Prof. Katsuya Hihara and Prof Masako Okano visit 4CMR
16 September 2009
4CMR were privileged to have Prof. Katsuya HIHARA and Prof Masako Okano visit us. They are from the Graduate School of Public Policy and Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, respectively,at the University of Tokyo, where they are working on the International Transport Policy Research Unit (IPTU) project. ITPU foster creative ideas and promote new public policies in international transport system, as well as to enhance research. 4CMR and ITPU are hoping to create a research partnership and work together to study future climate change polcies for international transport.
Global Conference on Global Warming (GCGW-09)
2-9 July 2009
Dr Terry Barker was a keynote speaker at this years Global Conference on Global Warming held in Istanbul.
Presentation Title:
Resolving the financial and climate crises by a global investment plan: the inter-relationship between the global financial crisis and the climate crisis and the emergence of a common solution
Abstract:
The financial and climate crises are linked. It is vital that two pressing global social problems be solved (1) the obvious degradation of the planet and its atmosphere by over-consumption and over-production through the exploitation of resources in pursuit of monetary gain and (2) the toxic pollution of the global money supply, also obvious, caused by financial practices over the past twenty years, led by the investment banks of Wall Street and the City of London. The problems are related: both arise out of the pursuit of self interest, sanctified by the economic utilitarianism that underlies equilibrium economics; both are non-linear catastrophic events, although on different time scales; and both can be described as the greatest market failures in human history. Both can be solved, initially, by the same solution: the financial risks of a global depression and the climate risks of wild weather can be reduced by massive immediate investments in low-greenhouse-gas products and processes in every sector and every country, coordinated by international agreement and action.
Launch of new publication "Building a low-carbon future"
2 June 2009
Dr Terry Barker has contributed to the new publication "Building a low-carbon future" with his chapter "Will the reconstruction of the global economy be positive for mitigating climate change?"
4CMR rebound research covered in The Sunday Times
1 June 2009
A news item appeared on the Energy and Environment pages of The Sunday Times, on May 31st 2009:
click here for this article.
The story draws on research by Terry Barker, Athanasios Dagoumas and Jonathan Rubin, recently published in the journal Energy Efficiency.
This paper is available here.
Don’t rely on improving energy efficiency to tackle climate change
14 May 2009
Energy efficiency measures must be accompanied by policies to cap carbon emissions and put a price on carbon. This was the message from a seminar on the rebound effect, organised by 4CMR and the Cambridge Energy Forum. Energy savings from increased efficiency are almost never as high as they appear, because people or businesses increase energy use in response to the saving, either in the same energy activity or elsewhere. While it remains difficult to precisely quantify this rebound effect, it is clear that it is very unlikely to be zero.
The latest economic modelling research, carried out by Terry Barker, Athanasios Dagoumas and Jonathan Rubin of 4CMR, estimates that the global rebound effect would be around 50% by 2030, in response to ‘no regret’ energy efficiency measures proposed by the International Energy Agency. Earlier research suggested that the rebound effect was about 25% for UK energy efficiency policies.
Press coverage: the Guardian
Event details: Cambridge Energy Forum
Presentations from "On the Rebound: could energy efficiency improvements backfire?" available here:
The rebound effect: Mechanisms, evidence and implications
Steve Sorrell, Sussex Energy Group
The Global Macroeconomic Rebound Effect of Energy Efficiency Policies: an analysis 2012-2030 using E3MG
Dr Terry Barker, Cambridge Centre for Climate Change Mitigation Research
Responses to increased energy efficiency in the real world
Prof Roger Kemp, Lancaster University
The Rebound Effect: introduction and historical perspective
Blake Alcott, Independent Researcher
Click here for a list of publications related to "the rebound effect".
Economic crisis gives us a chance of repairing climate damage
17 Mar 2009
In an article published on-line by The Guardian, 4CMR Director Terry Barker and Director of the Smith School for Enterprise and the Environment David King argue that the financial crisis should be seen as an opportunity for investment to decarbonise the economy.
Worlds Latest News report on 4CMR's research
13 March 2009
International Scientific Congress on Climate Change in Copenhagen
10-12 March 2009
Members of 4CMR presented seven posters and three oral papers at the Climate Congress in Copenhagen. These research results will be published in the forthcoming conference proceedings. During the three-day conference, we also convened a workshop on mitigation research, in association with The Royal Society, and held an open meeting about decarbonising international transport. On Thursday March 12, 4CMR’s Director Terry Barker gave a press conference about the potential macroeconomic benefits of climate change mitigation.
Presentations from the 4CMR/Royal Society workshop: Mitigation of climate change: filling the knowledge gaps revealed by the Fourth Assessment Report.
Terry Barker, Director, 4CMR, University of Cambridge, UK
Frans Berkhout, Director, Institute for Environmental Studies, VU University, Amsterdam
Rik Leemans, Professor of Environmental Systems Analysis, Wageningen University
Modelling, forecasting and resolving the global recession, Cambridge
27-28 January 2009
An international workshop discussed forecasts of the global economy to 2020. Modelling suggests the recession will be felt globally, at least until 2011.
Selected presentations:
E3MG: Assessing the crisis with a sectoral econometric model
H. Pollitt and U. Chewpreecha, Cambridge Econometrics
Financial crisis and Dutch climate policy
T. Manders, Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency
The global economic downturn and the potential of green investment: results from GINFORS
C. Lutz and B. Meyer, Institute of Economic Structures Research, Germany
World Economic Dynamics and Technological Change: On Projecting Economic Growth
S. S. Scrieciu, Cambridge Centre for Climate Change Mitigation Research
Cambridge economists predict serious global depression
21 January 2009
One of the first studies to look at the implications of the financial crisis using a large-scale econometric model of the world economy predicts a 3.4% reduction in global economic activity in 2009, under current policies. The results, from Cambridge Econometrics and 4CMR, were presented at an international workshop in Beijing last week.
Air Transport Emissions Trading Workshop
11 December 2008
A one day workshop organised by 4CMR and the Omega partnership was held at the Department for Transport in London. More than 50 delegates attended, including representatives from the UK Government and the European Commission, the aviation industry, academic research and environmental NGOs. Annela Anger of 4CMR, and Peter Allen of Cranfield University, launched preliminary results of their research into the economic and environmental impacts of introducing aviation into the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme.
Download the presentations and find more information here.
Invest trillions of dollars in climate change mitigation, get a return of 1-3% of GDP, says Terry Barker
1 December 2008
Terry Barker, Director of 4CMR, took part in an Economists’ Roundtable debate, published this week in the Financial Times. He was one of five experts with disparate views, discussing the threat of climate change and how governments should respond. Jeffrey Sachs (Earth Institute), Michael Grubb (Carbon Trust) and David Henderson (Westminster Business School) also took part and the discussion was chaired by Martin Wolf (Financial Times). Terry Barker argued that climate change is a very serious threat, with potentially frightening impacts, but that investment to avoid it could have great macroeconomic benefits.
Read and listen to the discussion here.
Seven point plan for re-booting the financial system
21 November 2008
Speaking at the Big Crunch, Big Bang conference in Cambridge on Friday 21 November, 4CMR’s Director Terry Barker put forward a seven-point plan for solving the current crisis and re-booting the financial system.
Unless radical action is taken, Barker predicts that the financial crisis will continue to deepen and develop into a twenty-first century Greater Depression. He recommends bankrupting the bad banks, setting near-zero interest rates, fixing key exchange rates and global prices temporarily and isolating the toxic debt. These actions should be followed by investment programmes for decarbonising the global economy and international institutional reform.
"This is an ideal time for massive investment in decarbonising the global economy," said Barker.
Find more information about the conference, including speaker papers, podcasts and slides, at http://www.neweconomicthinking.org/prog.htm
4CMR awarded £2.5 million
13 October 2008
4CMR is delighted to announce receipt of a substantial grant from the Three Guineas Trust, a Sainsbury Family Charitable Trust, to continue our work on how best to rapidly decarbonise the global economy.
The grant will provide almost £2.5 million over three years from 2008-2011. Using this money, 4CMR will put together a team of specialists to further develop our Energy-Environment-Economy (E3) Model at the global level (E3MG).
The new team will fit, extend and validate the model using real world data on the global E3 system, including oil prices, greenhouse gas emissions and fiscal and monetary policy instruments for the 25 years from 1972–2005. We aim to fulfil the design specification of the model, to provide a dynamic simulation of the global economic and energy systems and reliably analyse the costs and benefits of different climate change policies.
“The world’s energy-economy system needs a wholesale switch to low carbon technologies and lifestyles,” says 4CMR Director, Terry Barker. “The crucial question is how fast can this be done, while maintaining and even accelerating economic development, and ensuring that the most vulnerable in society are protected?”
Advising Government on emissions trading
8 October 2008
4CMR Director Terry Barker, and Research Assistant Annela Anger, were today invited to give evidence to the House of Lords’ European Union Committee, on the proposed revisions to the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.
4CMR supports the longer trading period of eight years, instead of five, proposed for the EU ETS from 2013. It also supports in principle the diminishing cap on emissions permits, which should mean that greenhouse gas emissions from those in the scheme fall by 20 to 30%, depending on international agreements, by 2020.
However, 4CMR researchers argued that the reduction target should be more stringent - at least 30 to 40% to achieve the EU’s 2°C target. And if the current financial havoc provokes a global depression as expected, then 40% to 50% reductions should be aimed for, to lessen the risk of the carbon price falling to zero.
Find detailed comments here from 4CMR on the proposals for phase three of the EU ETS.
New publications
09 October 2008
Terry Barker, Serban Scrieciu and David Taylor published Climate Change, Social Justice and Development, in the Special Issue of the Development Journal [doi 10.1057/dev.2008.33]
Terry Barker published, The Economics of Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change [doi 10.1007/s10584-008-9433-x]
ADAM week
22-26 September 2008
The annual ADAM (Adaptation And Mitigation) week was held in Poznan, Poland and was attended by Terry Barker, Serban Scrieciu, Svetlana Tashchilova and Mairéad Curran. Researchers from all over Europe came to discuss book chapters and report progress. As part of the ADAM week there was a tour of some surrounding countryside and a falcon display.
Entrepreneurship for a Zero Carbon Society
22-24 September 2008
Entrepreneurship for a Zero Carbon Society, the first international Cambridge Climate Summit. The conference, organised by staff at 4CMR and the Cambridge Judge Business School, was a huge success. Presentations and the delegate list are now available at http://www.cambridgeclimate.com
Here is a taste of the press coverage:
The Guardian
"Crisis must be turned to green benefit, scientist says" 23 September 2008
Governments need to show the same boldness to intervene in the markets to kickstart a move to a low-carbon economy as they did when they helped the banks stave off financial crisis last week, a leading academic has demanded. "Both require strong regulation for efficient economic outcomes," said Terry Barker, a climate change expert at Cambridge University, who fears the Lehman Brothers and HBOS problems foreshadow a global economic downturn……There were marked similarities between the lack of transparency and action on complex lending risks that had wreaked havoc in the banking community and the kinds of dangers being stored up by corporate and political inaction over global warming, said Barker, the director of the centre for climate change mitigation research at Cambridge. "Both threaten the economy with catastrophic collapse," added the economist, who has worked with the UN's Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change, and was speaking with Watson at the Entrepreneurship for a Zero Carbon Society conference at Cambridge University…
Tyndall Assembly
10-12 September 2008
This year's Tyndall Annual Assembly was at the UEA, Norwich. The Assembly brought together Tyndall researchers from all over the UK and included a trip to the Norfolk coastline to view the affects of erosion and areas of flood risk around Sea Palling.
Global warming conference
23 July 2008
Terry Barker gave the first Keynote speech to the First Global Conference on Global Warming held in Istanbul, July 6 to 10, 2008. His talk was on "Global and Sectoral Mitigation Potentials to 2030 and the Carbon Price: towards decarbonising the global economy". The Conference was opened by Prof. Veysel Eroglu, Minister of Environment and Forestry and Dr. Kadir Topbas, Mayor of Istanbul and was attended by several hundred participants from many countries. A new journal, the International Journal on Global Warming, is being launched with a multidisciplinary approach, and an emphasis of the engineering aspects of climate policy.
Rachel Warren has been awarded a NERC Advanced Fellowship
1 July 2008
4CMR is delighted to announce Rachel Warren's latest achievement with the award of a five-year NERC Advanced Fellowship entitled 'Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change - Analysis with an Integrated Assessment Model'.
Rachel said:
I will use the CIAS integrated assessment model, which I have developed with a network of colleagues within and without the Tyndall Centre, to inform global and national policy makers about the regional benefits and costs of climate change mitigation policies for human and natural systems compared to no-policy baselines. I will use a variety of physical metrics, detailing the damages still remaining. I will consider changes in extreme weather events as well as changes in mean climate. I will also detail the range of future climates and impacts that regional adaptation policy makers need to consider. I will explore the implications of feedbacks of climate change impacts upon the economy. I will study on a spatially explicit basis the interaction of land use change policy and climate policy, with particular reference to policies for biofuel cropping and avoided deforestation, taking into account issues of food security.
UKERC annual assembly
25-27 June 2008
4CMR staff joined the UK Energy Research Centre’s UKERC Annual Assembly for 2008, held atParkstead House,in a leafy London suburb near Richmond Park. The excellent catering, 100% vegetarian, was very well received by everyone and organisation by UKERC’s meeting place staff was faultless. Over three days the whole spectrum of UKERC activity was presented to the participants and to PhD students attending the UKERC Summer School. The Assembly featured contributions from the Energy Systems Modelling Team at 4CMR, the International Energy Agency (introducing ‘Energy Technology Perspectives 2008’) and other UKERC partners. From grid balancing with microgeneration to demand reduction it was a unique opportunity for us to be brought up-to-date by the leaders in the fields covered by the Centre.The future of the UKERC is to continue with the newly developed UKERC II programme.
Stravos Dimas visits Cambridge
16 June 2008
The European Commissioner for the Environment, Stavros Dimas, visited Cambridge on Friday 13 June 2008 at the invitation of the University of Cambridge Graduate Union to speak on "Winning the fight against climate change: The European Perspective". Terry Barker introduced the lecture. The photo shows the Commissioner (centre) after the post-lecture dinner held in The Royal Cambridge Hotel.
Achieving the climate 2°C target through carbon trading
12 June 2008
The Tyndall Centre has published a Briefing Note in which Terry Barker reviews how economies can speedily reduce their emissions without excessive cost and damages to government, business and household finances. The most effective policies appear to combine the carbon market's price, environmental tax reform for small energy sources, and emission trading schemes for large sources of greenhouse gases, with direct incentives for low-carbon innovation and research and development funded from tax revenues and emission permit auctions. Such portfolios of market-based instruments can be made even more effective if complemented by technological forcing through standards, such as a requirement for carbon capture and storage by a specified date on all new coal plant. Further information.
Seminar: Policies for Reducing Personal Carbon
16 May 2008
4CMR hosted a half-day seminar called "Policies for Reducing Personal Carbon". The speakers and panelists included Terry Barker (Slides), Phillip Sargent (Slides) of the Cambridge Energy Forum, Richard Starkey (Slides) of the Tyndall Centre, University of Manchester Adrian Wrigley (Slides) Independent Policy Analyst and Doug Crawford-Brown (Slides) of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After a presentation that showed the large cost of implementing a personal trading scheme, it was argued that there was good news in relation to fiscal reform, the cost of action on this is nil or negative. The presentations were followed by a stimulating discussion. Further information.
Omega's Parlimentary Reception at the House of Commons
7 May 2008
Annela Anger-Kraavi from 4CMR represented the aviation emissions trading project at Omega's Parliamentary Reception at the House of Commons. Ruth Kelly, Secretary of State for Transport, spoke at the event saying that tackling the aviation-environmental sustainability challenge was crucial to the economy, to British jobs and to the local and global environment. Omega showcased around 40 studies addressing aviation sustainability issues. These include noise and local air quality studies, but the emphasis is on climate change. Further information
First virtual global conference on climate change
30 April 2008
The first global, purely virtual climate conference, "Klima 2008 / Climate 2008", will take place from the 3 to 7 November 2008. It will take place entirely on the internet and will address a wide audience. The objectives of the conference are to develop synergies, to share scientific knowledge and to promote cooperation among scientific institutions. Further information
"Open Letter" to the IPCC and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
22 April 2008
The First International Scientific and Business Congress on Protecting the Climate held in Frankfurt on April 22 2008 and was chaired by Terry Barker, Director of 4CMR and Chairman of Cambridge Econometrics, has released the Open Letter instigated by the Congress. The letter calls for the establishment of a World Carbon Authority to oversee and manage a cap-and-trade scheme for international transport. Detailed proposals for the scheme are being developed and discussed.
New Europe interviews Terrry Barker
14 April 2008
The latest issue (No *777) of the weekly magazine New Europe reports on an interview with Terry Barker under the headline 'urgent action needed on climate change'.
New website developed by Yale's School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
17 March 2008
Today, Yale's School of Forestry & Environmental Studies posted a new web site developed by economics professor Robert Repetto. In a way that anybody can easily understand, it synthesizes the results of thousands of policy simulations from 25 economic models being used to predict the economic impacts of reducing U.S. carbon emissions. To try this new web site, just click here.
Symposium on the Science of Carbon Trading at the Royal Society of Chemistry
12 March 2008
Terry Barker was the Distinguished Guest Lecturer at a Symposium on the Science of Carbon Trading at the Royal Society of Chemistry. More details.
David MacKay visits 4CMR
5 March 2008
4CMR are delighted to welcome Professor David MacKay from the Department of Physics to present a seminar entitled 'Physical Limitations on Energy Supply' at 1715 in Land Economy Laundress Lane Seminar Room 1.
Review of 2007
February 2008
4CMR Review of 2007 from the Director.
4CMR contribute to the Human Development Report 2007/2008 on Climate Change
30 November 2007
The Human Development Report 2007/2008 was released on the 27th November. The report, Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a divided world, provides a stark account of the threat posed by global warming. It argues that the world is drifting towards a “tipping point” that could lock the world’s poorest countries and their poorest citizens in a downward spiral, leaving hundreds of millions facing malnutrition, water scarcity, ecological threats, and a loss of livelihoods.
A briefing paper prepared by Terry Barker and Katie Jenkins looked at the economic costs of avoiding dangerous climate change, consistent with the EU's 2 degree target. Results from the meta-analysis on more stringent mitigation targets feature in Chapter 1 pages 51-52.
Click here for more details and to read the full UN HDR report.
Click here to read the 4CMR report.
Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change Seminar
12 November 2007
4CMR´s Monday seminar on Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change was given by Dr Rachel Warren, University of East Anglia
Nobel Peace Prize awarded to IPCC
12 October 2007
An enormous effort by many people around the world, leading to the production of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change´s 4th Report, has been recognised by the award of the Nobel Peace Prize. Shared jointly with Al Gore, the award is ‘for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change’; the IPCC contributors include Terry Barker and Rachel Warren (lead authors), assisted by Katie Jenkins, all members of 4CMR.
For more information see the Nobel Prize Website
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2007/press.html
4CMR away day
22 August 2007
Unseasonal rain lashed the roof, and the grey light filtering through the bamboos was too dim to read by without artificial lights, when 4CMR held an August ‘Awayday’. 4CMR held the internal event at Cambridge University Botanic Garden to discuss working as an interdisciplinary group and to introduce everyone to our newest members: Athanasios Dagoumas, modeller, engineer, Rupali Jawalekar, computer scientist and Anna Korppoo Research Scholar (policy studies).
We also said a sad ‘Goodbye’ to one of our founder members – Tim Foxon who leaves us for a new post at the University of Leeds.'
International Energy Workshop, Stanford University
25 June 2007
Terry Barker participated in the International Energy Workshop, held at Stanford University, California, June 25-27 2007, sponsored by the International Energy Agency, Paris, Resources for the Future, Washington DC and the Energy Modeling Forum.
He was invited by the conference organisers to present, at a Plenary Session, the findings from the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, 2007, Working Group 3 "Mitigation". His presentation was on "Global and Sectoral Mitigation Potentials, Technology, and the Costs of Climate Stabilization". The presentation is available here.
The workshop is one of the major ways in which the results of current international research are diffused and discussed, and Terry was able to discuss the contributions of the Tyndall research to the debate on the effects of induced technological change as described in the IPCC report. Here is the overhead showing the results from the 4CMR model (E3MG) in context.
Joint Committee of the House of Lords and House of Commons
13 June 2007
Terry Barker appeared before the Joint Committee of the House of Lords and House of Commons on Wednesday 13 June to give evidence on behalf of the Royal Society. The Joint Committee is considering the draft Climate Change Bill, which has been under consultation with the closing date 12 June 2007. He was questioned in particular about the role of the proposed independent Climate Change Committee in advising the Government on the sectoral allocation of CO2 targets. Minutes will be available in due course.
IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, 2007: the mitigation challenge
25 May 2007
Dr Terry Barker gave a lecture on the 'IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, 2007: the mitigation challenge' The presentation and reception were held in the Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge. Dr Barker had recently returned from Bangkok where he was involved in the Summary for Policy Makers for Working Group III. Dr Barker was the coordinating lead author of Chapter 11 'Mitigation from a cross-sectoral perspective'.
The presentation is available here.
The IPCC 4th Assessment report 'Mitigation of Climate Change' was released on the 4th May 2007 in Bangkok
4 May 2007
The Summary for Policy Makers is available to download from: here.
Dr Terry Barker was the Coordinating Lead Author of Chapter 11 of the report 'Mitigation from a cross-sectoral perspective', and a contributing author on the summary for policy makers. Dr Rachel Warren was a Lead Author on Chapter 3 'Issues related to mitigation in the long-term context'.
See Press Release IPCC Working Group III, Fourth Assessment Report.
4CMR move to Silver Street
11 April 2007
The group left their original, charming, but noisy, home in Trumpington Street, to move to smart, refurbished and double-glazed rooms in Silver Street. Sandwiched between the Anchor pub and the Graduate Union, the offices are behind former shop fronts that were previously home to the University's Accommodation Syndicate. Since April 11th 2007, visitors can find us by entering the Department of Land Economy at 19 Silver Street.
Address:
Cambridge Centre for Climate Change Mitigation Research (4CMR),
Department of Land Economy,
University of Cambridge,
19 Silver Street,
Cambridge, CB3 9EP, UK.
Competitiveness and Environmental Tax Reform Conference
21 March 2007
Terry Barker made a Keynote Speech at the Conference on "Competitiveness and Environmental Tax Reform" in Brussels, on "Avoiding dangerous climate change through environmental tax reform".
Further information
Tyndall Centre's day conference
19 February 2007
4CMR provided support-in-kind for the Tyndall Centre’s one day conference:
Beyond Stern: Financing international investment in low carbon technologies and projects.
Speakers Included: Dr Robert Watson, Chief Scientist, World Bank; Catrinus Jepna, Professor of Environmental Economics, Univ. Groningen; Terry Barker, Director, Cambridge Centre for Climate Change Mitigation Research.
Further details can be found at the following page on the Tyndall Centre website.
Submission to the Government’s Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change
27th October 2006
A joint submission to the Government’s Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change was made on the 9 December 2005:
by Terry Barker, Tim Foxon, Jonathan Köhler, 4CMR – Cambridge Centre for Climate Change Mitigation Research, Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge and Dennis Anderson, Robert Gross, Matthew Leach, Peter Pearson, ICEPT – Imperial College Centre for Energy Policy and Technology, Imperial College London, entitled 'Submission to the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change'
4CMR’s Director, Terry Barker, set up a project to conduct a meta-analysis of the literature on the costs of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) mitigation with induced technological change, funded by HM Treasury, employing Mahvash Qureshi for three months' full-time- equivalent research assistance, with help from 4CMR staff. Katie Jenkins assisted and Terry and Jonathan Kohler supervised. This generated a report for the Review:
'A meta-analysis of literature estimates of the costs of GHG mitigation with induced technological change'.
Finally Terry read and edited the Modelling Costs Chapter of the Stern Review.
Government Scientist opens Climate Change Centre.
30 January 2006
Dr Terry Barker, Director 4CMR - Opening Speech
A University of Cambridge initiative set to be at the leading edge of international environmental research was launched by one of the country’s leading scientists last week.
Sir David King, Chief Scientific Advisor to HM Government, was in Cambridge on Friday for the official opening if the Cambridge Centre for Climate Change Mitigation Research in the University’s Department of Land Economy, or ‘4CMR’ as it will be known.
Climate change is occurring and the causal link to increased greenhouse gas emissions largely caused by the use of fossil fuels is now well established. Carbon dioxide levels are now about 40% higher than at any time in the past 740,000 years at least. The inertia of the global weather system means further warming will occur over the next few decades regardless of action on emissions reduction. As a result, millions of people around the world will increasingly be exposed to hunger, drought, flooding and other serious impacts.
Expert knowledge from a variety of disciplines is essential in addressing the complex issues surrounding Greenhouse Gases. These range from economics, engineering and politics to applied mathematics and computing.
Researchers in the new Centre will focus over the next five years on modelling efforts to reduce the rate of climate-change (mitigation) through technological change. This could be through the use of economic means, such as the EU’s emission trading scheme, applying a multi-disciplinary approach bringing together the work of several departments. The Centre is well connected to inform national and international policy-making.
The Centre will be developing detailed models of energy use and emissions from UK households through home heating and energy appliances, from transportation, and from the electricity industry, working closely with the Policy Studies Institute in London.
The Centre is also developing a state-of-the-art econometric model of the global energy-economy system, based on annual data on 20 world regions 1971-2003 and projecting forward to 2100. The model is one component in the UK Tyndall Centre’s integrated assessment system for assessing climate change, adaptation and mitigation. The first results of the modelling are appearing in the Met Office book on “Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change” just published.
Three long-term research contracts have been secured from UK Research Councils and the European Commission. The Centre will have at least seven researchers and will work closely with other researchers in the University’s Department of Land Economy, Faculty of Economics and Judge Business School, as well as the UK Energy Research Centre, the UK Tyndall Centre and Cambridge Econometrics.
- Current news
- Dr Dabo Guan invited to talk on BBC Radio 4's on-live programme of Material World
- Martin Sewell spoke at the Business in the Community Ireland (BITCI) CEO Forum on Climate Change
- Recent news
- Prof. Katsuya Hihara and Prof Masako Okano visit 4CMR
- Global Conference on Global Warming 2009
- Launch of new publication "Building a low-carbon future"
- 4CMR rebound research covered in The Sunday Times
- Don’t rely on improving energy efficiency to tackle climate change
- Economic crisis gives us a chance of repairing climate damage
