Impact & Engagement

September 2023

InSIS Research Fellow Suleiman Halasah spoke at the Symposium on the Middle East and Climate Change: Crisis or Opportunity? organized by the department of political science at the Michigan State University.  The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is a climate hotspot. Already the most water-stressed region worldwide, it is warming and drying up at twice the average pace, making some parts of it likely unliveable by mid-century.  With climate change acting as a ‘threat multiplier’ that exacerbates existing problems, and MENA countries differing in their ability to adapt to climate effects and related security risks, the timing for regional cooperation is now opportune.

 

Jose Maria Valenzuela hosted the panel “Learning across global regions: Comparing climate marketcraft in developing countries”  with academic and practitioners from the University of Bath, the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) and the University of Oxford to discuss how to make international comparisons to be appropriately address the concerns and opportunities that are unique to developing countries. The panel recording is available in the You Tube channel of Oxford Net Zero.

 

March 2023

InSIS Research Fellow Jose Maria Valenzuela spoke on Research on Climate Governance in the Panel Climate Research and Open Data at Oxford  at the Oxford festival of Open Scholarship, along with researchers at the Departments of Geography and Economics.  The recording is available online: https://ox.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=f4a2c1ef-5d83-4532-90a4-afc7007ed041

As part of the series 'What do We Know About Climate Change', InSIS Research Fellow Jose Maria Valenzuela gave a conference in Spanish, on large scale carbon removal “Remoción y de CO2: ¿Una agenda global?” for the Interdisciplinary Programme on Climate Change for Mexico’s National University (PINCC UNAM) https://www.facebook.com/104020954821426/videos/574488627965313

 

January 2023

As part of Oxford Net Zero Initiative, InSIS Research Fellow Jose Maria Valenzuela hosted expert from the Energy System Operator, the Energy Networks Association and  PNDC in Scotland to discuss the UK’s Energy System Scenario as novel approaches to addressing the problem of uncertainty on the future in a net zero economy. The recording is available online https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9BHjLJ9Rzc

 

November 2022

Three InSIS Research Fellows, Jessica Omukuti, Michael Gilmont and Suleiman Halasah attended the COP27 meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh.  Jessica Omukuti, our Inclusive Net Zero fellow, was involved in a series of events and activities relating to net zero in the global South. As a member of the United Nations High Level Expert Group (UNHLEG), Jessica took part in launching the Group’s recommendations on how to avoid greenwashing in net zero pledges by non-state actors.

The events included Jessica sharing findings from her recent work tracking net zero commitments of Africa’s 250 largest publicly listed companies, as well as the lessons learned.  She also discussed how just transitions, credits and regulation are reflected in the UNHLEG recommendations alongside sharing lessons from Oxford Net Zero’s ongoing work in Africa on the importance and links between just transitions and adaptation to climate change.

Suleiman Halasah and Michael Gilmont attended COP27 to present and discuss their work as part of the Oxford Martin Programme in Transboundary Resource Management.Suleiman spoke about cross-border integrated coastal zone management for the Gulf of Aqaba, as part of a panel on the role of local authorities in mitigating climate change and regional cooperation. Suleiman also bought together a panel to discuss the work on Transboundary Resource Management and the value of water and energy models in shaping regional policy.  A series of meetings were held with the Jordanian, Israeli and Palestinian delegations (at the governmental and CSOs levels) to present the current project and get their insights and feedback.

Michael moderated a panel on freshwater use decoupling and water security convened by the Egyptian COP27 Presidency.  Michael and Suleiman dparticipate in a panel on Environmental Diplomacy in the Middle East, coordinated by the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies. They discussed the experience within the Oxford Martin Programme in Transboundary Resource Management with Track 2 diplomacy in the design and implementation of transboundary projects in Jordan, Israel and Palestine.

InSIS Research Fellow Jose Maria Valenzuela convened a roundtable to discuss the state of GHG removal in Mexico in collaboration with El Colegio de México. The roundtable address the challenges to the state of knowledge and uncertainty about several nature based solutions approaches, as well as concerns for inequity in the working of compensation and offsetting markets.  The recording, in Spanish, is available online https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x4Jn8Ud_kw

 

July 2022

InSIS Research Fellow Jessica Omukuti has been appointed to the United Nations High-Level Expert Group on the Net-Zero Emissions Commitments of Non-State Entities, convened by UN Secretary-General António Guterres this past March.  Here, Jessica reflects on the mission of the Group, and on strategies to make justice and equity central to our understanding of net zero.

 

February 2022

Sara Nawaz gave a talk at the Organic Seed Grower’s Conference titled “(Re)articulating ‘organic plant breeding’ in the age of gene editing?” New technologies are rapidly entering agriculture —particularly gene editing—representing multifaceted shifts beyond “genetic modification” (GM), and are outpacing both public understanding and the capacity of regulatory regimes. Nawaz discusses the case of the organic sectors in Canada and the United States, strongholds of GM resistance, to examine conversations about gene-editing technologies unfolding within the organic community, and elucidate their implications for the sector. https://online.ucpress.edu/elementa/article/doi/10.1525/elementa.429/114....

 

November 2021

InSIS' Jose Maria Valenzuela participated as an expert to the Germanwatch Climate Change Policy Index report regarding the case of Mexico. The index components for Mexico included a relatively good position in emissions per capita and efficiency measures, but still a very low position regarding renewable energy.  A key takeaway on new policies in the country was that the new policies to cap oil production were still not yet sufficient, since the country should move towards planning the phase out of production. If you would like to read the full report on the case of Mexico and others it can be downloaded here.

The latest research bulletin for the Perspectivas Energética was coordinated by InSIS' Jose Maria Valenzuela.  The bulletin is dedicated to industry and policy makers from the Mexico-based Energy Programme at El Colegio de Mexico. This required selecting and editing three articles and interviewing scholars in Mexico, UK and the United States to contribute to debates about high climate ambition and the governance of net-zero for Mexico, the only country in the G20 that has decided not to take a net-zero target.

The bulletin can be downloaded Perspectivas Energéticas.

 

May 2021

InSIS has submitted evidence, BEIS Treasury Evidence, on the governance of greenhouse gas removals (GGR), in response to the call from the UK Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and HM Treasury. The text includes views on the viability of different forms of GGR in the UK, policy instruments for the responsible governance of these options, and the development of robust frameworks for monitoring, reporting and evidence.

The evidence originates in research conducted at InSIS under our previous GRIP (Greenhouse Gas Removal Instruments and Policies) and current GASCON (GGR: Governance and Standards for Carbon Neutrality) projects, funded by ClimateWorks.

Further reading:

Bellamy, R., & Healey, P. (2018). ‘Slippery slope’or ‘uphill struggle’? Broadening out expert scenarios of climate engineering research and development. Environmental Science & Policy, 83, 1-10.

Bellamy, R. (2018). Incentivize negative emissions responsibly. Nature Energy, 3(7), 532-534.

Bellamy, R., Lezaun, J., & Palmer, J. (2019). Perceptions of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage in different policy scenarios. Nature Communications, 10(1), 1-9.

Bellamy, R., Fridahl, M., Lezaun, J., Palmer, J., Rodriguez, E., Lefvert, A., ... & Haikola, S. (2021). Incentivising bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) responsibly: Comparing stakeholder policy preferences in the United Kingdom and Sweden. Environmental Science & Policy, 116, 47-55.

 

April 2021

Together with hydrologists at the University of Reading, InSIS' Sara de Wit, has developed a “systematic framework for post event trigger evaluation for humanitarian action”, which aims to combine a review of anticipatory actions and the supporting forecasts. 

The rationale for this framework is that humanitarian anticipatory action provides an opportunity to take action in advance of extreme events to reduce impacts. But by definition extreme events are rare and difficult to predict. Every time an event is forecast (or missed) and anticipatory action is taken, it provides a valuable opportunity to learn about the links between forecast skill and the decision-making process. So far, humanitarian decision making, and the supporting forecast have not been evaluated together. This systematic review seeks to bridge this gap and improve the overall confidence in the system.

Testing has been undertaken in the recent cyclones in Mozambique and in Peru after a flooding event. The product is currently used by the Red Cross National Societies and in the future it is hoped it will be used across the humanitarian sector.  FATHUM - Forecasts for AnTicipatory HUManitarian action

 

March 2021

Weather Matters – a virtual hub for the environmental humanities that explores the human dimensions of climate change has a new editor in InSIS Affiliate Sara de Wit; together with DPhil students Karl Dudman (InSIS), Julio Rodriguez Stimson (ISCA) and MA student Sacha Mouzin. The perspective “Dystopian Worlds: the end or beginning of time”? has been launched. See: www.weathermatters.net

 

June 2020

Pint of Ethics discussion group is hosted by InSIS' Louise Beziuidenhout. The voluntary online meet-up runs three times a term and is an uncritical space in which to discuss “ethical instances”, raise queries and seek advice from peers. Discussion is intended to crowdsource experiences and expertise to learn from. Interested? https://socsci.web.ox.ac.uk/event/pint-of-ethics

 

May 2020

Sara de Wit has participated in the Brigstow project (Brigstow Institute, University of Bristol) to develop a flood survey: “How to make flood forecast data more useful for humanitarian intervention”? This survey is currently being tested before it will be scaled up to different flood forecast users to anticipate and mitigate the impacts of floods. https://brigstowinstitute.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/project/how-can-flood-data-be-more-useful/