Supporting decision making for resilient net-zero infrastructure

A policy briefing by Dr Katy Roelich and Prof Greg Marsden on how decision makers can achieve net-zero infrastructure

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Two yellow trams are in a station in Manchester with people waiting on platforms
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Discourses of delay: arguments used to avoid climate action

Twelve forms of argument that lead to deadlock

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Gilet jaune protests in France
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Romanticism, climate change and the anthropocene

What have Lord Byron and Mary Shelley got to contribute to attitudes towards climate change? David Higgins' book examines how Mount Tambora's eruption brings a historical perspective

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Aerial view of Mount Tambora surrounded by clouds
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Priestley Centre members area

Our members area is packed with useful information and resources. If you’re a Priestley Centre member, you can access it here.

If you’re studying or working at the University of Leeds and would like to become member, you can find more information here.

Resources for young people

Written by Priestley Centre researchers, especially for young people. Reviewed by kids, for kids!
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Answers to questions we hear at our 'Ask a Climate Researcher' stand at the Leeds climate strikes
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Detailed posters showing impacts of different warming levels and actions that can be taken to reduce your carbon footprint
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Featured reports

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.
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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.
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This report focuses on the energy-intensive industries in the UK, the prospects for decarbonisation, and related employment and skills issues.
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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.
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Podcasts

Simon Moore talks to a variety of people at the University of Leeds who are working to bring about a net-zero, socially just future.
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Professor Anna Mdee and Dr Katy Roelich talk about studying the University of Leeds’ transition to net-zero carbon emissions by 2030.
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Dr Viktoria Spaiser and Dr Nicole Nisbett discuss the importance of social dynamics in finding solutions to the climate crisis.
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Dr Andrew Sudmant explores how cities are both the cause of, and solution to, the sustainability challenges of the 21st Century
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Featured journal papers

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.
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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.
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This international study, led by Professor Piers Forster, estimates that including climate policy measures as part of an economic recovery plan with strong green stimulus could prevent more than half of additional warming expected by 2050 under current policies.
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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.
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Featured policy briefings and responses to calls for evidence

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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Featured books

This open access book highlights the complexities around making adaptation decisions and building resilience in the face of climate risk. It is based on experiences in sub-Saharan Africa through the Future Climate For Africa (FCFA) applied research programme. Professor John Marsham co-authored the chapter 'Climate Information: Towards Transparent Distillation'.
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This book is the first major ecocritical study of the relationship between British Romanticism and climate change. It analyses a wide range of texts – by authors including Lord Byron, William Cobbett, Sir Stamford Raffles, Mary Shelley, and Percy Shelley – in relation to the global crisis produced by the eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815. By connecting these texts to current debates in the environmental humanities, it reveals the value of a historicized approach to the Anthropocene.
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Meteorology of tropical West Africa: the Forecasters’ Handbook presents the science and practice of weather forecasting for an important region of the tropics. Connecting basic theory with forecasting practice, the book provides a unique training volume for operational weather forecasters, and is also suitable for students of tropical meteorology.
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This book by Dr Milena Buchs and Max Koch presents a critical discussion about how human wellbeing can be maintained and improved in a postgrowth era. It highlights the close links between economic growth, market capitalism, and the welfare state demonstrating that, in many ways, wellbeing outcomes currently depend on the growth paradigm.
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Research briefs

The Priestley Centre has published a collection of research briefs, bringing together a selection of solution-focused climate research across four main areas: improving prediction of future climate; understanding risk to develop a resilient world; enabling low-carbon transitions, and addressing the social, political and economic dimensions of climate change
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Infographics

A bespoke website for a new paper by Leeds researchers offers interactive charts to show the median level of resource use for 20 countries in a dataset that are closest to a range of social thresholds. Sliders below each of the social indicators can be used to raise or lower thresholds for a “good life”, and explore what choices would mean for sustainability
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Code

The Priestley Centre GitHub is a collection of open source code used in research papers published by our members.
Visit the Priestley Centre GitHub