Briefings
Aligning Climate Finance for an Equitable and Sustainable Net Zero Future (Briefing)
Realigning global capital through a mainstreaming of climate into all financing operations is urgently needed. This briefing note identifies challenges for climate finance in the climate convention process. It outlines some of the steps necessary for the private sector to realign capital flow and proposes key actions that governments, financial institutions and other stakeholders should pursue with a view to both increase investment and deploy it effectively and efficiently to address the needs of those on the ground.
Image credit: DIPAYAN BOSE / Climate Visuals Countdown
The UK Post-2050: Looking Beyond the Net Zero Horizon to Inform Decarbonisation (Briefing)
In the pursuit of a just transition, the UK’s 2050 target for reaching net zero emissions target must be balanced alongside the UK’s long-term (post-2050) social, economic and environmental goals, and take account of the full lifespans of young and future generations.
This briefing is written by students from across the COP26 Universities Network and explores how UK net zero policy design can incorporate long-term perspectives. It focuses on energy systems, carbon removal and international leadership.
Image credit: ©Matjaz Krivic / Climate Visuals Countdown.
Co-Benefits of Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Actions (Briefing)
With careful, integrated planning and policies, climate mitigation and adaptation actions can have a large number of other positive impacts, providing co-benefits to society. Maximising co-benefits and minimising trade-offs is essential to ensure public support for climate action, and will help governments decarbonise while meeting other key objectives across the economy and society.
This briefing explores climate action co-benefits for health, biodiversity and economic productivity, and how decision-makers can better integrate these into policy design.
Image credit: ©Meg Haywood Sullivan / Climate Visuals Countdown. Licensed under Creative Commons. Image page.
Mainstreaming Climate Change Education in UK Higher Education Institutions (Working Paper)
- Mainstreaming Climate Change Education in UK Higher Education Institutions
- Climate Change Education Case Studies
UK HEIs have an essential role to play in fostering preparation for the net-zero emissions transition, by engaging staff and students with the climate crisis; the development of and implementation of solutions to address it; and the ability to share that information with others.
This working paper highlights how to foster the graduate attributes and future leadership skills needed to address climate change locally, nationally and globally, as well as the internal and external enabling environments that can determine a HEIs ability to embed Climate Change Education in a manner that responds to the scale of the climate change challenge, and the needs of students and staff in addressing it.
The Network has developed 11 case studies on climate change education to accompany this working paper.
Image credit: Linh Do (Flickr). Licensed under CC-BY 2.0.
Triple Wins in Adaptation, Mitigation and Development (Briefing)
The current rate of global warming and associated climate impacts makes climate action more urgent than ever. As climate change disproportionately affects the poorest and most vulnerable, ensuring that both climate adaptation and mitigation does not compromise development gains or aspirations of communities who are affected by climate change is vital.
This briefing highlights how a ‘triple win’ lens can be useful in achieving a reconciliation between adaptation, mitigation and development. The briefing uses four case studies to highlight policy and management lessons for achieving triple wins, focused on the four countries of Bangladesh, the United Kingdom, Kenya and Zanzibar.
Image credit: Jeffrey Barbee / CIF Action. Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Net-Zero Solutions and Research Priorities in the 2020s (Briefing)
To meet the UK’s 2050 net-zero target, technological, societal, and nature-based solutions will be required to reduce carbon emissions in all sectors of our economy and society.
This briefing sets out a vision of plausible net-zero solutions, innovations and research priorities across eight different sectors to highlight, based on the available evidence, what we already know and what still requires further research, as well as what actions we need to take now.
Image credit: 'Wind Turbine Installation' by Thomas Gennara, Consumers Energy.
Why the Ocean Matters in Climate Negotiations (Briefing)
The ocean takes up heat and carbon, reducing the adverse effects of climate change. However, those benefits also have costs: the ocean is warming, the rate of sea level rise is increasing, and the ocean is acidifying.
This briefing explores mitigation strategies and adaptation actions both for and by the ocean, as well as the importance of supporting better inclusion of the ocean in international climate change negotiations.
Image credit: 'Offshore wind farms as backdrop to enjoyment of the sea', by K. Boot, Plymouth Marine Laboratory. Used with permission.
Space-Based Earth Observations for Climate Security (Briefing)
Given the rapidity of environmental change there is an urgent need for timely, reliable evidence to support climate action and to monitor the effectiveness of mitigation measures.
This briefing lays out the importance of Earth Observation (EO) data for achieving the goals of COP26, alongside opportunities to harness EO to improve climate security, achieve the UN Sustainability Development Goals and meet the need for actionable evidence for policy on climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Image credit: Photograph freely available from Pixabay.
Nature-Based Solutions for Climate Change, People and Biodiversity (Briefing)
Nature-based solutions can, if well designed and robustly implemented, deliver multiple benefits for climate change mitigation and adaptation, enhance biodiversity, promote human wellbeing and support the economic recovery.
This briefing explores the benefits of nature-based solutions; the best practice guidelines necessary for these benefits to materialise; the role of nature-based solutions for climate mitigation and adaptation in the UK; and the opportunity for COP26 to promote the global adoption of good practice principles for nature-based solutions.
Image credit: Photographer: Eyoel Kahssay via Unsplash. Instagram: @eyoel_kahssay_photographer. Direct link to photo.
Destination Net Zero: Setting and Delivering Ambitious, Credible Targets (Briefing)
Net zero emissions targets have gained traction in the global effort to halt climate change. This briefing sets out the science behind net zero targets and the considerations that policymakers and industry leaders should take when adopting and implementing such targets to represent the highest ambition in both planning and delivery.
Image credit: Image by DENNIS SCHROEDER / NREL is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
A Net-Zero Emissions Economic Recovery from Covid-19 (Briefing)
As the world emerges from the crisis of Covid-19, governments will introduce recovery packages to boost economic growth, including in the UK. These will have a highly significant impact on the UK’s future prosperity, including its potential to meet its legally mandated net-zero emissions obligation. Collectively, the packages will strongly influence whether the global Paris Agreement targets are met.
This briefing identifies ten fiscal recovery policies which promise to bring both short-term high economic impact, and long-term structural change through decoupling greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from economic growth.
Listen to our podcast Making the 'New Normal Zero' on this briefing, with guests Professor Cameron Hepburn, Smith School Oxford University, and Dr Jennifer Allan, University of Cardiff.
Image credit: Image by Stephen Yang / The Solutions Project. Licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Just Transition: Pathways to Socially Inclusive Decarbonisation (Briefing)
Various protests in recent decades have highlighted the importance of an integrated approach that accounts for the environmental, economic, social, cultural and psychological dimensions of the transition to a post-carbon economy. Covid-19 serves as a stark reminder that socio-economic disruptions tend to worsen social inequalities, with pandemic policies disproportionately affecting low-skilled workers, minorities, women and other vulnerable groups.
Against this backdrop, it is increasingly recognised that the transition to a post-carbon economy needs to be green, sustainable and socially inclusive. This briefing outlines what kind of governance policies, modalities, institutions, spaces and actors will be required to make sure that the transition is socially inclusive and supported by citizens.
Image credit: Image by International Renewable Energy Agency is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
Carbon Offsetting for UK Higher and Further Education (Briefing)
- COP26 Universities Network Carbon Offsetting Briefing
- COP26 Universities Network Carbon Offsetting Briefing Supplementary Information
This briefing note provides guidance to support the development of further and higher education offsetting policies. It specifically discusses the use of offsetting in the context of net zero strategies.
The authors are also using this briefing to consult on the approaches to carbon offsetting that different FHE institutions are taking. To input into this sector consultation please go to this form.
