carbon reduction

Driving improvement – socially just green transport solutions

By Karen Lucas Filed Under: All posts, Cities and Environment, Environment, Inclusive Growth, Urban Posted: March 24, 2025

As the UK transitions to net zero and shifts to low carbon transport, policymakers are faced with the challenge of ensuring that a push for greener transport makes travel fairer and more accessible for those on low incomes. In this article, Professor Karen Lucas explores the detrimental impact of poor public transport connectivity and makes […]

Hydrogen: the missing piece in the clean energy puzzle

By Aoife Foley, Dlzar Al Kez and Faraedoon Ahmed Filed Under: All posts, Energy and Environment, Environment, Renewables, Science and Engineering, Science and Technology Posted: March 17, 2025

Hydrogen has been proposed as a clean energy carrier, offering a sustainable and efficient alternative to fossil fuels during the net zero transition. Hydrogen’s significance lies in its production process, which in some cases means that it can be a zero-emission energy source. Hydrogen’s high energy density and versatility allow it to be used in various forms, including […]

Decarbonising transport: is hydrogen the answer?

By Alice Larkin and Amanda Lea-Langton Filed Under: All posts, Cities and Environment, Energy and Environment, Environment, Growth and Inclusion, Renewables, Science and Technology Posted: February 25, 2025

The UK government has enshrined net zero into law, but if it is to meet its targets then big strides need to be made towards decarbonising land-based transport, aviation, and shipping. Unlike most land-based transport, aviation and shipping are considered ‘difficult to decarbonise’. Their long-lived infrastructure, ongoing reliance on energy dense fuels, and issues around […]

Getting it right: are hydrogen standards good enough?

By Christopher Jones Filed Under: All posts, Energy and Environment, Environment, Renewables, Research and development, Science and Engineering Posted: February 11, 2025

Hydrogen has the potential to be an important industrial feedstock and fuel. There are, however, various ways to produce and use it, leading to diverse supply chains with different environmental implications. Two considerations for the role of hydrogen in a low carbon economy stand out – ensuring that hydrogen production and supply has sufficiently low […]

Is advanced nuclear the route to low-carbon hydrogen production?

By William Bodel Filed Under: All posts, Energy and Environment, Renewables, Research and development, Science and Technology, UK economy Posted: January 27, 2025

There is increasing recognition that a UK net zero future will feature a significant role for hydrogen as an energy vector. The UK currently relies heavily on natural gas for heat, industry and power production. If net zero ambitions are to be realised, this must be replaced with either increased electrification (powered by low-carbon sources) […]

How green is hydrogen?

By Amanda Lea-Langton Filed Under: All posts, Energy and Environment, Environment, Renewables, Science and Engineering Posted: January 15, 2025

Development of a low carbon hydrogen-based economy is seen as a major part of achieving net-zero emissions across the world. Hydrogen is a flexible and potentially non-polluting fuel because it only produces water when it is used in fuel cells or burnt. However, the production of hydrogen can have a high carbon footprint depending on […]

New governments bring new opportunities: a way forward for green finance?

By James Jackson Filed Under: All posts, British Politics, Cities and Environment, Environment, UK economy Posted: August 19, 2024

Following the result of the general election in July 2024, the new Labour government is now responsible for ensuring the UK gets back on track with its Net Zero objectives. Green finance has become a burgeoning area of climate politics and financial markets, raising the question over how the new government might utilise it to […]

Rooting for effective reforestation: landscape context and woodland cover

By Matthew Dennis Filed Under: All posts, Cities and Environment, Environment Posted: August 12, 2024

Woodland in the UK stands at 14.5% land-cover compared to 40% for Europe as a whole. Government targets aim to reach 17% by 2030 – a huge increase on the ground in a short space of time. In this article, Dr Matthew Dennis demonstrates how the question of where to create new woodland is key […]

Energy consumption: solving the storage problem

By Robert Dryfe Filed Under: All posts, Cities and Environment, Energy and Environment, Environment, Renewables, Science and Engineering, Science and Technology Posted: July 11, 2024

To combat climate change, all developed economies have set the goal of carbon-neutrality by 2050. This means securing more energy from renewable sources. Achieving a high proportion of renewable energy production in the UK and other developed countries is only possible with suitable energy storage infrastructure, to bridge periods of low or no power generation from […]

What does a ‘metal intensive’ future entail?

By Dr Sampriti Mahanty and Professor Frank Boons Filed Under: Energy and Environment, Environment, Renewables, Science and Technology Posted: February 6, 2024

Critical metals, such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper and manganese, are key to the path towards net zero. The UK Government released their Critical Minerals Strategy in early 2023, which sets out to improve the resilience of the critical metal supply chain. In this article from our publication ‘On Resilience’, Dr Sampriti Mahanty and Professor […]