In a new study led by the University of Oxford’s Department of Physics, an international group of researchers including Prof Myles Allen and Dr Stuart Jenkins from SoGE/ECI, who developed the science behind net zero demonstrate that relying on ‘natural carbon sinks’ like forests and oceans to offset ongoing CO₂ emissions from fossil fuel use will not actually stop global warming. The findings have been published in Nature.

The University of Oxford, in partnership with five leading institutions, has launched the Interdisciplinary Life and Environmental Science Landscape Award (ILESLA). This ambitious doctoral training programme will prepare a new generation of creative, collaborative, and entrepreneurial researchers who are equipped to meet the complex, cross-disciplinary challenges the world faces. The new programme is part of a major £500 million investment in doctoral training announced this week by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Keir Starmer’s pledge to cut the UK’s emissions by 81% by 2035 is undoubtedly ambitious. However, his assertion at the COP29 climate conference that it can be achieved without “telling people how to live their lives” is probably not true – at least, not according to what scientists, like Dr Sam Hampton and Prof Lorraine Whitmarsh, who study this problem have found. Article in The Conversation.