News

A report from the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change brought renewed media interest in Carbon Capture and Storage this week. Professor Cameron Hepburn warned that the technology “needs to scale up by 100 to 1,000 times, but even then, it’s just 10 per cent of the answer.”

Bloomberg spoke to Oxford Smith School Director Mette Morsing for this report on the global consequences of American academics leaving their country in response to Trump administration policies. 

Geoengineering could be crucial in the fight against climate change, but scientists need to learn how to talk to the public about it. This article features the Smith School's State of Carbon Dioxide Removal report and comment from former researcher associate Emily Cox.  

"The Times recent leading article calling for the abandonment of the UK’s clean power target misunderstands the economic and strategic case for clean energy", writes Anupama Sen. "Far from being an 'ideological obsession', decarbonising the power grid is a practical necessity." 

Raconteur interviewed Dr Benjamin Franta on CLARA, an AI tool built by his team that can produce fast, accurate reports on fossil fuel company activities. “By increasing accountability, we hope AI can be a leveller – not just something big companies use for their own interests but also something people can use to hold corporations accountable," said Dr Franta. 

Shrinking the UK’s Net Zero ambition would only make energy prices higher and put British industry at a disadvantage, warns professor Doyne Farmer. We must create a sustainable system of tomorrow.

Radhika Khosla discusses the urgent need for sustainable cooling solutions as close to half of the world’s people have little defense against deadly heat. 

An in-depth Danish language interview with Professor Mette Morsing, Director of the Oxford Smith School, in Danish weekly Mandag Morgan sets out the precaious position of European CEOs when it comes to sustainability. Professor Morsing warns that "neither market forces nor idealists can solve the task alone," but instead a strong business case for sustainability needs to be made.  

Dr Ben Caldecott, Director of the Oxford Sustainable Finance Group, called for a global effort to establish a dedicated carbon removal budget to determine which CDR methods are feasible and how much emissions could be removed on a global scale to ensure that carbon removal supply is allocated fairly among countries, companies and financial institutions.

A recent study found almost half of pregnant women and maternity leave returners had a negative experience at work. "There seems to be a ‘danger zone’ for women in their thirties, where parenthood can lead to reducing working hours, stepping back from leadership roles and making less money," said Lucy Erickson, Head of Strategic Communications at the Oxford Smith School. “Supporting mothers during this time has the potential for outsized impact, because it sets up their career trajectory and earning potential for the rest of their lives.”

Achieving net zero means making "every effort to eliminate or reduce the burning of fossil fuels," said Kaya Axelsson in an article about carbon credits.