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COP26 policy blog series

Read our latest policy blog pieces, compiled by Policy Leeds.

Real zero in a hurry: a UK transport policy maker’s guide to climate action

Richard Walker and Professor Greg Marsden set out the urgency for UK transport policy, and offer principles and solutions for rapid transport decarbonisation.

What Covid has taught us about facing up to necessity

Here Richard Walker reflects on what we can learn from Covid about treating an emergency as an emergency.

Local climate bonds: democratizing finance for a transition to net zero

Dr Mark Davis, School of Sociology and Social Policy, shows how a new model of alternative finance is providing a direct route for cash-strapped councils to raise funds for local net zero projects

Climate change and gender beyond ‘women and girls’

Drs Neil Crawford and Katie McQuaid argue that we need to take a much broader view of gender and social inclusion if we are to avoid excluding other extremely climate vulnerable groups

Realising a circular economy together is essential for climate action

Anne Velenturf and Phil Purnell argue that this needs to change and that reducing resource use as part of a sustainable circular economy is essential to achieving net-zero.

Re-fashioning the clothing system for the sake of the climate

Dr Mark Sumner looks across the clothing system, from production of materials to garment disposal, and points to the key challenges that the industry will need to confront to get to net zero

SMEs are the backbone of every economy: supporting their climate adaptation

Dr Paola Sakai draws on her work on flooding in the Yorkshire region to show how understanding the economic losses of SMEs from such events can be key to enabling SMEs to adapt.

Action needed to make buildings greener over their whole life

Dr Helen Freeman explores the emissions associated with buildings and the opportunities to reduce their carbon impact.

Act like it’s an emergency. A guide for urban policy makers

In this blog, Paul Chatterton, Professor of Urban Futures at the University of Leeds explains that this requires urban policy makers to now act like it’s an emergency, and what this actually means in practice.

Developing a shared vision of a net zero future: the experts’ view

The Delivering Net Zero project is working to build consensus on getting the UK to net zero. This blog reports researchers' views.

“The eyes of all future generations are upon you” — how to galvanise climat

Dr Viktoria Spaiser looks at how the Friday for Future movement has triggered a change in norms that holds the potential to galvanise wider climate action.