Category Archives: Current Affairs

Project 80, CC BY-ND Mike Leonard, Birmingham City University Forty percent of UK greenhouse gas emissions come from households, so the sustainable construction and everyday running of our homes could play a major role in achieving a low-carbon society. Next … Continue reading →

Kodda / Shutterstock Myles Allen, University of Oxford The UK government has given the go-ahead to carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) schemes worth £22 billion (US$28.6 billion). Critics are insisting that this technology – which involves capturing carbon as … Continue reading →

Vitalinka/Shutterstock Matteo Gasparini, University of Oxford The financial sector is among the world’s most heavily regulated industries – and for good reason. Financial rules, which force banks to hold capital in reserve when making riskier investments, are designed to prevent … Continue reading →

Jack Marley, The Conversation Last summer, the northern hemisphere was the hottest it has been for 2,000 years. The warnings of climate scientists are at fever pitch: halt the burning of coal, oil and gas or risk catastrophic warming of … Continue reading →

Rebecca Willis, Lancaster University The Scottish government’s decision to row back on its 2030 climate pledge illustrates the crux of any target: it’s easy to set one with a big political flourish, but harder to follow through with a careful … Continue reading →

MOHAMED ABDULRAHEEM / shutterstock Antaya March, University of Portsmouth; Cressida Bowyer, University of Portsmouth, and Steve Fletcher, University of Portsmouth Plastic pollution spans the globe, yet national policies are generally not effective enough, and have so far focused primarily on … Continue reading →

Sam Fankhauser, University of Oxford The Scottish government has rescinded its 2030 target of a 75% emissions cut to greenhouse gas emissions, relative to 1990. The target was statutory, meaning it had been set in law in the Emissions Reduction … Continue reading →

StockStudio Aerials Matthew Carl Ives, University of Oxford; Belinda Wade, The University of Queensland, and Saphira Rekker, The University of Queensland Just 57 companies and nation states were responsible for generating 80% of the world’s CO₂ emissions from fossil fuels … Continue reading →