News

Researchers from the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Plastics, including Prof Richard Bailey, Professor of Environmental Systems, and researchers from the Smith School, have outlined ambitious targets to help deliver a sustainable and net zero plastic economy. In a paper published this week in Nature, the authors argue for a rethinking of the technical, economic, and policy paradigms that have entrenched the status-quo, one of rising carbon emissions and uncontrolled pollution.

A new Parliamentary report spearheaded by Oxford University researchers, including Dr Radhika Khosla of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, has urged the UK Government to introduce a national heat resilience strategy to prepare the UK for the widespread impacts of a warming world.

Prof Louise Slater, Professor of Hydroclimatology, and Prof Edmund Penning-Rowsell, a teaching associate, in the School of Geography and the Environment are among an expert panel on BBC Radio 4 - The Briefing Room discussing: What is the state of the country’s flood defences? Can people get insurance? What can we do to prepare for a wetter future?

Congratulations to recent graduate Jessica Ebner-Statt (2020, Geography), who has won the 2023 RGS-IBG Political Geography Research Group (PolGRG) Undergraduate Dissertation Prize.

Dr Mike Clark, Director of the Food Programme at the Oxford Smith School, discusses the environmental impacts of eating meat, the key research questions we still need to answer, and what individuals can do today.

The number of people being signed off sick from work has tripled in the past decade. But will the government do anything about it? Lucinda Hiam, Current DPhil student in SoGE, and Michael Marmot, Director of UCL Institute of Health Equity, explore the issue in Prospect.

Many people across the UK have been affected by the current floods, and are very familiar with the flood warning system accessible to the public. But how exactly does this system work? What information is taken into account? Marnie Chesterton speaks to Dr Linda Speight on BBC Radio 4 Inside Science about flood forecasting, and the delicate balance of when to send out flood alerts and warnings.

Louise Slater, Professor of Hydroclimatology at Oxford University, and colleagues explain why extreme UK flood levels are happening much more often than they used to.

Shocks to the global economy related to biodiversity loss and ecosystem damage could cost upwards of $5 trillion.  Human-driven pollution, deforestation, land-use change and overextraction, are fundamentally eroding the natural capital upon which our societies and economies are built – including our water, clean air, fertile soils and pollinators – and act as ‘risk amplifiers’ on the impacts of climate change. 

Verdicts are already being given on the latest climate deal which emerged early this morning [13 Dec] in Dubai, although many weary COP28 participants have yet to arrive home.

There has been considerable debate and discussion over the best path forward, but there was general agreement among Oxford researchers about the devastating impact of fossil fuels and the need to phase out their use, while supporting nature-based solutions, developing renewables and switching to clean energy.