Issues: Climate change and energy

An introduction to SGR's concerns and activities on climate change.

Latest update: 28 August 2020

In light of The Trick, a new BBC drama about the “ClimateGate” hack of one scientist’s emails in 2009, Dr Liz Kalaugher, SGR, looks at how climate scientists today are banding together to speak out about their evidence and how urgently we need to act.

18 October 2021

Dr Stuart Parkinson, SGR, examines the carbon footprint of spaceflight - especially space tourism, military missions, and the planned return of humans to the Moon. He argues that the damage is large enough to justify a moratorium on all non-essential spaceflight.

8 October 2021

As Boris Johnson, at the UN, calls on other countries to take more action on the climate, Dr Ian Campbell examines what the science is really saying about the scale of carbon emissions reduction needed by the UK to comply with the Paris Agreement.

24 September 2021

Dr Phil Johnstone and Prof Andy Stirling, University of Sussex, examine the entanglements between Britain's civilian and military nuclear programmes and ask, would the UK be building new nuclear power stations if it weren't for pressure from the military lobby?

20 September 2021

Dr Philip Webber, SGR, compares funding for nuclear weapons with funding for tackling climate change, using the UK as an example.

9 September 2021

SGR's objections to the proposals for a huge new deep coal mine in West Cumbria, UK. This includes evidence that, for each job created, the resulting additional climate change impacts will lead to more than 100 extra deaths worldwide.

8 September 2021

As the world recovers from the pandemic, Dr Lucy Gilliam, Transport and Environment, looks at the steps that need to be taken to prevent the aviation sector returning to pre-COVID pollution levels.

6 September 2021

As the stark findings of the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change make global headlines, Prof Julia Steinberger, University of Lausanne, explores how to live well within environmental limits, and asks why questioning overconsumption is so problematic.

11 August 2021

With the Royal Society holding a conference on green finance, Andrew Simms, SGR, looks at the gap between the institution's words and actions.

22 July 2021