Stories

In an incredibly busy Friday and weekend at #COP26, many Cambridge academics and students alike were involved and have fed back their insights! Read here highlights, two politics lecturers protests commentary and see two student’s photos from taking part!

My personal view would be “so far so good”. In fact, I would venture even further, and say that COP 26 has exceeded my (admittedly low) expectations. Perhaps it’s because I am following the Conference from the comfort of my home office, and haven’t been frustrated by queues, restricted access, the threat of Covid, and poorly functioning online systems. But I detect a positive buzz and – dare I say it – a sense of cautious optimism among many, especially veterans of the process.

Young people, families with little children, teachers with groups of students, the elderly, representatives of indigenous communities… Climate marches are no longer a scream from the youth, traditionally viewed as less-risk averse, more innovative, impulsive, eager or even rebellious. The Climate March that we have seen this morning 6th of November in Glasgow is an example of that.

In the evening of November 4 (“Energy Day”) in the COP26 UK Pavilion, researchers from the project on the Economics of Energy Innovation and System Transition (EEIST) presented the new flagship report on “The New Economics of Innovation and Transition: Evaluating Risks and opportunities”. The report, which has 28 authors, was led by Prof. Michael Grubb (UCL) and has seven authors from Cambridge's Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance.

COP26’s energy day proved to be suitably explosive in its announcements! To help you make sense of all day 5’s news, read the highlights alongside on-the-ground thoughts from Cambridge’s Dr Sam Strands. We also include insightful comments highlighting the need for regional nuance when discussing Energy at COP26 from Dr Sam Short and Dr Ryan Nehring.

Cambridge Zero has been working with Green Officers around Cambridge to support them in streaming COP26 Green Zone Events. An exciting and broad range of events have been chosen, engaging students with the historic conference.

We wrap up the the pledges and commitments from day 3 of COP26, alongside commentary from Emily Shuckburgh and student Rosa Posser’s thoughts and feelings for her COP26 attendance!

ActNowFilm – an official COP26 Universities Network project - will be shown in the Green Zone at COP26. ActNowFilm was produced by student volunteers, Cambridge Zero and the University of Bath Institute for Policy Research (IPR), in partnership with GAUC. It showcases the views of 16-30 year olds, and is drawn from films submitted by over 140 young people from 32 countries.

This summer, Cambridge Zero’s Rosa Prosser produced six short films which showcase current and future careers necessary to achieve net-zero by 2050. With COP26 and associated protests ongoing in Glasgow, it is clear a green recovery is necessary, and that young people are motivated to be a part of it. Providing the right information is pivotal to ensuring those at the beginning of their careers feel empowered to make their employment contribute to tackling the climate crisis.

This summer, Cambridge Zero’s Rosa Prosser produced six short films which showcase current and future careers necessary to achieve net-zero by 2050. Each episode is organised by theme, highlighting roles ranging from nature-based solutions to public policy. Read here how to stream them from COP26, watch in person at Wolfson Hall or watch them virtually on youtube!

After a busy COP26 day 2, read highlights from world leaders' statements and negotiations. Also, hear Cambridge’s Professor Laura Diaz Anadon’s thoughts on the opening ceremony.

A series of briefs written by the US-UK Youth Coalition on Climate Policy offers insights on UK and US shared interests. The authors, including Cambridge Marshall scholars, produced recommendations for the US and UK at COP26 and beyond, spanning domestic and international policymaking. Across themes of global security, lands and ecosystems, just energy transitions, and youth mental health, these include recommendations for adapting to and mitigating climate change within COP26 negotiations.

The ‘Futures We Want’ project - coordinated by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Deloitte, and Cambridge Zero - brought together teams from around the world and across disciplines to develop ideas for feasible, desirable futures to present at the upcoming COP26 climate conference. Hear about the eight Cambridge-based postdocs' experiences of being involved in the process.

Numerous festival discussions are available on-demand and showcase COP26 relevant research and work carried out across Cambridge and its wider global community. Here we highlight three of the many available discussions and signpost other events occurring across the Cambridge community.

In association with the COP26 Universities Network, a new paper from a group of UK University Students including multiple Cambridge authors urges policymakers to look beyond the horizon of 2050 and consider policies' impacts across future generations' lifetimes.

Last November the University of Cambridge launched its first global festival, dedicated to raising awareness of climate change and decarbonisation through engagement between academic and broader communities. This year we will build on this achievement by focusing on the important work our communities are doing in the run-up to COP26, the United Nations international climate change conference taking place in Glasgow.

Join us from the 15th-20th October! https://climatechangefestival.zero.cam.ac.uk

If you want policymakers to ‘get’ climate risk, link the hazard you research to concerns they already understand. These could be issues like jobs, economic growth, or national security.

Insights from psychology and neuroscience suggest individuals engage with a risk most effectively when it speaks to their ‘inner elephant’: the part of the brain responsible for our intuitive, automatic thinking.

AU4DM is a community of researchers and professionals from policy, industry, and academia, seeking to improve decision-making under uncertainty. The core of our work is decision science. At the same time, we have discovered the value of sparkling interdisciplinary collaboration across the social sciences and arts and humanities. On 1 October 2021, AU4DM teamed up with Climate Action Unit to host a special workshop on Communicating Climate Risk, supported by Cambridge Zero and the COP26 Universities network.

Global cities share recommendations on how to strengthen urban resilience and embed adaptation into wider city processes and systems

Increasingly frequent and destructive extreme weather and climate events are already tearing apart the socio-economic fabric of our civilisation. A look at extreme event attribution in humanitarian, financial and legal contexts.

Preparedness and response to compound dry-hot extreme events. What is being done? What more is needed? A roadmap to reduce impacts, based on scientific evidence and professional experience, aimed at empowering individuals and communities.

Tipping Points are critical thresholds beyond which a system reorganizes, often abruptly and/or irreversibly. The probability of crossing such critical thresholds in the climate system may be low, but the impacts of triggering a tipping point could be catastrophic and far-reaching.

Expert panellists identify the need for interdisciplinary action and improved modelling tools to help reduce public scepticism in future coastal flood hazard assessments.

Risk cascades from climate impacts are severe, already occurring and must be incorporated into risk assessments. While predicting such chain reactions is difficult, building resilience against them fortuitously means reducing inequalities