Latest News

A new report from the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment identifies significant advantages of using agave plants, such as those used in the production of tequila and sisal, to derive biofuels. Unlike other biofuel feedstocks, agave has the potential to grow on marginal agricultural land and so would have limited impact on global [...]

The Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford has today, (18th July) published a report that recommends that individual governments must take more action to curb their own emissions and put pressure on other governments to do the same.
The ‘International Climate Change Negotiations: Key Lessons and Next Steps’ report, a detailed [...]

Dr Chukwumerije Okereke has been published in the Nigerian Guardian, writing on the important role that African nations have to play in the climate talks taking place in Durban, South Africa later this year.
In his article, he argues that the countries of Africa, the continent most vulnerable to the changes that rising temperatures and extremes of [...]

The impact of a changing climate on human health has the potential to be the biggest global health threat of the 21st century, jeopardising the lives and wellbeing of billions of people. From extreme weather and heatwaves having a direct impact on morbidity and mortality to the indirect effect of climate change many regions face [...]

by Michael Evans, 30th June 2011
The third and final day of the 2011 World Forum has drawn to a close with a strategy for action set out by Sir David King, Director of the Smith School.
King closed the Third World Forum and thanked the 120 leaders who attended for helping to create a real and [...]

The World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment 2011 is now well underway, and you can get full coverage here, including video of every session, interviews with key speakers, and blogs from our guest social media commentators.
You can also follow @TheSmithSchool for updates, reminders and highlights, and join the discussion using hashtag #SSWFEE.
This year’s theme is Valuing Ecosystem Services: From [...]

The Third Annual World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment has started (June 28th 2011) with the former Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir David King, calling on governments around the world to do more to protect the natural environment.
This year’s World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment (WFEE11) will focus on Valuing Ecosystem Services, and explore the key challenges [...]

The Third Annual World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment has started (June 28th 2011) with the former Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir David King, calling on governments around the world to do more to protect the natural environment.
This year’s World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment (WFEE11) will focus on Valuing Ecosystem Services, and explore [...]

The World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment 2011 (28th-30th June) will be addressed by over 50 respected leaders from business, government, NGOs and academia, including:
The Rt. Hon. Simon Upton, Director at OECD (left), will be speaking on “International/National Policy Commitments” within the context of “Building Blocks for Change”. He will be joined by Ms [...]

The Tech Tour Cleantech Summit, the leading biannual fundraising event for the European cleantech sector to be held in Geneva on July 6 and 7, will feature a keynote speech from Professor Sir David King.
Paul Clements Hunt, head of the UNEP Finance Unit, will also lead a panel discussion on European cleantech companies breaking into [...]

Rapid environmental change, resource depletion, climate change and population growth are all seen as negative byproducts of our desire for economic growth and prosperity. But have we often overlooked these forces of constraint as opportunities to innovate, grow and create sustainable competitive advantage?
This is the argument outlined in a new paper by the 2Degrees network [...]

Demand for oil will start to outstrip supply by the middle of the decade, and reserves have been exaggerated by at least 250 billion barrels, Dr Oliver Inderwildi told MPs and peers at the House of Commons last night (June 14th). Please see his presentation slides below.
Peak Oil Risk Presentation
Dr Inderwildi, Head of the Low [...]

As part of the World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment: Valuing Ecosystem Services, the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment is working with the Guardian in launching a display of photographs from readers that capture the greatest moments of nature and biodiversity.
The loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services is a worldwide problem that is [...]

The Times Eureka has published an article by Professor Sir David King ahead of the debate on 12 June at the tenth Cheltenham Science Festival.
Sir David argued that there has been a massive step change in both our understanding of climate change and the need to address the challenges we face as a result of [...]

Professor Sir David King was interviewed on Newsnight about the future of nuclear power in the UK following Germany’s decision to shut down nuclear power generation by 2022.
During the interview, Sir David spoke about the need to defossilise our energy sector and that energy efficiency measures alone would not bring about the reductions in CO2 [...]

Who are you? My name is Lavanya Rajamani. I am a Professor in International Law at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi.
Where have you joined the Smith School from? I have joined the Smith School from the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi. The Centre for Policy Research is one of the leading [...]

Who are you? My name is Bob Hahn. I’m a Senior Fellow at the Georgetown Centre for Business and Public Policy.
Where have you joined the Smith School from? I co-founded the AEI-Brookings Joint Centre for Regulatory Studies, which I ran for a decade.
What is your area of research? Regulation, Innovation, Energy and Environment, Internet.
How did [...]

Professor Sir David King, Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment was interviewed on The World This Weekend yesterday (10th April) on the economics of nuclear power. Sir David argued that in order to meet our challenging emissions targets, coupled with the need to invest heavily in energy infrastructure over the [...]

News Release
29 March 2011
NUCLEAR POWER INVESTMENT MUST NOT BE DELAYED AS REPORT HIGHLIGHTS MULTI BILLION POUND OPPORTUNITY FOR UK
The UK can realise a £10bn economic opportunity through adopting a new, holistic approach to nuclear energy that would tackle concerns over security of energy supply, rising oil prices and safety issues, a new report by [...]

NUCLEAR POWER INVESTMENT MUST NOT BE DELAYED AS REPORT HIGHLIGHTS MULTI BILLION POUND OPPORTUNITY FOR UK
The UK can realise a £10bn economic opportunity through adopting a new, holistic approach to nuclear energy that would tackle concerns over security of energy supply, rising oil prices and safety issues, a new report by the Smith School of [...]

Who are you? Thomas L. Brewer, Acting Research Director, Climate Strategies
Where have you joined the Smith School from?
Climate Strategies, an international network of leading scholars on economic and policy issues concerning climate change.
What is your area of research?
International transfers of climate-friendly technologies – and more generally the political economy of US responses to climate change.
How [...]

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, today (23rd March) Professor Sir David King, Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment has outlined the key lessons to be learned from the recent disaster in Japan.
Sir David highlighted three key issues to consider when managing natural physical hazards:
1.       A mechanism by which scientific advice can be translated [...]

Chief Scientific Adviser to HM Government, Sir John Beddington, highlighted the scientific challenges for the future including climate change, food and water security and energy provision for a growing global population. Sir John was speaking at the sixth annual Earthwatch Oxford lecture on 3 March at the Said Business School, University of Oxford. 
 
Entitled The Big Science [...]

Reduced emissions mean green path of growth for Europe.
Increasing the EU’s 2020 greenhouse gas reduction target from 20% to 30% could help boost European investments from 18% to 22% of GDP, leading to a GDP increase of up to €620bn ($840bn) and the creation of up to 6 million additional jobs. These are the [...]

News Release
22 February 2011
REDUCED EMISSIONS MEAN GREEN PATH OF GROWTH FOR EUROPE
Increasing the EU’s 2020 greenhouse gas reduction target from 20% to 30% could help boost European investments from 18% to 22% of GDP, leading to a GDP increase of up to €620bn ($840bn) and the creation of up to 6 million additional jobs. [...]

Who are you? Jeremy Bentham
Where have you joined the Smith School from?
I’m from the international energy company, Royal Dutch Shell.  My official title is Vice President Business Environment, although I’m probably better known as head of the Shell Scenario team.  I guess the official title gives the impression that I’m responsible for the air-conditioning [...]

The Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford has today announced that UBS is joining its Partnership Board. The global financial services company has made a three-year commitment to support the work of the Smith School as it develops solutions to address the major environmental challenges facing our planet. The partnership [...]

Who are you? Leo Johnson
Where have you joined the Smith School from? I come from Sustainable Finance, a business advisory on sustainability risks and opportunities, which I established and later sold to PricewaterhouseCoopers. I am now a Partner in their Sustainability and Climate Change team.
I have also spent 10 years working with the Environmental [...]

An independent report on the Thames Estuary has been published by the Mayor of London’s Thames Estuary Steering Group, led by Professor Sir David King, Director of The Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment.
The report has found that more research is needed to develop a long term plan for the Thames Estuary, which should encompass [...]

The President of Rwanda Paul Kagame has, on behalf of the Government, requested the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment to conduct an in-depth analysis for a national strategy to develop low carbon economic growth over the coming decades and to manage adaptation against the impacts of climate change.  The country, which manages to achieve a [...]

The annual CBI Climate Change Summit saw speeches given by Chris Huhne, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change; Richard Lambert, Director General of the CBI; and an address by Connie Hedegaaed, European Commissioner for Climate Action. Professor Sir David King, Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment also went [...]

Nature has published an article, by Professor Sir David King, which examined the recent government spending review and questions whether Britain can still face the challenges from its international competitors or those by climate change.
He said that whilst the research budget had actually got off relatively lightly with a reduction of 10–12% (departments saw an [...]

The Daily Telegraph (Saturday, October 23, 2010) featured an article by Professor Sir David King, Director of the Smith School, on our need to act immediately and not put off the decisions on the future of our energy infrastructure.
He was published inside in the Daily Telegraph’s Age of Energy series, which has been investigating the [...]

The Times has published an article following an interview with Professor Sir David King, who said the coalition government’s claims are ‘empty rhetoric’ over its promise to be the greenest government ever.
During the interview he said that he felt the Government’s decision to scrap the Sustainable Development Commission was wrong and that scepticism was increasing [...]

Australia’s national radio broadcaster, ABC Radio, interviewed Professor Sir David King on the aims and ambitions of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment.
Geraldine Doogue, ABC’s long standing presenter on the Saturday Extra business and politics programme, spoke with Sir David on how to find ways of cutting fossil fuel use without impeding economic [...]

News Release
22nd September 2010
Defossilise electricity before rolling out electric vehicles
The Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment has today, 22nd September published a report stating that we need to defossilise our electricity sources if electric vehicles (EV) are to become a key part of emissions reduction.
Indirect Emissions from Electric Vehicles: Emissions from Electricity Generation [...]

The Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment has today, 22nd September published a report stating that we need to defossilise our electricity sources if electric vehicles (EV) are to become a key part of emissions reduction.
Indirect Emissions from Electric Vehicles: Emissions from Electricity Generation published in the journal Energy & Environmental Science concludes that the [...]

The World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment could grow to have the same significance within the green business community as the World Forum in Davos has amongst world leaders and economists, says Peter McManners writing in Sustainable Business.
McManners, a visiting executive fellow of Henley Business School of Reading, commented on the World Forum event [...]

Sir David King, Director of the Smith School, and Lord Lawson of Blaby who are to take part in their first live and public debate on climate change at the CBI Climate Change Summit on 17th November, were interviewed by the Guardian.

In the interview, the Guardian noted that Sir David King, who is recognised as [...]

The recent articles from New Civil Engineer on the Smith School’s research about lighter-than-air craft have been stimulating debate in the letters to the editor.
Lighter-than-air craft publication
One reader wrote of his experiences in the 1970’s with “Skyship”, a 10m diameter lenticular shape prototype airship, designed and flown by the author in Cardington.
A key feature of [...]

The Smith School’s report into conventional oil reserves has been in the media again.
The Head of the Smith School’s Low Carbon Mobility Centre, Dr Oliver Inderwildi, was interviewed by Jim Puplava of Financial Sense Newshour, a US radio news programme on The Status of Conventional Oil Reserves – Hype or Cause for Concern?
Dr [...]

The Smith School is once again featured in the journal Nature. 
Research Fellow Dr Bettina Wittneben has published a correspondence piece with Prof. Gail Whiteman of the Rotterdam School of Management, NL and Dr Michael Dorsey of Dartmouth College, US.
Dr Wittneben and her colleagues responded to the commentary written by Ricardo Bayon and Michael Jenkins on [...]

The Smith School’s research on lighter-than-air craft has featured in New Civil Engineer, in a report on the potential use of commercial airships in place of traditional aircraft.
Dr Christian Carey, who is based at the Smith School’s Low Carbon Mobility centre, was interviewed by the publication earlier this year on his research.

Sir David King, at [...]

Telegraph – Revolutionary T.25 City Car unveiled
The Telegraph reported that the launch of Gordon Murray Design’s T.25, at the Smith School World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment, was said to represent a breakthrough in terms of weight, safety, usability and efficiency with a footprint smaller than that of the Smart fortwo or Toyota IQ [...]

New Civil Engineer – Urging a global action deal
Reporting from the Smith School World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment, New Civil Engineer covered the first day of the event and the speeches by world leading experts on low carbon economies urging governments across the globe to adopt a joined up approach to tackling climate [...]

CNN – Former F1 engineer unveils new city car
The T.25’s first public viewing at the Smith School World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment was covered by CNN who commented that the former F1 designer, Gordon Murray’s latest design isn’t likely to trouble too many speed cameras, but it shouldn’t worry environmentalists either.
Murray added that [...]

Gordon Murray Design launches new T.25 car in Oxford
Following the launch of Gordon Murray Design’s revolutionary T.25 city car at the Smith School World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment, BBC Oxford interviewed Sir David King on its significance of being the first vehicle designed, cradle to grave, to be as low carbon as possible.
The [...]

The Guardian – Airships could replace cargo planes and cut emissions
Sir David King was interviewed by the Guardian at the Smith School World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment, following his speech on lighter-than-air-craft. He was asked how airships could replace some conventional aircraft – with claims that they could cut carbon emissions by 90% [...]

During the Smith School World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment, Newsnight covered the discussions and interviewed Sir David King, James Cameron and Professor Gordon Murray about how we can make the transition to a low carbon economy.

The first day of the World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment saw President Mikhail Gorbachev, Founding President of Green Cross International, address delegates in the opening session on The Climate Challenge. President Gorbachev was joined by  European Commissioner for the Environment Janez Potočnik  and US Secretary of State for Energy Dr Steven Chu during [...]

RACING TOWARDS A LOW CARBON ECONOMY: A NEW BRITISH ICON IS LAUNCHED AT WORLD FORUM
News release
28th June 2010
The World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment has held the global launch of Gordon Murray Design’s T.25 car. The T.25 is a radical and innovative approach to car design and manufacturing weighing less than 600kg and with [...]

On the second day of the World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment, Sir David King, Founding Director of the Smith School has set out what action is now needed to de-fossilise our economies. The article, which appears in today’s Times also highlights the practical measures we need to make to our energy infrastructure.
To view [...]

The World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment starts today (27th June), and will see President Mikhail Gorbachev, Founding President of Green Cross International, address delegates in the opening session on The Climate Challenge. President Gorbachev will be joined by European Commissioner for the Environment Janez Potočnik and US Secretary of State for Energy Dr Steven [...]

GORBACHEV AND KING URGE NEW STRATEGY FOR DEALING
WITH CLIMATE CHANGE
News release
27th June 2010

The Second Annual World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment, which is being attended by former President Mikhail Gorbachev, US Energy Secretary Steven Chu and European Commissioner Janez Potočnik, has called on Governments to put together their own coherent strategies to [...]

Ahead of the World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment which starts this Sunday (27th June) and with the COP16 talks in Cancun a little under five months away, Sir David King has outlined why there is optimism for agreeing a new climate agreement as we move towards Rio in 2012.

In the article published in [...]

Following the Smith School World Forum press briefing last week where Sir David King, Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, called on governments to recognise that they need to develop alternative solutions to reduce our continued dependence on oil, he had an article published on Sunday 13 June in the Observer.
In [...]

Governments have their heads in the sand when it comes to oil says Sir David King
News Article
9th June 2010
Sir David King, Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment has today called on governments to recognise that they need to develop alternative solutions to reduce our continued dependence on oil reserves and create [...]

Sir David King, Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, has today called on governments to recognise that they need to develop alternative solutions to reduce our continued dependence on oil reserves and create a clear pathway towards a de-fossilised economy.   Sir David, speaking at a press conference ahead of the Smith [...]

Dr Chris Carey, based at the Smith School’s Low Carbon Mobility centre, was recently interviewed by New Civil Engineer magazine on his research into the potential use of commercial airships in place of traditional aircraft.
Citing Dr Carey’s work, the article reported that airships have the ability to take off from small [...]

Greater improvements in fuel efficiency using conventional aircraft design is not possible, say researchers from the Smith School’s Low Carbon Mobility centre.
Following the oil price increases of the last decade and the emerging importance and concern over environmental impacts, we are again looking at the design of aircraft; the layout of which has not changed [...]

Dr Oliver Inderwildi, lead author of the Smith School’s Future of Mobility Roadmap, was recently interviewed by Euronews, the pan-European news channel.
The Roadmap assesses the potential for low-carbon transport on land, by air, and by sea and calls for large, inefficient vehicles to be taxed and the proceeds used to improve public transport and encourage [...]

Sir David King, Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, spoke at the launch of the Aldersgate Group report on Accelerating the Transition on 29th April. In the speech, Sir David set out a long-term programme for decarbonising the economy and the challenges we face and why the UK science base has [...]

Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment appoints world leading futures expert
News Release 
22nd April 2010
The Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment has today (Thursday 22nd April) announced the appointment of Dr Angela Wilkinson as the new Programme Director of the Futures Directorate. 
Dr Wilkinson, who was previously Director of Scenario Planning and Futures Research at the Institute [...]

The Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment has today (Thursday 22nd April) announced the appointment of Dr Angela Wilkinson as the new Programme Director of the Futures Directorate.
Dr Wilkinson, who was previously Director of Scenario Planning and Futures Research at the Institute for Science, Innovation and Society (InSIS) at Oxford’s Saïd Business School, will take up [...]

A report by the Smith School was amongst the top ten accessed articles from the online version of the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Energy & Environmental Science.
In February, ‘Biofuels and synthetic fuels in the US and China: A review of Well-to-Wheel energy use and greenhouse gas emissions with the impact [...]

World oil reserves at tipping point warns Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment
News Release
23rd March 2010
The Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment has today  (23rd March 2010) published a paper stating that capacity to meet projected future oil demand is at a tipping point and that we need to accelerate the development [...]

The Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment has today  (23rd March 2010) published a paper stating that capacity to meet projected future oil demand is at a tipping point and that we need to accelerate the development of alternative energy fuel resources in order to ensure energy security and reduce emissions.
The Status of Conventional [...]

Airships could replace aircraft on cargo flights to cut costs and emissions, quicken the delivery of aid and ease demand for airport expansion, Smith School researchers say.
Modern airships can carry far more than planes, take off from most surfaces including water, and use less fuel than other forms of transport.
They could also operate from close [...]

Oxford companies are being invited to a major summit on making businesses more sustainable.
The half-day event on March 3 will highlight the opportunities that climate change is creating for companies, notably low carbon developments in transport and energy.
Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment and Oxfordshire County Council are co-hosting the conference, being held [...]

The quickest way of cutting aviation emissions is to improve air traffic control, the Smith School’s Dr Chris Carey tells BBC Oxford.
Chris Carey on BBC Radio Oxford

The quickest way of cutting aviation emissions is to improve air traffic control, a Smith School study has found.
Biofuels could reduce pollution and better technology boost efficiency but neither will have the global impact that improved flight management could achieve, the new report says.
“If you reduced the time aircraft spent waiting to land and taxi, allowed planes [...]

Climate Change: Business & Society Special Issue: 1 March, 2010
This special issue of Business & Society will examine the implications of climate change for business, the response of corporations to climate change, and how both have changed relationships between companies, policy makers and wider society.
It will draw together insights from strategic management, international business, organisation [...]

Professor Bernard Silverman has been made Chief Scientific Adviser to the Home Office.
He will be resonsible for providing scientific advice to ministers and senior officials, helping shape Home Office policy in areas ranging from immigration to policing and terrorism.
His interview panel included Professor John Beddington, the UK Government’s Chief Scientific Advisor, and Professor David Normington, Permanent Secretary at the Home Office. Professor [...]

Bernard Silverman plans to put his skills and experience to public use
Professor Bernard Silverman’s job as Chief Scientific Advisor to the Home Office will “open up a whole new area of activity for me,” he says.
“I’ll be adding public policy work to my scientific background and that will be a very interesting combination,” he adds.
Professor [...]

15 January 2009
The best way of cutting emissions from road transport is to reduce the size and weight of conventional cars, a major Smith School report says.

The School’s Future of Mobility Roadmap, which assesses the potential for low-carbon transport on land, by air and sea, calls for large, inefficient vehicles to be taxed and the [...]

Biofuels will only cut transport emissions if crops are selected carefully and changes to land minimised, a study shows.
The review, by Smith School scientists, has found that corn-based ethanol, the most widely used biofuel, often increases emissions compared to fossil fuels largely because of land-use changes.
Ethanol produced from sugarcane, or the woody shrub cassava, and biodiesel [...]

Weather forecasts would be more useful if they indicated the likelihood of bad weather.
People would be better prepared for variations in the weather if forecasters highlighted the chance of snow or heavy rain, Dr Patrick McSharry, head of the world’s first catastrophe risk centre, told BBC Newsnight yesterday.
The Centre for Catastrophe Risk Financing, established by the Smith School [...]

We could be better prepared if forecasts detailed the chances of bad weather, says Dr Patrick McSharry.

Celebration or sorrow? In one major way, the Copenhagen Accord was a big success, writes the Smith School’s Dan Bodansky in his final blog following the end of the climate talks
Although most countries endorsed the Copenhagen Accord, few left Copenhagen in a positive mood. The general lack of enthusiasm about the outcome was exacerbated by the procedural wrangling on the final [...]

The Copenhagen Accord – Final Nail in the Coffin or a New Beginning for Climate Policy?
Commentary by Bettina Wittneben.

The Copenhagen Accord is a beautifully written document and full of good intentions. I encourage everyone to read it. It can be found on the UNFCCC website, is quite short and touches on many of the contentious issues in [...]

There has been significant resistance to the development of solar energy technology in India, despite its huge potential, a new paper by Smith School Associate Professor Barbara Harriss-White and colleagues says.
While there is land, water and materials aplenty for solar development in India, and while a technology system of institutions for research, development and dissemination was [...]

In her third blog from Copenhagen climate talks, Dr Bettina Wittneben analyses President Obama’s Copenhagen speech
I have to admit, seeing President Barack Obama finally walk up to the podium at the Copenhagen climate talks yesterday did make my heart beat just a little bit faster.
After so much hype about his arrival – the potential visit in the first [...]

The opening of climate talks last week coincided with the announcement that a major pension fund is investing more than £875,000,000 (€1bn) in low-carbon infrastructure, the Smith School’s Dr Cameron Hepburn says.
Investments like this, by the Danish fund ATP, are crucial if we are to stabilise, then cut, greenhouse gas emissions, Dr Hepburn tells the Australian broadcaster ABC. It [...]

Dr Bettina Wittneben’s second blog on the Copenhagen climate talks
Bob Dylan’s 1963 classic about floods and rising oceans is taking on new meaning in Copenhagen. The song has become a bit of a theme song for climate action. For the first time in its seventeen-year history, the United Nations climate summit is being bombarded with massive [...]

Are we savvy enough to better manage the planet’s resources, Sir David King asked an audience of leading scientists in a speech this month.
Speaking to The American Association for the Advancement of Science, he warned that the projected population increase to nine billion by 2050 would put unprecedented strains on food, water and energy supplies.
The biggest challenge [...]

The Smith School’s Dr Bettina Wittneben is among thousands denied access to the final days of climate talks in Copenhagen
The United Nations Climate Secretariat has acted on its threat – access to the Copenhagen climate summit will be restricted starting today. Observer organisations, such as my own, the University of Oxford, will be restricted in terms of [...]

London Mayor Boris Johnson wants to build a new airport in the Thames Estuary, to ease the strain on Heathrow.
Noise would be less of a problem than it currently is at Heathrow, public transport would be better and there would be no need to force people from their homes.
However, such an airport would cost a [...]

Mandating fossil fuel producers to sequester (bury) a steadily increasing fraction of the carbon they extract would be a simple, effective, and fair way of sharing out the pain of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, according to a leading group of climate researchers.
The concept, called SAFE (Sequestered Adequate Fraction of Extracted) carbon, is put forward by [...]

The Smith School’s Dr Bettina Wittneben will present recently published research on the best ways of cutting emissions at the Copenhagen climate talks next month.
Her study, published in the journal Energy Policy, suggests that cap-and-trade schemes, such as the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS), may be more costly and less effective in cutting global emissions than an [...]

The benefits of forests such as carbon storage, reduced flooding and soil erosion, and the provision of food and jobs should be protected in a new climate change treaty, researchers say.
Safeguards for these ecosystem services, which would be part of an agreement to pay countries to protect their forests, would also guarantee the rights of [...]

Smith School scientists have won funding to study the links between the climate change strategies of energy-intensive companies and the environmental policies of the countries in which they operate.
They will compare best practices in UK, US, German and Australian businesses and study the relationships between those practices and national policies.
The Australian Research Council has agreed to [...]

Delays now in cutting emissions mean “taking a huge gamble with civilisation,” researchers say in a letter published this week in Nature Reports.
Politicians are wrongly using scientific uncertainty to avoid taking action to tackle climate change and their reliance on economic measures to bring about emissions cuts has failed, Dr Mark Charlesworth of Keele University and the [...]

It’s a no brainer. Given the choice between sleeping snug inside a tent at -15 on Antarctic ice and doing without any sort of canvas protection at all, we all know what we would do.
Or do we? Smith School Research Assistant Aaron Holdway will soon face that decision and the chances are he will go [...]

Copenhagen too big to fail
Dan Bodansky blogs from the Barcelona climate change talks
Yesterday, the chair of the climate change negotiations in Barcelona and the executive secretary of the UN climate change secretariat both confirmed what had been obvious to most knowledgeable observers for some time: theCopenhagen Conference next month will be unable to adopt a new climate [...]

Small solutions will be key to tackling climate change, Sir David King says ahead of his role as a judge on TV channel CNBC’s Good Entrepreneur competition this month.
He believes two factors will determine which of three young entrepreneurs – Craig White, Mathew Holloway and Marco Cremona – win the event.
Sir David is one of five judges assessing [...]

Small solutions will be key to tackling climate change, Sir David King says ahead of his role as a judge on TV channel CNBC’s Good Entrepreneur competition. The best entrepreneur CNBC TV

The Economics and Politics of Climate Change, edited by Smith School Fellow Dr Cameron Hepburn and Professor Dieter Helm, Professor of Energy Policy at the University of Oxford, has been published by Oxford University Press.
It takes a cool-headed look at the obstacles hampering agreement on climate change, examing the underlying economics and incentives faced by stakeholders and the [...]

Professor Sir David King has been awarded one of the highest decorations in France.
He has been made an Officer of the Order of the French Legion and received his medal last night at a special reception at the French Ambassor’s Residence in London.
The Ambassador, Maurice Gourdault-Montagne, invited Sir David to accept the award on the instruction of President Sarkozy.
Sir David [...]

Being less bad is no good according to Hugo Spowers, the founder of Riversimple and designer of a prototype low-carbon car being built to run on hydrogen from natural gas.
At a Smith School seminar last night, Spowers stressed that the idea behind the car was not simply to reduce emissions but to eliminate them altogether.
“We are [...]

Powerful agencies that felt threatened by the need to switch to low-carbon, paid people to publicly doubt Sir David King’s authority to speak on climate change.
Sir David reveals, on a leading Australian radio programme, how he turned the tables on those questioners by exposing their backers which included Exxon Mobil and the US Enterprise Institute.
Robyn Williams, presenter of The Science [...]

Climate change is the war, President Nasheed of the Maldives says while Sir David King fears any agreement in Copenhagen could lack teeth. He adds that nations agreeing bi and trilateral agreements would be preferable to non-compliance with an over-ambitious new treaty. The President, Sir David and others were interviewed at the Smith School World [...]

Policymakers are relying too heavily on predictions of the impacts of climate change, and claiming they need more research to delay making decisions and taking action.
Research by Dr Mark Charlesworth of Keele University and Dr Chuks Okereke of the Smith School also warns that decisionmakers are assuming impacts will take effect gradually without sufficient evidence.
Dr Charlesworth and [...]

We are consuming too much too quickly, Sir David says in a speech to the Science Council. Listen here while following Sir David’s presentation.

Sir David King reveals how he exposed the powerful agencies behind unsettling questions, in a special programme on the Smith School broadcast by ABC Radio in Australia. The School has an international team explaining how we cope with climate change, sustainability and other challenges. Presenter Robyn Williams, interviews Sir David and four of the School’s [...]

India should agree to a new climate treaty despite richer countries’ responsibility for rising emissions, a new study says.
It is in India’s interests to help reach a new settlement if it is fair and rich countries agree to significant emissions cuts of their own, Dr Vijay Joshi and Dr Urjit Patel say in research published [...]

The next generation is teaching us to care about our planet, Smith School benefactor Martin Smith believes.
It was his children, Katie, and especially Jeremy, who persuaded him that the School, which launched exactly one year ago, was the big philanthropic project the Smith family had been seeking.
Martin and his wife Elise had already made significant [...]

Smith School Director Sir David King will tonight call for a 21st century Renaissance in our approach to consumerism. Giving the Science Council’s second Gareth Roberts Science Policy Lecture, he will explore the role of science and scientists in seeking solutions to climate change and other challenges of this century.
Sir David will warn that we have been [...]

Disaster_Guardian_Oct_09
Guardian, 13 October 2009

Smith School Director Sir David King is one of ten leading scientists today calling for the prestigious Nobel prizes to be reformed.
The group has written an open letter to the Nobel Foundation proposing changes to align the awards more closely with modern science and reflect new scientific challenges such as climate change.
The experts were asked to debate the [...]

The trillions of dollars being invested in finding new energy reserves should be redirected at developing low-carbon energy sources, Sir David King told BBC Radio’s Any Questions. Governments should regulate to bring that about while businesses should recognise the opportunities of low-carbon economies. We knew what to do about climate change. We should get on [...]

The Smith School is joining forces with global insurance broker Willis Re to study the risks linked with large-scale disasters, including droughts and floods caused by climate change.
The Willis Research Network (WRN) is to fund the first Centre of Catastrophe Risk Financing, to be based at the Smith School in central Oxford.
How society shares the costs [...]

Europe is failing its own climate change rhetoric, a leading academic says in the first discussion paper on global environmental problems published by Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment.
The “plethora of initiatives, directives and interventions has not been matched with outcomes,” while the EU’s 2020 emissions reduction target is unsound and ignores the increasing [...]

Calls from scientists for investment in geoengineering research could divert attention from the need to better fund low-carbon developments, Smith School Director, Sir David King has warned.
He was responding to yesterday’s Royal Society report recommending £100m be spent researching methods of harvesting emissions from the air using artificial trees, or reflecting the sun’s heat with huge mirrors [...]

One of the most effective ways of cutting emissions from aircraft is to improve the efficiency of their means of propulsion – their turbines.
And one of the best ways of doing that is to reduce the amount of gas leaking from the turbines, Smith School researchers say in a new study.
Wear and tear makes turbines less [...]

A new approach to Arctic research has begun, spearheaded by the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment.
Experts from Norway, Australia, the US and UK are among members of a research group brought together by the School’s Dr Tavis Potts to investigate the impacts of climate change on the Arctic.
While glacial melting and warming of [...]

Importing food could be green
Independent, 15 August 2009
While asking many of the right questions, the Government should not focus new food policies solely on production at home.

The quest to reduce the risk of disasters and increase hospital safety is timely.
Food security and population
Telegraph, 13 August 2009

The UK government today launched its first food security assessment because of concerns about the effects on food supplies in the face of climate change, pressures on land and our rising population.
The outcome of the consultation could mean the end of the cheap food era, with consumers paying more for better quality food produced using [...]

Cutting emissions can save money and improve a company’s reputation, a study shows.
Reducing emissions is also an opportunity to innovate and a duty to the wider community, Dr Bettina Wittneben of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment and Dagmar Kiyar of the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy say.
Their research, published in a special issue [...]

Rwanda’s progress
Guardian, 25 July 2009
At a conference hosted by the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment this month, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame told of his country’s determination to stimulate economic growth and tackle climate change.

Rwanda, one of the world’s poorest countries, has applied for Commonwealth membership. According to the Guardian, a human rights group says restrictive legislation, and Rwanda’s human rights record, suggest that acceptance by the Commonwealth would be “ill-advised”.
Smith School Director, Sir David King, has written to the Guardian calling on Commonwealth nations to welcome Rwanda as a new member, [...]

The UK government’s approach to cutting emissions is “patchy” at best, Smith School Director, Sir David King told MPs today.
He said the Treasury in particular was inflexible and unwilling to accept scientific advice on action to tackle climate change.
His statement came just a day before the publication of the government’s energy white paper and strategy [...]

The UK government’s approach to cutting emissions is “patchy” at best, Smith School Director, Sir David King told MPs today.
He said the Treasury in particular was inflexible and unwilling to accept scientific advice on action to tackle climate change.
His statement came just a day before the publication of the government’s energy white paper and strategy [...]

The way we think about climate change is “at the heart of the problem,” former US Vice President, Al Gore, told delegates on the final day of the Times/Smith School World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment.
He said humans had evolved to react to threats that previous generations had survived. But when faced with a new threat [...]

There is still time to tackle climate change, former US Vice President Al Gore said in a rousing speech to close the first Times/Smith School World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment this week.
“It can happen, it will happen,” Mr Gore told more than 200 World Forum delegates, here to find ways of curing the [...]

We have all we need to tackle climate change, bar the political will, Al Gore told World Forum delegates. But political will was a renewable resource he stressed.

President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives will be a guest at the opening press conference of the inaugural Times/Smith School World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment this Sunday, 5 July 2009.
He will detail the impact that climate change, particularly rising sea levels and more frequent storms, is having on the Maldives and explain why [...]

Money from the UK Government’s economic stimulus package should be used to bolster flood defences, Smith School Director Sir David King says.
In an article in The Independent he says that sewer and drainage systems must be improved and homes and businesses better protected from overflowing rivers and coastal erosion.
Global warming is raising sea levels and making storms [...]

The potential for filling the world’s cars with biofuel may never meet demand, the Smith School’s Dr Oliver Inderwildi has warned international vehicle makers.
He told a meeting of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) this week that second generation biofuels – those that do not use the edible part of crops – could not fully fuel our [...]

Al Gore and former UK Government Chief Scientist Sir David King will be amongst high profile speakers at The Times/Smith School World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment, in Oxford from 5-7July 2009.
More than 200 politicians, business leaders and academics are expected to attend the event with the President of Rwanda Paul Kagame, Indian Science Minister [...]

The resurgence of interest in energy research and development has come none too soon, Smith School Director Sir David King told a conference today.
He said the need to keep the lights on, maintain competitiveness and reduce emissions meant energy research was “the most important topic of today.”
Sir David told delegates at the Oxford Energy Futures Conference [...]

Scientists behind recent warnings about CO2 emissions and climate change have published an open letter urging negotiators at this week’s climate talks in Bonn to accept the need to limit emissions soon.
The experts, who include Smith School Deputy Director, Dr Dave Frame, and School Associate, Dr Myles Allen, warn that “any affordable strategy to avoid releasing too much carbon dioxide in [...]

Science minister Lord Drayson today became the first UK Government minister to visit the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment.
He was welcomed by Smith School Director, Sir David King, who is convinced that both the Government and the School can benefit from working together.
“The school is a hub of intellectual expertise,” Sir David told Lord Drayson. [...]

Smith School Director Sir David King has urged the Obama administration to ignore pressure from the fossil fuel industry to strengthen measures to cut emissions.
His comments followed the admission by US Energy Secretary Professor Steven Chu on BBC Radio this morning that Washington would not be following the UK’s example of banning new coal-fired power stations unless they could be [...]

Trust could be the most important piece of luggage international negotiators take to crucial climate change talks in Copenhagen this December.
Lack of trust between developing and developed nations has been a major factor in the failure to agree, and bring amount, emissions cuts to prevent world temperatures reaching dangerous levels, the Smith School’s Dr Chuks Okereke says.
“There [...]

A new course aimed at encouraging business students to care more about the environment has started at the Said Business School, with several SSEE Research Fellows involved.
One, Dr Bettina Wittneben, is one of three instructors on the course, Environment, Organisation and Sustainability, which has been made an option on the Said’s MBA.
Students will study climate change, energy [...]

Two studies published yesterday in the journal Nature show that the risk of dangerous climate change is primarily determined by the accumulation of carbon dioxide emissions over time, not by short-term emission rates.
One of the studies shows that total cumulative emissions of one trillion tonnes of carbon (1 Tt C, or 3,670 billion tonnes of CO2) [...]

We are not going to run out of fossil fuels any time soon, Sir David King, Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, has assured business leaders.
What does he mean by this? In an online debate with Martin Chilcott, Chief Executive of the sustainable business website, 2degrees, Sir David says that below-ground fossil fuels [...]

Initiatives aimed at cutting emissions while encouraging economic development are failing the world’s poorest countries, leading scientists are warning.
They say that payments from rich countries to fund development schemes in poor nations are unequally distributed because investors choose stronger, more stable states like China, India and Brazil instead of much poorer nations such as Chad, [...]

Electric Cars
Sunday Times, 15 April 2009
Helen Brooks rightly says that emissions linked to electric car production are being shifted from exhaust pipe to power plant without actually reducing greenhouse gases.

Fuel from rubbish could power aircraft
Sunday Times, 12 April 2009
IT is not just electricity that could be made from rubbish.

Better town planning will do most to cut transport emissions in the long-term, world leaders will be told at climate talks this December.
Experts will say that measures to deter vehicle use in new towns and cities should accompany efforts to improve fuel and vehicle efficiency.
The Transport Research Foundation, formed of the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory and [...]

Sir David King, the Smith School’s Director, is confident US President Barack Obama is serious about tackling climate change.
Sir David met the President’s team last Monday and came away convinced that the new administration will do all it can to get the US on board in climate talks in December.
“I got a very clear message [...]

Smith School Director, Sir David King, receives his first award from the American Chemical Society today.
The award, the Arthur W. Adamson Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Surface Chemistry (ACS), is being given for Sir David’s research on the structure and reactivity of atoms and molecules at surfaces. It includes an investigation of [...]

Biofuels can be made without environmental harm while producing food and electricity at the same time, scientists have shown.
Paper cups and napkins, and the leftover stems and stalks of crops, could be turned into biofuels without destroying rainforests or good arable land, or using large amounts of water and nitrogen-rich fertilisers, the experts say.
Their technique [...]

Mini redundancies
Guardian, 18 February 2009
The loss of jobs at BMW’s Cowley plant in Oxford is sad news. This decision will be even more regrettable if it puts at risk production of the Mini Cooper D

Green credentials of Mini Cooper D
Independent, 18 February 2009

 
The Iraq war was the first ‘resource war’ of this century according to Sir David King, Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment and a former UK government chief scientist.

“I believe historians of the future will look back and see the Iraq war as the first resource war of the 21st century,” [...]

Dr Nina Fedoroff, Science and Technology Advisor to the US Secretary of State and to the Administrator of the US Agency for International Development, spoke at the Smith School in an event co-hosted by the Oxford Department of International Development. Dr Fedoroff is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and is a recipient [...]

John Peters, Chief Executive of Emerald Publishing Group,
and Professor Sir David King toast Bettina Wittneben
Smith School Research Fellow Dr Bettina Wittneben has been awarded the EFMD/Emerald Outstanding Doctoral Research Award.  John Peters, CEO of Emerald Group Publishing, presented the award today at a reception at the Smith School.  Bettina completed her PhD, entitled “Institutional Change [...]

The Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment was officially opened by Dr John Hood, Vice-Chancellor of the University, on 9 October 2008.  The reception for over 100 guests from across the University was held at the School’s new premises in Hayes House on George Street.  Special tribute was paid to Martin and Elise Smith, [...]

Sir David gave his presidential address at the annual meeting of the British Institute for the Advancement of Science in Liverpool on Monday 8 September.  His talk was on “Sustainability Through Science.”
Read more:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4699096.ece