Enforce net zero with global ‘ground rules,’ say Oxford academics

The just transition in South Africa: jobs and livelihoods in the coal industry

Our programme on the Future of Development collaborated with researchers from the Development Policy Research Unit in the University of Cape Town to conduct an in-depth analysis of the coal labour market in South Africa.

Oxford researchers launch updated carbon offsetting principles

An interdisciplinary team of Oxford University researchers - including those affiliated to the Oxford Martin School - have today released an update to flagship guidance on credible and net zero aligned carbon offsetting used by hundreds of organisations since its publication in 2020.

Works starts on the Net Zero Regulation and Policy Hub

Researchers across Oxford and partners around the world are coming together to build a centre of expertise dedicated to studying and supporting the urgent task of aligning policy and regulation to climate objectives.

Experts call for new economic modelling to meet energy transition ambition

The ambition of policymakers navigating the energy transition has surpassed the capacity of economic modelling for the first time, a keynote paper argues.

Oxford Martin scientists launch ambitious roadmap for circular carbon plastics economy

Researchers from an Oxford Martin programme have outlined ambitious targets to help deliver a sustainable and net zero plastic economy, arguing for a rethinking of the technical, economic, and policy paradigms that have entrenched the status-quo - one of rising carbon emissions and uncontrolled pollution.

Urgent call for UK Government to develop a heat resilience strategy

A new Parliamentary report spearheaded by Oxford Martin researchers has urged the UK Government to introduce a national heat resilience strategy to prepare the UK for the widespread impacts of a warming world.

How researchers aimed to meet resource challenges that transcended boundaries

The Oxford Martin Programme on Transboundary Resource Management came to a close not long ago and as such there is an opportunity to reflect on what we mean by this concept and how increasingly relevant it is during these geopolitically volatile times. Two of the programme’s directors explain more.

Oxford Martin Restatement aims to help policymakers on soil carbon

The Oxford Martin School has just published the latest in its series of “Restatements”, which review the scientific evidence underlying areas of current policy concern and controversy. The latest project looks at the capacity for grassland used for grazing livestock to store carbon.

Investors “flying blind” to risk of climate lawsuits

Polluting companies could be liable for trillions in damages from climate lawsuits. But few investors and regulators are taking these risks into account when evaluating companies’ climate-related financial risks, according to new Oxford research published today in Science with the involvement of Oxford Martin fellows.

Turning COP’s promises into progress and the rise of climate regulation

COP28’s outcome is meaningful. For the first time in three decades (since the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change was founded, and the year I was born) oil and gas has been included in an agreed text. The final text includes a pile of compromises that may cause issues down the road, but this moment still represents an historic signal about ‘the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era’.

Ancient DNA reveals how a chicken virus evolved to become more deadly

An international team of scientists led by geneticists and disease biologists from the University of Oxford - including biologists on the Oxford Martin programmes on the Future of Food and Pandemic Genomics - and LMU Munich have used ancient DNA to trace the evolution of Marek's Disease Virus (MDV).

End-of-world scare stories have the opposite effect: Dame EJ accentuates the positive

It makes no sense to talk in apocalyptic terms about the environment, Dame EJ Milner-Gulland has told the University of Oxford's website.

Excessive state reliance on carbon dioxide removal is ‘likely inconsistent with international law,’ says Oxford research

In the run-up to COP28, new research from a team at the University of Oxford and Imperial College London warns that states which over-rely on future Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) to meet Paris Agreement targets could fall foul of international law.