Addressing the Climate Challenge

In 2021, colleagues from across the University of Birmingham community were invited to write articles about topics relevant to the COP26 climate change summit.

In this series of articles, experts from across many different disciplines provide new insight and evidence on how we might all understand and tackle climate change.

#UoBClimateImpact

 

 

Adaptation and resilience

• Climate change, infectious diseases and pandemics by Willem van Schaik
• The role of healthcare in carbon reduction by Steve Gulati and Catherine Weir
• Improving the climate resilience of infrastructure networks by Lee Chapman, David Jaroszweski and Emma Ferranti 
• The implications of net zero ambitions for infrastructure resilience to climate change, by Sarah Greenham, Emma Ferranti, David Jaroszweski, Lee Chapman, Andrew Quinn and Ruth Wood
• The case for an international climate year, by Michael Angus, Gregor C. Leckebusch, Kelvin Ng, Lisa Degenhardt and Gabi Hegerl
• The role of university education in driving equality and sustainability by Victoria Burns, Fredrik Bengtsson, Fernando Botello Villagrana, Martha Chadyiwa, Mapaseka Dolo, Nicola Goldmann, Camille Huser, Rodrigo Marino, Jane Nicol, Cliona O’Sullivan and Louisa Remedios
• The impact of militaries on climate change by Jack Johnson
• Strengthening the climate resilience of households in the Sundarbans by Neelambari Phalkey

Nature

• Not just standing there: the carbon utility of established forest by Rob MacKenzie
• Tree susceptibility and resilience to pests and disease by Rob Jackson, Estrella Luna-Diez and Graeme Kettles
• An introduction to the statistical modelling of climate change by Marco G. Ercolani
• Water security and climate change by Lovleen Bhullar
• Freshwater biofilms as early warning systems for the combined impacts of climate change and particle pollution (microplastics, engineered nanomaterials, pathogens) on water quality by Berta Bonet, Iseult Lynch and Stefan Krause
• Why the archaeology of peatlands matters as we look to COP26 by Henry Chapman 

Energy transition

• Energy subsidy reform: the fossil elephant in the COP room by Henok Asmelash
• Reducing global temperatures through decarbonisation of heat by Martin Freer
• Energy from waste and the circular economy by Emily Prestwood, Martin Freer
• Green ammonia: from fertiliser to sustainable fuel by Manoj Ravi, Yulong Ding and Josh Makepeace
• Thinking circular: how to avoid the pitfalls in transitioning to net-zero emissions by Nana O Bonsu and Ian Thomson

Clean transport

• Clean Air: bringing local synergies to the global climate challenge by William Bloss, Joe Acton and Jian Zhong
• Embedding climate change adaptation as business as usual within the railway sector by Emma Ferranti, Andrew Quinn, John Dora, Sarah Greenham, Rachel Fisher, Nick Pyatt and Tim Reeder
• Clean transport innovation and policies: solution or trouble for climate change? by Panrawee Rungskunroch and Sakdirat Kaewunruen
• Decarbonisation and heritage railways by Stuart Hillmansen, Peter Amor, Rachel Fisher, Charles Calvert, and Alex Burrows 

Finance, business and policy

• Climate change governance and environmental justice by Robert Lee and Aleksandra Cavoški
• Moving towards a sustainable planet: what is the role of financial markets? by Hisham Farag and David Dickinson
• The business of environmental protection by David Dickinson, Jiadong Tong, Jinhui Jeanne, Huang and Iseult Lynch
• Behaviourally informed climate change policies by Johannes Lohse
• Critical materials, strategic elements and the green industrial revolution by Allan Walton, Paul Anderson, Gavin Harper and Vicky Mann 

Cities and built environment

• The green belt, sustainability and England’s housing crisis by Charles Edward Goode
• Building better, safer, healthier cities for children and young people by Peter Kraftl, Sophie Hadfield-Hill and Susanne Börner
• The carbon cost of our buried infrastructure – a case of out of site and out of mind? by Nigel Cassidy, Ian Jefferson, David Chapman, Nicole Metje, Chris Rogers, Jon Roberts and Paul O’Regan 
• Cities, the built environment, climate change and decarbonising urban lifestyles by John R. Bryson, Louise Reardon, Lauren Andres and Aksel Ersoy 
• The amenity value of the climate by David Maddison
• The air we breathe and clean air day by William Bloss, Suzanne Bartington and John Bryson 

New approaches

• The future is a foreign country: rethinking state behaviour on climate change as ill-treatment by Natasa Mavronicola
• ‘No wealth but life’: the role of the arts and humanities in tackling the climate crisis by John Holmes and Dion Dobrzynski
• Six lessons etymology can teach us about tackling climate change by Matthew Cockram
• How can literature tackle climate change? by Fisola Kelly-Akinnuoye 

Shortlisted student essays

• A Tale of Two Londons by Rachel Venn
• Food for thought: How to reduce reliance on fossil fuels by utilising brownfield sites and food waste by Lee Ollerenshaw
• Tackling Climate Change By Izzy Miller
• Tackling Climate Change in Light of the 2020 Events by Adela Mullerova
• Tackling Climate Change using Nuclear Power by Adam Jackson 

Download the PDF report here