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Research at the University of Exeter on the links between the Amazon rainforest and climate change has influenced international climate policy, has directly assisted Brazilian environmental policymakers, and has received international media coverage. The underpinning research spans the vulnerability of the rainforest to anthropogenic climate change and the mechanisms behind the Amazonian droughts of 2005 and 2010. Impact has been achieved by stimulating public debate through the media, by contribution to science-into-policy documents produced by the World Bank and for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and by direct face-to-face interaction with UK and Brazilian policymakers.
Research conducted at the Business School's Centre for Business and Climate Change since 2008 has:
This impact has been of international significance, reaching international standard setters, investors, corporations and other stakeholders. For example, 26 multinational companies paid to participate in carbon benchmarks conducted by a spin-out company created by the Centre and based on methods it developed. 90 global investors with US$7tr of assets have launched a shareholder action initiative inspired by the Centre's research. The world's leading carbon accounting standards body has adopted a conceptual framework developed by the Centre.
International and national political negotiations and public debates about climate change mitigation policies can only progress with accurate and timely updates about the global carbon budget. Annual carbon updates have been supplied over many years, as a result of our work. The "Global Carbon Project" (GCP) has become the definitive source on carbon budgets for political and policy processes dealing with climate change mitigation and the GCP draws heavily on the School's work on the ocean carbon cycle, including ocean iron fertilisation, and its relevance to the contemporary global carbon budget. This is evidenced by its citation and influence on national (e.g. UK, Germany, Australia, USA, Sweden and Canada) and international (e.g. UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) deliberations.
We conducted research on the impact of land-use change that has resulted in international action to improve forest management. Our research demonstrated that clearing forests to grow crops for biofuels leads to large carbon emissions. In light of these findings, the UK Government amended its biofuel policy to include mandatory sustainability criteria. Leeds researchers co-established with a number of businesses the charity United Bank of Carbon, resulting in the investment of £1.5 million and the protection of 200,000 hectares of forest. Our research underpinned a forest-based climate mitigation scheme resulting in the investment of an additional £440k in forest protection.
The Scottish Government is aiming to generate all of its electricity through renewable energy sources by 2020. Research by the University of Aberdeen has produced a freely available tool - the Windfarm Carbon Calculator - that has overhauled the planning process for windfarm developments in Scotland. In changing public policy and planning regulations, and informing the public debate, Aberdeen's calculator is helping the Government fulfil its pledge to become "the green energy powerhouse of Europe" while protecting some of the country's most environmentally fragile areas. It continues to guide the actions of politicians, planners, the wind industry, NGOs and community groups.
The claimed impact therefore is on: the environment, economy and commerce, public policies and services, practitioners and services.
Research led by the School of Geography at the University of Leeds has enabled, for the first time, the use of on-the-ground observations to evaluate directly the role of tropical forests in the global carbon cycle and to assess their sensitivity to change. Findings from the research have had a significant impact on international debates on the future trajectory of climate change and appropriate policy responses, and are influencing national-scale efforts across the tropics to manage forests in the face of climate change and to reduce carbon emissions resulting from deforestation [D, E, G, H, J]. The success of this Leeds-led initiative has been achieved through the extensive network of scientists involved in this global forest observatory: more than 250 scientists from over 50 institutions across more than 30 countries are now involved.
In the REF impact period, our research on carbon-rich tropical peat swamp forests in Indonesia has been used to:
Our research on the economics of low carbon cities has impacted on energy and low carbon strategies and on investment decision-making in major UK cities including Leeds, Sheffield and Birmingham. It has also influenced guidance issued to local authorities by the Committee on Climate Change and the Department for Communities and Local Government, and has helped to embed strategies and targets for green growth in the next five-year plan for China. The research was voted one of the most transformative ideas to be presented at the UN climate negotiations in Durban in December 2011, and the approach is now being replicated in cities in India, Peru, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Carbon dioxide sequestration is the process by which pressured CO2 is injected into a storage space within the Earth rather than released into the atmosphere. It is one of the major ways that carbon dioxide emissions can be controlled.
Research since 2004 by applied mathematicians at the University of Cambridge into the many different effects that might be encountered during this process has had considerable impact on government and industry groups in determining how the field is viewed and how it should and might be industrially developed. The work played a major role in the CO2CRC conferences and was subsequently reported to the Australian Government by the CO2CRC chair and organisers.
The UN Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) programme offers developing countries incentives to reduce carbon emissions from forested lands. Work on carbon storage and sequestration led by researchers in the Department of Zoology has had demonstrable impacts on international development, via the REDD+ programme and two associated UN Conventions; Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Biodiversity (UN CBD), and on national level policy development in Tanzania and Brazil. It has improved the quality of data collection and monitoring necessary for successful implementation of REDD+, and has led to international investment. The work has also had direct impacts in a number of developing countries, through capacity building, employment generation, and enabling local communities to better adapt to climate change.