approach, the ‘Paris Rulebook’, and a potential showdown…

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Kamchatka, on road to the fieldwork site
Impacts & adaptation

Ring of Fire: the future of ecological climate change research?

‘Ring of Fire’ is a four-year research project that investigates how rising temperatures of global warming could affect freshwater ecosystems. A team of scientists are visiting five high-latitude sites where geothermal activity generates a temperature gradient across freshwater streams. The streams are used as ‘natural laboratories’ to investigate how global warming could impact everything from gene expression to whole ecosystem processes, in systems that are experiencing … Continue reading Ring of Fire: the future of ecological climate change research?

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Downing Street Sign City of Westminster London, UK
Mitigation, Policy

The Clean Growth Strategy – a turn in the right direction for a low carbon future

Alyssa Gilbert, Director of Policy and Translation at the Grantham Institute, mulls over the government’s Clean Growth Strategy and looks ahead to the next steps. Good things come to those who wait. After nearly a year of anticipation, the UK Government finally launched its Clean Growth Strategy on 12 October. Was it worth the wait? It certainly shows commitment to green growth, embedding climate change … Continue reading The Clean Growth Strategy – a turn in the right direction for a low carbon future

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Skyscrapers in Shanghai, China, with solar panels in the foreground
Mitigation, Policy

Why we need global leadership on pressing energy challenges, and why China has such an important role to play

Neil Hirst is a Senior Policy Fellow for Energy and Mitigation at the Grantham Institute. Over the next few months, he will be working with Professor Yufeng Yang, from the Energy Research Institute (ERI) of  National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of China, who recently joined the institute funded by a Grantham Research Fellowship. Here, Neil explains two of the topics they will be working on: reforming energy governance, … Continue reading Why we need global leadership on pressing energy challenges, and why China has such an important role to play

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