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Calls
CCCEP PhD Symposium and Conference – Call for Papers
Papers are invited for a symposium taking place at the London School of Economics on 15th September 2010. The symposium, ‘Towards low carbon, climate resilient societies’, aims to build capacities and communities of early stage researchers in areas related to climate change economics and policy. PhD presentations will be organised into streams addressing themes such as: climate science; climate economics; international climate governance; climate policy; climate impacts and adaptation; transitions to a low carbon economy; human rights and climate justice; and evolutions in carbon markets. PhD students attending the symposium will also be invited to participate in a one-day conference on the 16th September, which will consider ‘Grand challenges in the Transition towards low carbon, climate resilient societies’. It will include a keynote address and presentations from leading academics, policy-makers and practitioners on four key themes: climate risks, uncertainties and impacts; climate policy and governance; adaptations for a climate resilient society; and, innovations for a low carbon economy. Abstracts of no more than 500 words should be sent to Margo Hanson by Wednesday 30th June 2010. There will be a limited number of places available for PhD students who do not wish to give a paper or prepare a poster. For those simply wishing to attend the symposium and/or conference, please email Margo Hanson will your full name, institution, year of PhD study, title of PhD, email address and whether you wish to attend just the PhD symposium or both the symposium and the conference.
Use of incentives to change public behaviour – Call for Information
Paul Dolan at the London School of Economics is studying the use of incentives by public authorities to change people's behaviour. Potential areas for such interventions are to improve health, educational outcomes, reduce crime, change environmental behaviours and so on. The Institute is interested in finding out the range of incentives you have used, their purpose and your judgement of their effectiveness (and would particularly like to hear about any formal evaluations or reports). They are also looking at the impact of focussing on "wellbeing" as an outcome of government action, alongside more conventional measures. They would be keen to know in what ways your organisation has gone about looking at subjective wellbeing - that is, self-reports of satisfaction with life or domains of life (health, local area etc) and assessments of happiness or mood and how it has influenced the policy choices you have made. Again, any more formal evaluations of the impacts would particularly be of interest. Responses would be very much appreciated, and may be sent to Zoe Harris by 25th June.
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Research
PwC Survey – ‘Biodiversity: Corporate reporting analysis’
PricewaterhouseCoopers has highlighted that only two of the world’s largest 100 companies have identified biodiversity and ecosystem loss as a strategic issue. The analysis, undertaken as part of the UN report on the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity for business to be released in summer, shows few of the world’s largest companies are currently communicating about biodiversity risks or opportunities with mainstream investors. This is despite the estimated $2 - $4.5 trillion annual economic cost of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation. Analysing the business risks by sector, PwC found that risks related to declining biodiversity and loss of ecosystem services are already impacting business. Primary industries such as extractives, forestry, farming and fishing are affected most broadly but no sector escapes untouched. Reduced productivity, scarcity or increased cost of resources, disruption of operations, reputation and financing risks, litigation, changing consumer and purchaser requirements were just some of the risks identified by the firm as affecting industries including mining, farming, utilities, FMCG, healthcare, financial services and technology companies. Despite this, when asked to rate levels of concern about a range of threats to their business growth prospects, only 27% of 1100 global CEOs said they were concerned or extremely concerned about the impact of biodiversity loss in a recent PwC survey. Hidden within the headline figures are significant regional variations. African and Latin American CEOs are three times more concerned about the threat to business from the loss of biodiversity than UK and North American business leaders. More…
New Research – ‘Going green to be seen: status, reputation and conspicuous conservation’
New research exploring why people purchase ‘green’ products argues that buying such products can be construed as altruistic, since green products often cost more and are of lower quality than their conventional counterparts, but green goods benefit the environment for everyone. As biologists have observed that altruism might function as a "costly signal" associated with status, the researchers used three experiments to investigate how status motives influenced desire for green products. Activating status motives led people to choose green products over more luxurious non-green products. Supporting the notion that altruism signals one's willingness and ability to incur costs for others' benefit, status motives increased desire for green products when shopping in public (but not private) and when green products cost more (but not less) than non-green products. Findings therefore suggest that status competition can be used to promote pro-environmental behaviour. More…
National Trust Survey – ‘Give children a space to grow’
New research commissioned by the National Trust has highlighted a potential new approach for encouraging children to eat more fruit and veg – growing their own. Survey findings reveal that 72% of children in the UK would like their own space to grow fruit and vegetables and, outside London, 63% of children would rather eat fruit and vegetables they have grown themselves than buy them from a supermarket. The survey of 1,000 children aged 8-12 years revealed the lengths they go to in order to avoid eating their greens: 42% hide them under other food on their plate; 30% throw them in the bin when no-one’s looking; 23% sneak them on to someone else’s plate, and 17% feed them to the family pet. The survey findings also revealed that topping the list of favourite vegetables for children was sweetcorn, followed by potatoes and carrots, all of which can be grown in the UK. Strawberries were top of the league table for most loved fruit but the Brussels sprout remains children’s most hated vegetable. In response to the survey findings, the National Trust has created the Sowing Squad – a 13-strong team of young growers from across England, Wales and Northern Ireland – who seek to help turn this interest into action and inspire the next generation to get planting. More…
New Research – ‘Motivations for conserving urban biodiversity’
Researchers have recently discussed potential reasons for biodiversity conservation in urban environments in a bid to open up dialogue about why and how urban biodiversity should be conserved. They say approaches to conservation need to be more closely tied to end goals if these goals are to be achieved. The researchers explored seven different types of motivations for urban biodiversity conservation: to protect populations of specific species in urban settings; to create corridors or stepping stones for natural populations when there is not enough space for large conservation areas; to study species as a means of understanding the effects of environmental change and predicting the impacts of future change; environmental education - increasing public interest in and understanding of the environment and conservation; ecosystem services, such as when green rooftops reduce heating and cooling costs; to fulfil ethical responsibilities; and for human well-being - urban green spaces are known to have physical and psychological benefits for human health. Thus, depending on the motivation, one urban biodiversity project may require a very different approach to another. No previous work has attempted to develop such a framework for grouping motivations in urban biodiversity conservation and the researchers hope their work will encourage more conversation about reasons and methods. They believe that establishing the motivations behind conservation is a key starting point for any effective conservation project in an urban setting. More…
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Events
Conference – ‘Green Economics Institute Conference’
29th – 31st July 2010: Mansfield College, Oxford.
This international conference, organised by the Green Economics Institute, will draw together key institutional, political, business and sustainability practitioners to explore emerging issues in the new discipline of Green Economics. Key conference themes will include: poverty; environment; gender equity; green procurement; sustainability and reducing our carbon to two tonnes per person; green IT; green supply chains; rare earth metals; renewables; climate change; the planet and its systems; nature, other species and biodiversity loss; geo-engineering; eco tech; regulation; markets; and life style changes. Further details and registration fees are available online or by email . More…
Seminar – ‘Engaging the public on climate change’
18th November 2010: Central London.
As doubts persist about the causes and future impact of climate change, this seminar will explore how government and the scientific community can foster better engagement with the public on issues around climate change. Timed to coincide with the build up to the next key United Nations climate change summit in Mexico, the seminar will also examine what is likely to be achieved at this set of discussions - particularly with reference to the global public perception of climate change. Including a keynote presentation from the European Commission, planned sessions will focus on: identifying the strategies required to effectively engage the public with climate change; prospects for fostering climate change consensus; expectations for Mexico and the consequences for climate change policy development and implementation; latest ideas on social marketing and incentivising behavior; the view from the European Commission; and, the UK climate change position - outlook and next steps for policy. More…
Royal Society Event – ‘The sustainable planet: opportunities and challenges for science, technology and society’
12th – 14th July 2010: Kavli Royal Society Centre.
This meeting will review global sustainability in the context of: climate change; supply of essential materials, food and energy; and new disease patterns. The challenges to global societies will be discussed and the potential of advances in biology, chemistry, physics, medicine, energy technology and materials science to ameliorate these problems will be considered, together with the intrinsic limits of wholly scientific solutions. This Theo Murphy international scientific meeting is free to attend, but participants will need to cover their accommodation and catering costs. Pre-registration online is essential due to limited places available. If you would like to present a poster at this meeting, please email with an abstract by 5th July 2010. More…
Event – ‘Mainstreaming green prescription: from policy to practice’
24th June 2010: Barcelo Stirling Highland Hotel, Stirling.
The contribution that outdoor activity and contact with nature can make to a healthier Scotland is increasingly recognised by the medical profession and policy-makers. There are now a number of initiatives to facilitate people being active outdoors, through informal recreation, volunteering and outdoor learning, with the specific aim of improving physical and mental health. This ‘Sharing Good Practice’ event, organised by Scottish Natural Heritage, will explore a range of Green Exercise schemes and how best to encourage more schemes and more participation. It seeks to enhance understanding of the ingredients needed for success in green exercise schemes and to inspire individuals to establish new schemes and identify new partnerships. More…
Launch Event – ‘Food Ethics Council Food and Fairness Inquiry findings’
22nd July 2010: The Conference Hall, Mary Sumner House, London.
The Food Ethics Council will be launching the findings of their two-year Food and Fairness Inquiry at this evening event. Drinks and canapés will be provided from 5.30pm and there will be short speeches at 6pm led by Helen Browning OBE, Food and Fairness Inquiry Committee Chair. The inquiry is a two-year project funded by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, bringing together food industry leaders, government bodies, third sector organisations and food policy academics to investigate issues of social justice in food. Please RSVP to Amy Cox .
Conference – ‘Low Carbon Vehicles Partnership Annual Conference 2010’
14th -15th July 2010: Twickenham Stadium, London.
The LowCVP's 2010 conference will take place on 14th to 15th July this year, and will, for the first time, include an Awards Dinner featuring the ‘WhatCar?’ Green Awards and the inaugural LowCVP Low Carbon Champions Awards. The LowCVP conference has become a leading event on the environmental transport calendar, regularly attracting leading speakers and over 200 high level delegates. This year’s extended conference format will allow for more detailed discussion of key issues during break-out sessions on day two of the event. The first day will focus on international best practice, bringing leading speakers to discuss how consumers are reacting to technology advances in the UK and other countries in the vanguard of the low carbon transport shift. The event will also feature exhibitions and a number of launches and announcements, including: the release of the Renewable Fuels Agency's second report on the sustainability of biofuels supplied to the UK market; the launch of the LowCVP's Technology Challenge 2 and the announcement of the winning entrants to the LowCVP/EST Low Carbon Community Challenge. More…
RELU Launch Event – ‘Adapting rural living and land use to environmental change’
1st July 2010: Manchester.
Successful projects in Relu’s fourth and final round of funding will be launched at this event. The science and politics of climate and environment change have so far focused on mitigation, and there is much to do to reduce emissions from agriculture and other rural land uses. Yet this is expanding to include the steps needed to adjust our economy and society. Significant opportunities present themselves as rural areas and communities face these challenges. Multi-functional agriculture and land use will need to become increasingly adaptive and efficient in delivering ecosystem services, with the emphasis as much on ecological efficiency as economic efficiency. The projects in this round of funding investigate these topics and aim to build networks for creative knowledge exchange between researchers and stakeholder groups and to strengthen capacities for adaptive learning. More…
Symposium – ‘Climate, Energy and Justice: An international symposium’
21st June 2010: King’s College, The Strand Campus, London.
Questions of climate change and how we attempt to mitigate it through transitions in patterns of energy use and production are run through with issues of inequality and justice. This symposium, which will take place in Room K2.31 of the KCL Strand Campus from 1pm to 5pm, seeks to stimulate and promote an international dialogue focused both on the responsibilities of high carbon, consumer societies to rapidly decarbonise their energy systems, and the resulting justice implications for different population groups in different parts of the world. Themes of discussion will include the ethics of nuclear new build, climate justice principles and policies, and future energy vulnerability in cities. The symposium is convened by the Interdisciplinary Cluster on Energy Systems, Equity and Vulnerability, a three-year project funded by the UK Research Councils Energy Programme. Keynote speakers include: Professor Kristin Shrader-Frechette (University of Notre Dame); Cecil D Corbin- Mark (WeACT for Environmental Justice, New York); and, Dr Jago Dodson (Griffiths University, Brisbane). For further details and to book a free place at the symposium, please contact Susan Barker.
Seminar – ‘Skills for the green economy’
21st October 2010: Central London.
This seminar, organised by the Westminster Energy, Environment and Transport Forum, will assess the challenges of developing low carbon skills to meet the demands of a greener UK economy. Planned sessions will centre around the key outcomes of the Department of Energy and Climate Change consultation on developing low carbon skills, the structural implications of a greener economy on the demand for innovation in skills supply and the overall direction of strategy to green the UK's workforce. Including keynote addresses from the Chief Executive of Energy and Utility Skills and the Chief Executive of Summit Skills, planned sessions will examine: the concept of the green economy and the strategies required to go green; drivers for green skills - balancing supply and demand; the international context; industry perspectives - skills requirements and priorities; practicalities and cost - priorities, training and investment; and, a case study of a green skills training centre. More…
ippr Seminar Series – ‘A Climate of Politics’
15th – 29th June 2010: ippr, Southampton Street, London.
The Institute for Public Policy Research, Christian Aid and WWF-UK are organising a series of five seminars exploring the international politics of climate change and aiming to illuminate the way forward. Event Two, on 15th June, will ask: What does China want from climate negotiations? How can we better engage with China? It will explore the reasons behind the perceived rejection by China of a more ambitious set of climate targets and of any internationally binding obligations and will consider why industrialised countries seemingly failed to engage effectively with China prior to Copenhagen and what diplomats and negotiators must do in the run up to COP16 in Mexico to ensure that the same mistakes are not repeated. Event Three, on 17th June, will focus on the US; in light of the increasingly fragile and uncertain future of US climate and energy legislation, this event will consider whether a new political strategy on climate change is needed in the States and what this might entail. Event Four, on 24th June, will examine the European perspective, asking: How can Europe regain its leadership? How can it get others to follow? Finally, Event Five on 29th June, will ask: How can the underlying politics be shifted to open up political space for ambitious action? The global climate campaign ‘TckTckTck’ has mobilised 16 million individual actions to date and there is a burgeoning climate movement in and across many developing countries. How can these large constituencies help open up political space? How can they overcome the resistance to climate change policy that lies beyond the core environment and development constituencies? How can they support and enhance the progressive voices of business? To register for these events, please contact David Nash. More…
Event – ‘Getting down to business: How to make your community food growing project economically viable’
25th June 2010: Brunei Gallery, SOAS, London.
Local Action on Food and London Food Link are organising a national conference to explore what steps can be taken to help community food growing projects generate income and become economically viable. Experts on community food growing will discuss their work, alongside presentations on hot topics such as selling and buying produce, diversifying income and business support. Sessions will focus on: successful models and replication; increasing the scale of food production; diversifying income from a range of activities; formalising the project, and finding support in the community. Speakers include: Julie Brown (founder of Growing Communities, a successful social enterprise in Hackney, East London); Adam York (member of the Organic Growers Alliance and of Unicorn, Manchester’s Co-operative Grocery); and, Richard Snow, consultant for Enterprise Support, part of Making Local Food Work. More…
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Online
The Big Wildlife Garden
Natural England is working with schools to encourage wildlife friendly gardening again this Summer with the ‘Big Wildlife Garden’ - a budding wildlife friendly gardening website. Since the website’s launch in September 2009 it has reached over 30,000 children from over 1,000 schools, getting children outdoors and creating wildlife friendly gardens across the country. So far, over half of these schools are taking part in a competition to find the best school garden in England. The competition is well underway and it is time to get the trowels out for the final touches in the race to the finish line. Schools have until 9th July 2010 to make as many wildlife-friendly improvements as possible to their garden or green space. The Big Wildlife Garden is part of Natural England’s ‘One Million Children Outdoors’ programme, launched in April 2009. The Big Wildlife Garden web site is free for anyone of any age to join and is open to individuals, schools or community groups. Ideas and pictures may be shared with other members of the Big Wildlife Garden and there are opportunities to keep a personal online wildlife diary. More…
The Cool Farm Tool
The Cool Farm Tool is a new greenhouse gas calculator for farming. It gives instant results that invite users to try out alternatives and ask 'what if' questions. The tool was commissioned by Unilever from the University of Aberdeen. The tool seeks to assist farmers, supply chain managers and companies interested in quantifying their agricultural carbon footprint and finding practical ways of reducing it. It calculates the greenhouse gas balance of farming, including emissions from fields, inputs, livestock, land use and land use change and primary processing. It uses 'Tier2-type' methods, offering users simple menu choices for parameters that farmers can influence to reduce their carbon footprint. Reporting greenhouse gas emissions is part of the Metric Reporting requirements within the Unilever Sustainable Agriculture Code. The Cool Farm Tool will also be used in a multi-company project on agricultural climate mitigation coordinated by the Sustainable Food Lab, also including Unilever, PepsiCo, Marks & Spencer, Pulse Canada, Yara, Sysco and others. More…
BISE and Baseline – New tools to combat biodiversity loss in Europe
Europe's failure to halt biodiversity loss by 2010 was partly caused by gaps in available knowledge about the state of biodiversity in Europe and the absence of easily quantifiable targets. At the opening session of the Green Week conference in Brussels, the European Commission and the European Environment Agency (EEA) unveiled two new tools to combat biodiversity loss: BISE (the Biodiversity Information System for Europe) and 'Biodiversity baseline'. BISE is a web portal designed to facilitate access to existing information about nature and biodiversity, presenting existing data in a far more comprehensive manner than before. As well as information about EU policy and legislation in the area of nature, there is a wealth of material about the state of the EU environment and ecosystems and the threats they face, information about research in biodiversity that is going on around the EU, and access to information about the state of biodiversity reporting in Member States, designed to encourage greater cooperation. The Biodiversity baseline offers a comprehensive snapshot of the current state of biodiversity and will be used to provide policy-makers with a starting point for measuring the state of biodiversity inside the EU and unveiling major information gaps. It provides a framework for articulating linkages between species numbers, habitat status and ecosystem services, and uses facts and figures that are scientifically robust and have been validated and/or peer reviewed in the Member States. The challenge now is to translate all the existing knowledge and information about biodiversity in the baseline and BISE into everyday language to mobilise communities and individuals to take action. More…
UKERC Webinar – Compressed air energy storage
UKERC will be hosting their first EG&S KTN lunchtime webinar on Wednesday 16th June, at 12:30pm, exploring issues associated with compressed air energy storage. A presentation will be given for 20-30 minutes, allowing approximately 20 minutes for questions. The inaugural speaker, Professor Seamus Garvey of the University of Nottingham, will be discussing his ICARES compressed-air energy storage concept. The technology utilises offshore wind turbines to produce mechanical energy in the form of compressed air, rather than electrical energy. The compressed air generated by these would be piped down into giant balloons (20 metres in diameter) anchored 500 metres below the surface of the sea. The high pressure at that depth will prevent the compressed air from expanding until it is needed to create electricity, at which point it will be passed through turbines to create electricity. There are only 40 places available for the webinar and registrations are available here. Contact Aidan Rhodes for more information.
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New Publications
UNEP Report – ‘Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Consumption and Production: Priority Products and Materials’
The International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management was established to provide independent, coherent and authoritative scientific assessments of policy relevance on the sustainable use of natural resources and in particular their environmental impacts over the full life cycle. It aims to contribute to a better understanding of how to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation. This report addresses this in two main steps. First, a review of the work that assesses the importance of observed pressures and impacts on the Earth's Natural system (usually divided into ecological health, human health, and resources provision capability). Second, the report investigates the causation of these pressures by different economic activities, which is done via three main perspectives: industrial production, final consumption, and material use. A wealth of studies are available that helped to assess the most important causes of environmental impacts from these three perspetives. These different studies, and different perspectives points, paint a consistent overall picture. Firstly, agriculture and food consumption are identified as one of the most important drivers of environmental pressures. Secondly, the use of fossil energy carriers for heating, transportation, metal refining and the production of manufactured goods is of comparable importance. Thirdly, the impacts related to these activities are unlikely to be reduced, but rather enhanced, in a business as usual scenario. Finally, there are certain interlinkages between problems that may aggravate them in the future. More…
EEA Publications – ‘Our Natural Europe’ and ‘ONE’ stories
Halting the loss of biodiversity is one of the major challenges of the twenty-first century. It is a vast issue, relevant to us all and demanding awareness and action at all levels, from local to global. Unfortunately, public understanding of biodiversity’s importance is often limited. Despite being crucial for our well-being and survival, many people are not sure what biodiversity is or feel disconnected from it. The 'Our Natural Europe' or 'ONE' stories are being developed by the EEA and its Eionet partners to illustrate in everyday language what biodiversity is and how we’re connected to it. The stories will highlight the variety of ecosystems and biodiversity of Europe and the threats and pressures they face, including habitat fragmentation and destruction, invasive alien species, pollution, over-harvesting and climate change. The first ONE stories from Finland and Switzerland include 'Web of knowledge, web of life, web of wonder' (which tells the story of a little understood group of forest mushrooms, the webcaps, and the ecosystem services they provide) and 'Circles of discovery' (which is about organic apple production and what it can do for biodiversity). More…
OECD Report – ‘Environmental policy design characteristics and technological innovation: Evidence from patent data’
Environmental policies must provide the right incentives for the development of innovative technologies that reduce pollution and mitigate the effects of climate change. This study by the OECD has investigated the characteristics of policies that are likely to encourage green innovation and concluded that those that are stringent, predictable and flexible are the most effective. This study suggests that policy characteristics that are likely to encourage technological innovation include: stringency (the environmental target should be ambitious); predictability (the policy measure should not increase investor uncertainty); flexibility (the policy lets the investor identify the best way to achieve the environmental objective); incidence (the policy should directly target the pollutant); and, depth (the policy should provide continuous incentives for technology development). More…
EEA Report – ‘The Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report’
The European Environment Agency has recently published this year’s GHG Inventory Report, which shows that the EU is well on track to meet its emission reduction targets with domestic policy measures only. The combination of high coal and carbon prices accompanied by a drop in natural gas prices in 2008 induced heat and electricity producers to replace more polluting coal by gas and as a result, reduce their GHG emissions. The use of biomass and other renewable sources (wind and hydroelectric power) has also increased significantly in 2008. The economic recession, which started during the second half of the year, also contributed to emission reductions from several sectors including the manufacturing and construction and road transport sectors. Road transport emissions were also affected by high oil prices, the continued decline in gasoline consumption and a reversal of the upward trend in diesel sales. More…
New Book – ‘Natural Capitalism: The Next Industrial Revolution’
On its first publication ten years ago, Natural Capitalism rocked the world of business with its innovative new approach - an approach that fused ecological integrity with business acumen using the radical concept of natural capitalism. This 10th-anniversary edition features a new Introduction by Amory B. Lovins and Paul Hawken which updates the story to include the successes of the last decade. It seeks to set out clearly the path that we must now take to ensure the future prosperity of our civilisation and our planet. Example chapters include: hypercars and neighbourhoods; filaments of nature; food for life; aqueous solutions; climate – making sense and making money; making markets work; and, once upon a planet. More…
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Jobs and Training
Jobs and Training opportunities around the Sustainable Development Research network are now updated frequently on the ‘Jobs and Training’ page of the SDRN website…
The SDRN Mailing is a moderated information resource and dissemination service for SDRN members. You can make use of this service by sending any information for inclusion in the mailing to Sarah Bell.
To join or leave this list, please email Sarah Bell or visit the JISCmail website.