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New Book Launch: A just climate future for Jim and beyond
At first glance, the Net Zero agenda appears disconnected from the realities of everyday life. Installing heat pumps and solar panels, buying electric cars, planting more trees...
Subsidising e-bikes instead of cars could really kick the electric vehicle transition into high gear
If you’re thinking of buying a new electric car worth up to £37,000, the UK government has offered to knock up to £3,750 off the...
Accelerating net zero: why climate innovation needs emergency mode
The pursuit of net zero emissions—where the greenhouse gases we emit are balanced by those we remove—has become a global imperative. As climate impacts intensify,...
Learn more about climate change
What Can We Do to Address Climate Change?
Written by Priestley Centre researchers, especially for young people. Reviewed by kids, for kids!
Climate researchers answer your questions
Answers to questions we hear at our 'Ask a Climate Researcher' stand at the Leeds climate strikes
Empower the eco-anxious
A group of students evaluate what the University of Leeds is doing to address eco-anxiety in young people
Climate careers advice
Podcasts
Climate Evidence to Action
Produced by the Climate Evidence Unit, this podcast dives into why evidence matters, what the evidence tells us, and how it can inform real-world action.
The 'Ask A Climate Researcher' project
Three of our researchers discuss the 'Ask A Climate Researcher' project and climate communication.
How can we meet our future protein needs sustainably?
Host Rich Williams is joined by three members of the National Alternative Proteins Innovation Centre (NAPIC): Professor Anwesha Sarkar, Professor Louise Dye and Professor Derek Stuart.
Towards a net-zero university: how to change an institution
Professor Anna Mdee and Dr Katy Roelich talk about studying the University of Leeds’ transition to net-zero carbon emissions by 2030.
Stabilising Earth’s Climate: Key Social Dynamics
Dr Viktoria Spaiser and Dr Nicole Nisbett discuss the importance of social dynamics in finding solutions to the climate crisis.
Climate poetry
Climate Ambassadors
Featured reports
Community Municipal Investments and Local Climate Bonds
Community Municipal Investments (CMIs) have the potential to ensure local net-zero strategies are delivered more efficiently. This report presents key findings from two case studies and evaluates the scalability of CMIs as a simple, low-risk mechanism for diversifying borrowing sources.
Carbon Footprint: Exploring the UK’s contribution to climate change
Nearly half the UK’s carbon footprint comes from emissions released overseas to satisfy UK-based consumption, according to a new report from WWF that University of Leeds researchers were involved in authoring.
Decarbonising the Foundation Industries: implications for workers
This report focuses on the energy-intensive industries in the UK, the prospects for decarbonisation, and related employment and skills issues.
Leeds Carbon Roadmap
A team led by Andy Gouldson, Chair of Leeds Climate Commission and Professor of Environmental Policy at the University, sets out carbon targets and a roadmap for reducing Leeds’ emissions in line with the global targets set out by the United Nations recommendations.
Featured journal papers
Importance of species translocations under rapid climate change
A paradigm shift is needed for assisted migration to become a standard conservation response to climate change threats and impacts. Dr Maria Beger contributes to this paper that explores the barriers to using this conservation tool in practice.
Contributions of scale
Neither scientific, Indigenous, nor local knowledge systems alone will be able to contribute the breadth and depth of information necessary to detect, attribute, and inform action along pathways of climate-health impact. Priestley PhD researcher Bianca van Bavel et al. explore how to shift the existing patterns of inclusion into balance.
A just transition to Net Zero
This research led by Professor Lucie Middlemiss and colleagues offers a socially inclusive approach to a net zero transition, rooted in a social policy framework which conceives of social inclusion as the ability to fully participate in society. They characterise what will change for people under net zero, and who stands to lose out in the transition.
Discourses of delay: arguments used to avoid climate action
Too expensive, pointless, and others should do more: a new study sheds light on the excuses for doing nothing that circulate in the public debate on climate change. Leeds researchers and colleagues in Berlin examined a range of sources to identify twelve forms of argument that lead to deadlock.
Featured policy briefings and responses to calls for evidence
Who pays for greenhouse gas removal in the UK?
This brief examines four policy options for funding greenhouse gas removal technologies and assesses their distributional impact – i.e. how the costs fall to UK households across income levels.
Using the underground to fight climate change
This policy brief introduces a suite of technologies which use underground assets to store heat and energy, or provide a low carbon means of energy generation. These present regional authorities with an opportunity for low carbon economic regeneration which is sympathetic to local industrial heritage.
Achieving net-zero infrastructure
A policy briefing by Dr Katy Roelich and Prof Greg Marsden on how decision makers can achieve net-zero infrastructure, which meets citizens' social needs and hits climate targets.
Decarbonising transport
University of Leeds researchers worked with the Local Government Association to develop a series of briefing notes to provide councils with a practical set of actions they can take forward for decarbonisation.