The UK Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy Revisited

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-37
Author(s):  
Geoffrey P. Hammond
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Pulp And Paper ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Growth Strategy ◽  
Iron And Steel ◽  
Industrial Carbon ◽  
Policy Content ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Recent Version

In the period since 2010 successive UK Governments have produced various decarbonisation strategies for industry. This article scrutinises the most recent version that was published in March 2021: the Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy (IDS). It contrasts the policy content of the IDS with previous industrial roadmaps, action plans and strategies (including the Clean Growth Strategy of 2017). In addition, it compares the proposals in the IDS with the latest recommendations of the UK Government's independent Climate Change Committee, as well as drawing on lessons learned from the techno-economic assessments published by the author and his collaborators for a number of key ‘Foundation Industries’. The latter emit significant shares of UK industrial carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions: the iron and steel (∼25%), chemicals (∼19%), cement (∼8%), pulp and paper (∼6%), and glass (∼3%) sectors. They also produce some 28 million tonnes of materials per year, which are worth £52 billion to the UK economy, and account for ∼10% of UK total CO2 emissions.

Balancing the competing needs of climate change, biodiversity and rural communities

2009 ◽  
Vol 2009 ◽  
pp. 249-249
Author(s):  
H Prosser
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Nitrous Oxide ◽  
Anaerobic Digestion ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
New Technology ◽  
The Uk

The work of the UK Climate Change Commission (UKCCC) in recommending targets and options for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases is focusing attention on what agriculture and land use can contribute to deliver these targets. Although overall the major issue is the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from energy use, agriculture and land use are significant emitters of methane and nitrous oxide. UKCCC has identified three main routes by which emissions can be reduced• Lifestyle change with less reliance on carbon intensive produce -eg switching from sheep, and beef to pig, poultry and vegetables.• Changing farm practices – eg to improve use of fertilisers and manures• Using new technology on farms – eg modifying rumen processes, anaerobic digestion.

scholarly journals Ocean acidification needs more publicity as part of a strategy to avoid a global decline in calcifier populations

2017 ◽  
Vol 98 (6) ◽  
pp. 1227-1229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angus R. Westgarth-Smith
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Ocean Acidification ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽  
Carbonic Acid ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Lifestyle Changes ◽  
Reduce Carbon Dioxide ◽  
The Uk

Ocean acidification (OA) is caused by increasing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, which dissolves in seawater to produce carbonic acid. This carbonic acid reduces the availability of dissolved aragonite needed for production of some invertebrate exoskeletons with potentially severe consequences for marine calcifier populations. There is a lack of public information on OA with less than 1% of press coverage on OA compared with climate change; OA is not included in UK GCSE and A Level specifications and textbooks; environmental campaigners are much less active in campaigning about OA compared with climate change. As a result of the lack of public awareness OA is rarely discussed in the UK Parliament. Much more public education about OA is needed so that people can respond to the urgent need for technological and lifestyle changes needed to massively reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

scholarly journals Rooting carbon dioxide removal research in the social sciences

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 20190138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glen Dowell ◽  
Jeff Niederdeppe ◽  
Jamie Vanucchi ◽  
Timur Dogan ◽  
Kieran Donaghy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Removal ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Climate Change Research ◽  
The Social

Reports from a variety of bodies have highlighted the role that carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies and practices must play in order to try to avoid the worst effects of anthropogenic climate change. Research into the feasibility of these technologies is primarily undertaken by scholars in the natural sciences, yet, as we argue in this commentary, there is great value in collaboration between these scholars and their colleagues in the social sciences. Spurred by this belief, in 2019, a university and a non-profit organization organized and hosted a workshop in Washington, DC, intended to bring natural and physical scientists, technology developers, policy professionals and social scientists together to explore how to better integrate social science knowledge into the field of CDR research. The workshop sought to build interdisciplinary collaborations across CDR topics, draft new social science research questions and integrate and exchange disciplinary-specific terminology. But a snowstorm kept many social scientists who had organized the conference from making the trip in person. The workshop went on without them and organizers did the best they could to include the team remotely, but in the age before daily video calls, remote participation was not as successful as organizers had hoped. And thus, a workshop that was supposed to focus on social science integration moved on, without many of the social scientists who organized the event. The social scientists in the room were supposed to form the dominant voice but with so many stuck in a snow storm, the balance of expertise shifted, as it often does when social scientists collaborate with natural and physical scientists. The outcomes of that workshop, lessons learned and opportunities missed, form the basis of this commentary, and they collectively indicate the barriers to integrating the natural, physical and social sciences on CDR. As the need for rapid, effective and successful CDR has only increased since that time, we argue that CDR researchers from across the spectrum must come together in ways that simultaneously address the technical, social, political, economic and cultural elements of CDR development, commercialization, adoption and diffusion if the academy is to have a material impact on climate change in the increasingly limited window we have to address it.

scholarly journals Governing Carbon Dioxide Removal in the UK: Lessons Learned and Challenges Ahead

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Lezaun ◽  
Peter Healey ◽  
Tim Kruger ◽  
Stephen M. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Removal ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
The One ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Public Views ◽  
Change Mitigation

This Policy Brief reviews the experience of the UK in developing principles for the governance of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) at scale. Early discussions on CDR governance took place in two separate and somewhat disjointed policy domains: forestry, on the one hand, and R&D support for novel “geoengineering” technologies, on the other. The adoption by the UK government of a 2050 “net zero” target is forcing an integration of these disparate perspectives, and should lead to a more explicit articulation of the role CDR is expected to play in UK climate strategy. This need for clarification is revealing some of underlying tensions and divisions in public views on CDR, particularly when it comes to forms of capture and sequestration deemed to be “non-natural.” We propose some principles to ensure that the development and deployment of carbon dioxide removal at scale strengthens a commitment to ambitious climate change mitigation and can thus enjoy broad public support.

Policy Instruments for Abating Industrial Carbon Dioxide Emissions in the UK

1992 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 342-370
Author(s):  
Jim Skea
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽  
Carbon Tax ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Industrial Sector ◽  
Energy Prices ◽  
Industrial Carbon ◽  
Regulatory Instruments ◽  
Recent Trends ◽  
The Uk

This paper assesses the merits and effectiveness of various policy instruments in securing carbon dioxide abatement from the industrial sector. The analysis refers to the UK situation. Particular attention is paid to the potential use of market-based regulatory instruments such as a carbon tax or tradeable emission permits. The background against which the different policy instruments might be implemented is assessed. Taking into account energy decision-making structures in industry and recent trends in energy prices, it is concluded that both fiscal measures and more traditional policy instruments have a role to play in developing future policies.

Climate-forced changes of bio-productivity of Belorussian terrestrial ecosystems

2019 ◽  
pp. 77-88
Author(s):  
S. A. Lysenko
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Precipitation Amount ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Vegetation Period ◽  
Climatic Trend ◽  
Vegetation Growth ◽  
Current Century ◽  
The Impact

The spatial and temporal particularities of Normalized Differential Vegetation Index (NDVI) changes over territory of Belarus in the current century and their relationship with climate change were investigated. The rise of NDVI is observed at approximately 84% of the Belarus area. The statistically significant growth of NDVI has exhibited at nearly 35% of the studied area (t-test at 95% confidence interval), which are mainly forests and undeveloped areas. Croplands vegetation index is largely descending. The main factor of croplands bio-productivity interannual variability is precipitation amount in vegetation period. This factor determines more than 60% of the croplands NDVI dispersion. The long-term changes of NDVI could be explained by combination of two factors: photosynthesis intensifying action of carbon dioxide and vegetation growth suppressing action of air warming with almost unchanged precipitation amount. If the observed climatic trend continues the croplands bio-productivity in many Belarus regions could be decreased at more than 20% in comparison with 2000 year. The impact of climate change on the bio-productivity of undeveloped lands is only slightly noticed on the background of its growth in conditions of rising level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

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