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Author Archive for: "maria.sharmina"
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Industrial blue containers in background with large piles of sand in front.

Can hydrogen help decarbonise small industrial emitters?

Maria SharminaHeadshot of Dr Vincenzo Spallina. By Maria Sharmina and Vincenzo Spallina Filed Under: All posts, Energy and Environment, Environment, Inclusive Growth, Renewables, Research and development, Science and Technology, UK economy Posted: April 7, 2025

Decarbonising industry, among other hard-to-abate sectors, is a high priority in the UK as the country embarks on a pathway to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The government’s focus to date has been on the decarbonisation of large-scale energy-intensive industries. However, more than a fifth of the UK’s carbon dioxide emissions come from […]

Tagged With: Business Energy & Industry, carbon reduction, climate change, CS-Energy, energy, environment, Hydrogen, inclusive growth, net zero

Plastic bottles which have been crushed together into cubes.

Plastics policies are changing the game—but are SMEs being left behind?

Headshot of authorMaria Sharmina By Adeyemi Adelekan and Maria Sharmina Filed Under: Energy and Environment, Environment, Growth and Inclusion, Renewables Posted: February 6, 2025

The UK plastics policy landscape is undergoing major changes. While consultations stress the importance of avoiding harm to SMEs, policies often lack concrete measures against such harm. Research by the University of Manchester indicates that current and forthcoming plastics policies, shaped by these consultations, would affect stakeholders across the plastic supply chain differently, with SMEs […]

Tagged With: Business Energy & Industry, economy, environment, inclusive growth, net zero, productivity, sustainability, Tyndall

Arms holding a placard in the air with a recycling symbol on it.

Catalysts or constraints? Emerging policies for a circular plastics system in the UK

Headshot of authorMaria Sharmina By Adeyemi Adelekan and Maria Sharmina Filed Under: All posts, Environment Posted: January 24, 2024

Every year over half a million tonnes of UK plastic waste intended for recycling is rejected due to contamination. The UK also exports more than 60% of its plastic waste burden to other countries. The existing UK plastics system is complex and confusing, but emerging regulations aim to simplify it and promote a circular economy. […]

Tagged With: environment, sustainability

Strengthening the UK’s energy resilience and security

Maria Sharmina By Maria Sharmina and Timothy Capper Filed Under: All posts, Energy and Environment, Renewables, Science and Engineering Posted: November 13, 2023

Energy is a key resource enabling the functioning of modern societies. Arguably, the fast-paced technological advances in the past 200 years have been based on plentiful supply of cheap energy. But cheap and plentiful are no more. In this article, from our publication On Resilience, Professor Maria Sharmina and Timothy Capper explore how to strengthen the […]

Tagged With: energy, environment, science & engineering

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Are land-use policies jeopardising the UK’s resilience to climate change and population growth?

Claire HoolohanMaria Sharmina By Claire Hoolohan and Maria Sharmina Filed Under: All posts Posted: April 22, 2016

Land provides a wide range of goods and services to society. But with multiple demands placed on our land, both now and into the future, Claire Hoolohan and Maria Sharmina ask why are land-use policies failing to make the most of UK land? Land is an invaluable resource that sustains much of the UK economy […]

Tagged With: climate change, energy, food, Land, planning, sustainability, water

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Russian energy policy at a crossroads

Maria Sharmina By Maria Sharmina Filed Under: Featured, Science and Technology Posted: June 4, 2014

The Ukraine crisis has focused attention on Western Europe’s dependence on Russian oil and gas supplies. But the significance of Russia’s energy policy is much wider than this – and could be central to the global response to climate change, explains Dr Maria Sharmina. Russia has a pivotal role in shaping the future direction of […]

Tagged With: carbon emissions, climate change, energy policy, fossil fuels, greenhouse gasses, permafrost, population movement, russia

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