climate change mitigation

Engineering advice and UK energy policy: how engineering advisers navigate influence and constraints

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by Laurent Lioté, Adam Cooper and Neil Strachan

Three separate photographs of men side by side. From left to right: Laurent Lioté, Neil Strachan and Adam Cooper

In a recent article published in Policy & Politics, Laurent Lioté, Adam Cooper and Neil Strachan examine how engineering advisers contribute to policy making in the context of UK energy policy. Despite the growing importance of engineering solutions to address societal challenges like climate change, the authors highlight a notable gap in academic research on how engineering advice is actually used — and understood — within government.

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A critique of climate change mitigation policy

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somervillePeter Somerville

At last climate change is moving to the top of the political agenda worldwide. I joined Extinction Rebellion in October 2018, frustrated at the lack of action by governments generally in the face of accelerating increase in global greenhouse gas emissions, and in particular by the UK government’s decision to go ahead with the third runway at Heathrow Airport, which can only contribute further to this great acceleration. Much has changed in the last year but governments have largely continued with ‘business as usual’, with all that that means in terms of supporting the extraction and burning of fossil fuels, the intensification of agriculture, the destruction of rain forests, the pollution of the world’s oceans, and so on. Continue reading →