Issues

We currently focus on four main issues: disarmament and security, climate change and energy, questions of who controls science and technology and issues surrounding new and emerging technologies. You will also see that we work on some other issues too. You can explore these with the menu on the left of this page and with the search function. Material in this section includes all SGR's main outputs since 2005, with a selection of the more important material from before then.

Grantham Institute report cover

Lessons from finance and place-based dialogue on rapid, just transition

Prof Nick Robins, London School of Economics, examines how the banking sector can support a rapid, just, net-zero emission economic conversion across the UK.

7 November 2020

Land Rover Defender

Overconsumption, the climate emergency and the scientific community

Prof Julia Steinberger, University of Lausanne, argues that tackling the climate crisis requires drastic changes to contemporary human society, but that decent material living for all the world's population can still be achieved.

4 November 2020

Earth

Hacking the Earth - what could possibly go wrong with geoengineering?

Prof Bill McGuire, University College London, warns about the risks of geoengineering as a way of dealing with the climate crisis, especially 'solar radiation management'.

4 November 2020

No new BP deal protest

Kicking out Big Oil

Jess Worth, Culture Unstained, looks at the lessons from the campaign to remove fossil fuel interests from cultural institutions and science museums.

4 November 2020

RAF Predator drone

New weapons dangers: Drone swarms, killer robots, nuclear and space

Dr Stuart Parkinson, SGR, summarises the serious and growing threat from arms races in emerging military technologies.

3 October 2020

Emily Health at climate protest

Is your pension fund wrecking the planet?

Dr Emily Heath, Ethics4USS, appeals to academics and others to support the campaigns to divest our pension funds from fossil fuels and other unethical industries.

23 September 2020

 

Farhana Yamin at SGR conference 2019

Why I swapped UN negotiations for direct action

Farhana Yamin is an international climate change lawyer who swapped negotiating rooms for street protest. Frustrated by the failure of official action to match the scale and speed of what was needed, she decided to change her own behaviour and use non-violent direct action to campaign for system change. Here she explains why she changed tactics.

1 September 2020

Ecotricity anaerobic digestors (Ecotricity)

Bio-methane: a sustainable future for gas?

With a UK moratorium on fracking, attention is at last turning to alternative sources of methane. Wiebina Heesterman outlines the science and technology of anaerobic digestion, while Stuart Parkinson gives a brief overview of the potential of bio-methane to meet UK demand for gas.

27 August 2020

Prof Bill McGuire

Global Heating and Climate Breakdown

Bill McGuire, Professor Emeritus, University College London, argues that mainstream climate science reports downplay serious threats such as sea-level rise, extreme heat, and increased seismic activity. 

6 July 2020

Plane

How the aviation sector should be reformed following the Covid-19 crisis

The aviation sector has been hit hard by the Covid-19 crisis. But its huge environmental impacts mean we should take the opportunity to carry out major reforms, argues Prof John Whitelegg, Liverpool John Moores University, in the second of two blogs on transport issues.

29 June 2020