In November, the UK hosts the delayed United Nations COP26 climate change summit. During the build-up, and over the COP itself, the Sussex Energy Group will be presenting highlights of SPRU research in the SEG@COP26 seminar series that are relevant to the themes of these crucial global negotiations. The series encompasses the breadth of sustainability topics explored by SEG, and across SPRU, which aim to understand and foster transitions towards sustainable and equitable energy systems.

You can see the full list of events below, and we hope to see many of you there.

Decarbonisation and its discontents – Oct 19 13.00-14.00

Sussex Energy Group Director Benjamin K. Sovacool outlines a critical justice perspective on four low-carbon transitions. What are the types of injustices associated with low-carbon transitions?  In what ways do low-carbon transitions worsen social risks or vulnerabilities?  And what policies might be deployed to make these transitions more just?

Transformative outcomes & a learning game about system changes – Oct 26 13.00-14.00

Bipashyee Ghosh and Imogen Wade explain how the Transformative Innovation Policy Consortium mobilises the power of innovation to address United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, and how a learning game can express the complexities of change in complex socio-technical systems. Transformative Innovation Policy is a new framing for innovation policy that supports the race to net zero and towards a sustainability transition for the world.

Carbon Intensive Regions in Transition (CINTRAN) – Nov 2 13.00-14.00

Lean about CINTRAN’s study of the complex patterns and dynamics of structural change in carbon-intensive regions across Europe. CINTRAN’s work provides insight into how different actors are responding to, or “coping” with, decarbonisation policy. Marie Claire Brisbois and Roberto Cantoni outline how this provides a basis for encouraging coping strategies that advance decarbonisation efforts while addressing the needs of actors for decent, sustainable livelihoods.

Just Transitions: the governance and institutional gap in the UK – Nov 9 13.00 -14.00

What are the challenges of governance for just transitions? The notion of “just transition” is now a central feature of climate policymaking at various levels transnationally—from the local to the UN climate change negotiations, with nation states being urged to consider this policy issue in national climate policy frameworks since the 2018 Silesia Declaration at COP24. Abigail Martin and Max Lacey-Barnacle discuss how the growing calls for a green recovery from COVID-19 have placed economic inequality and climate justice at the top of the political agenda in many countries, adding pressure to COP26 delegates and policymakers to deliver a ‘just transition’.

Panel Discussion – Reactions to COP26 outcomes – Nov 16 13.00-14.00

A panel of Sussex Energy Group researchers discuss the outcomes of COP26, the debates that have come up throughout this seminar series, and what bearing the outcomes from the climate negotiations may have on their research interests. Panelists are: Marie Claire Brisbois, Ralitsa Hiteva, Lokendra Karki and Phil Johnstone.

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