News
-
New Thinking Blog: We need policy certainty to create low carbon supply chains
We need policy certainty to create low carbon supply chains Richard Hoggett, IGov Team, 22nd April 2013 About Richard: http://projects.exeter.ac.uk/igov/people/igov-team/richard-hoggett/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/HoggettRD It can increasingly be claimed that within industrial nations, climate policy is essentially about energy policy, and the IEA’s report last week starkly brought home how much we need to do if we are going to keep to an average global temperature rise to 2°C (a level that is by no means safe). Despite rapid growth in low carbon generation, the increasing global use of coal has resulted in average unit
Read More » -
Report: Ensuring renewable electricity investments
This new report, drafted by a group of 12 internationally renowned renewable electricity policy and market experts, sets out 14 policy principles for ensuring renewable electricity investments for a post-2020 perspective. It reflects the shared views of the expert group on policy principles that need to be met by a framework for post-2020 renewable electricity (RES-E) investments. The aim of this paper is to provide policy makers and interested stakeholders with a set of consensual principles for designing future remuneration schemes that will provide an effective, efficient and societally acceptable framework for RES-E investment in the coming decade. Authors inlcude
Read More » -
Climate Change in the Classroom
Climate Change in the Classroom Tom Steward, IGov Team, 15th April, 2013 About Tom: http://projects.exeter.ac.uk/igov/people/igov-team/tom-steward/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Steward_T We all want the best for our children. Look forward but a few years and you will likely see a world that is a very different place to live – this is the legacy we leave to the next generation. I want my kids to enjoy a high quality of life, in a world free from the effects of unmitigated climate change. It seems however, that the Department of Education (DfE) is currently engaged in activities that
Read More » -
Blog: Is the Climate Change Act safe?
Is the Climate Change Act safe? By Matthew Lockwood, 26 March 2013 This post first appeared on the Political Climate website So, the Daily Telegraph has called for the repeal of the 2008 Climate Change Act. A piece of legislation that Tony Blair called revolutionary and Friends of the Earth (who had campaigned for it) called ground-breaking. Our current PM, David Cameron, said that the Act would be remembered long after he’d gone (although acerbic critics might add that that date is fast approaching…). Many environmentalists saw the CCA as a key step, locking the
Read More » -
New Thinking Blog: Come on Ed – time to convince us that Labour can deliver green growth
Come on Ed – time to convince us that Labour can deliver green growth Caroline Kuzemko, IGov Team, 22nd, March 2013 About Caroline: http://geography.exeter.ac.uk/staff/index.php?web_id=Caroline_Kuzemko Twitter: https://twitter.com/CarolineKuzemko It seems that the time is right for Labour to grab both the growth and the sustainable energy mantles. This is not least because it is budget week, which allows for extra Labour air-time. But it is also because of mounting evidence that our Con-Dem Government is failing both to deliver economic growth and to recognise the potential of the low carbon economy. Both Ed Miliband and Ed Balls
Read More » -
Book Chapter: The political economy of low carbon development
New book chapter from Matthew Lockwood: The political economy of low carbon development in F. Urban and J. Nordensvard (eds.) Low Carbon Development: Key Issues, published by Earthscan/Routledge. For more information visit the Routledge website. Low Carbon Development: Key Issues is the first comprehensive textbook to address the interface between international development and climate change in a carbon constrained world. It discusses the key conceptual, empirical and policy-related issues of low carbon development and takes an international and interdisciplinary approach to the subject by drawing on insights from across the natural sciences and social sciences
Read More » -
A book review of Carbon Crunch in Juncture
A book review by Catherine Mitchell of Dieter Helm’s Carbon Crunch in IPPR’s quarterly magazine Juncture – it is available via the Wiley website, for subscribers: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/%28ISSN%291744-
Read More » -
Guest Blog: Time to learn some nuclear lessons
Dr Bridget Woodman, Energy Policy Group – 19th March 2013. As decision day looms on the level of EDF’s strike price for new nuclear output, it’s worth reflecting for a moment on what this process says for the state of energy policy decision making in the UK. The debate about new nuclear build has been protracted and complex. Back in 2003, nuclear power was ruled out as an economically unattractive option, but by 2007, this position had reversed, with new nuclear build not only an economically viable option, but also the potential saviour in the face of both
Read More » -
New Thinking Blog: Something stirring down on the farm
Something stirring down on the farm Matthew Lockwood, IGov Team, 18th March 2013 About Matthew: http://geography.exeter.ac.uk/staff/index.php?web_id=Matthew_Lockwood Twitter: https://twitter.com/climatepolitics Out of sight of the mass of people living in towns and cities, a quiet revolution is underway in the British countryside as more and more farmers are investing in renewable energy. According to the National Farmers Union, one in five of its members had produced clean electricity from solar or wind by the end of 2012. Between 2011 and 2012 there was a 28% increase in the number of biogas plants, capable of providing both renewable electricity
Read More » -
New Thinking Blog: The New Energy System is Winning the Fight for the Future
The New Energy System is Winning the Fight for the Future Catherine Mitchell, IGov Team, 11th March 2013 About Catherine: http://geography.exeter.ac.uk/staff/index.php?web_id=Catherine_Mitchell Twitter: https://twitter.com/exeterepg In the middle of 2011, Germany announced its new energy policy: the energiewende or energy transformation. This is a 40 year programme with aspirational targets along the way including for renewable energy to provide 35% of electricity and 18% of energy by 2020 rising to greater than 80% of electricity and 60% of energy by 2050; with total energy demand to be cut by 50% by 2050; total carbon emissions to be cut
Read More »
