sustainability

Messy but meaningful – how to make interdisciplinary water-energy-food-environment research more influential

By Alice Larkin and Claire Hoolohan Filed Under: Cities and Environment, Digital Futures, Science and Technology Posted: November 19, 2018

UK academia is arguably at the forefront of the kind of inter-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary research needed to tackle global grand societal challenges. This distinctive mode of research aims to be policy-relevant and impactful, but by its nature is often messy, complex and difficult to communicate. Here, a group of academics from The University of Manchester […]

Response to the IPCC 1.5°C Special Report

By Kevin Anderson Filed Under: All posts, Energy and Environment, Science and Engineering Posted: October 8, 2018

The University of Manchester’s Professor Kevin Anderson responds to today’s report from the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change. The IPCC report meticulously lays out how the serious climate impacts of 1.5°C of warming are still far less destructive than those for 2°C. Sadly, the IPCC then fails, again, to address the profound implications of reducing […]

We need creative responses to water stress and climate change, and we need them now.

By Claire Hoolohan Filed Under: Cities and Environment, Digital Futures, Energy and Environment Posted: July 18, 2018

As the threat of drought becomes a reality in the UK, Claire Hoolohan Research Fellow at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, considers how we might change the way society uses water. With hosepipe bans being introduced how do we look at future water supplies Water shortage, or water scarcity, is about how much […]

Heathrow Expansion in light of the UK’s Climate Change Commitments

By Alice Larkin and John Broderick Filed Under: All posts, British Politics, Energy and Environment, Science and Engineering Posted: June 22, 2018

Alice Larkin, Professor of Climate Science and Energy Policy at The University of Manchester, along with Dr John Broderick consider if the level of emissions from the Heathrow expansion is in alignment with the UK’s legal commitments on climate change. They argue that the proposed expansion jeopardises these legal commitments, given the absence of a […]

Zero-carbon UK? Let’s make zero mean something

By Joe Blakey and Marc Hudson Filed Under: Science and Engineering Posted: April 26, 2018

The UK’s minister for energy and clean growth wants to set the UK on a path to a ‘zero-carbon economy’. Marc Hudson and Joe Blakey from The University of Manchester’s Sustainable Consumption Institute ask whether ‘zero-carbon’ will give zero-thought to the emissions from the international supply chains that underpin our economy. What does a ‘zero-carbon […]

What can we expect from Andy Burnham’s Green Summit?

By Julia Kasmire Filed Under: All posts, Devo, Energy and Environment Posted: March 20, 2018

Ahead of Andy Burnham’s Green Summit this week, Julia Kasmire of the University of Manchester’s Sustainable Consumption Institute investigates whether the Greater Manchester Combined Authority will take the necessary steps to take responsibility for achieving carbon neutrality. Andy Burnham has called for a Green Summit which is expected to establish a ‘green charter’ to lay […]

Reducing Plastic Use in Food Packaging with Innovative New Materials

By James Baker Filed Under: All posts, British Politics, Science and Engineering Posted: March 13, 2018

Finding ways to reduce the amount of plastic used in food packaging, while still ensuring products are protected and kept fresh, is an increasingly important challenge. James Baker, Chief Executive Officer of Graphene@Manchester, explains how the answer could lie in the use of novel 2D materials. Changes in consumer perception and behaviour relating to plastic […]

ECOSTAR: the University-Business Alliance for Natural Capital

By Ron Chan Filed Under: Energy and Environment Posted: May 31, 2017

Doctor Ron Chan is Lecturer in Environmental Economics at The University of Manchester’s School of Social Sciences. Here, he introduces ‘ECOSTAR’ – an innovation and investment project that brings together universities, business, and the public sector to deliver ground-breaking, nature-based business initiatives. ECOSTAR promotes business ventures that can demonstrate a genuinely positive contribution to the […]

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

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 […]

Could DevoManc create an economy for the common good?

By Mark Burton Filed Under: Devo, Featured Posted: July 6, 2015

Mark Burton tries to imagine how city-region devolution might help to produce a fairer and more sustainable society. The Greater Manchester devolution deal is firmly rooted in a highly orthodox economic and social model. Other deals, with regions hand-picked by the Treasury, are at various stages of gestation. There is every reason to think they […]