|
|
|
The UK Low Carbon Transition Plan,
published in July 2009, sets out the
UK Government’s plan to deliver carbon emission cuts of 18% on 2008
levels by
2020 (equivalent to a 34% reduction on 1990 levels). This includes
steps to
achieve a target of 40% of UK electricity from low carbon sources by
2020,
including around 30% of electricity from renewables, up to four
demonstration
carbon capture and storage plants, and facilitating the building of new
nuclear
power stations. Though this represents a step-change in government
thinking and
activity, it falls short of the full target recommended by the
independent
advisory Climate Change Committee. It sees the Government’s strategic
role as
ensuring that the right long-term regulatory and financial framework is
in place, whilst relying on ‘the market’ to deliver the increase in
renewable and
other low carbon energy sources. We ask whether achieving these and
higher
carbon targets is likely to require more direct government intervention
and a
larger role for civil society, and whether more needs to be done to
ensure that
this is seen as an opportunity to bring industrial and employment
benefits to
the UK.
Tim Foxon is a Research Councils UK Academic
Fellow at the Sustainability Research Institute at the University of
Leeds, and a member of new ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and
Policy. His research focuses on exploring the conditions for the
innovation and up-take of new energy technologies, and analysis of the
changes in technologies, institutions and business strategies needed
for a transition to a low carbon economy. He previously held research
positions at the University of Cambridge and Imperial College London,
and has published a number of academic journal papers and reports for
policy-makers on low-carbon innovation. He is currently co-investigator
on a research project on ‘Transition pathways to a low carbon economy’,
which is examining the roles of government, private firms and civil
society organisations in potential transition pathways for the UK
energy system to a low carbon future.
David Webb is Professor of Engineering Modelling,
Head of the Centre for Applied Research in Engineering, and Director of
the Praxis Centre at Leeds Metropolitan University. He obtained a DPhil
in space physics in 1975 from the University of York and, after periods
as a post-doctoral researcher at Bell Laboratories and the University
of York, joined the Directorate of Scientific and Technical
Intelligence at the Ministry of Defence in London in 1978. He moved to
the Computer Unit at Leeds Metropolitan University in 1979 and then
into the School of Engineering in the early 1980s. He has published
widely on the application of engineering modelling, and on nuclear
disarmament and the militarisation of space. He is currently working
with colleagues in the Praxis Centre on the study of information and
technology in peace, conflict resolution and human rights.
Gareth Dale is Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at Brunel University. He previously held research and teaching positions at the London School of Economics and at Swansea University. His research is within the fields of political economy, social theory and social movements, and has focused in particular on East Germany, and on Karl Polanyi. He has published several articles on the political economy of climate change, and, a climate-change activist, has blogged on Climate Camp. He convenes the ‘public finance’ work group of the Green Jobs Commission.
Biofuels
in Power Generation
Camilla Royle
Desertec
Robert Palgrave
An
Economy with Personal Asset and Income Limits
Alan Cottey
Financial
Viability of Artificial Trees
Karl Miller
Light
Pollution
Paul Marchant
Militarisation
of Space
Philip Chapman
Rational Strategies for the Design of Zero Carbon Commercial Building in the Northwest of England Alex Mitchell Science and the Corporate AgendaChris Langley and Stuart Parkinson
10.00 Registration
and Coffee
10.25 Welcome
Dr Stuart Parkinson, Executive
Director, Scientists for Global Responsibility
10.30 PLENARY
SESSION
The
Dr
Tim Foxon, Sustainability Research Institute,
Arms Conversion for a Low Carbon
Economy
Professor
David Webb, Praxis Centre,
“Green
Jobs Charter”: a trade union programme for the creation of one million
climate-change jobs.
Dr Gareth Dale,
12.30 Lunch
13.15 POSTER
SESSION
14.15 Tea
Break
14.30 SGR
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Chair:
Dr Philip Webber, Scientists for Global Responsibility
15.45 Closing
Comments
16.00 Close
 |
 |
 |
 |
To ConferencesSend correspondence about the web-site to webmanager@sgr.org.uk |
|||