An infographic commissioned to accompany the 21st Century Challenges discussion series illustrates the challenge of tackling flood risk in the UK. The infographic was displayed at a 21st Century Challenges public discussion on ‘Flooding: National Problem, Local Solutions‘ at the Rheged Centre on Saturday 11th March. Infographic by Greg Stevenson.
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The Prime Minister, Theresa May, has signalled that the UK is on track to trigger Article 50 by the end of this month, following the Government’s decisive win for the ‘Brexit Bill’ in the Houses of Parliament on 13th March. There is no doubt that the process of the UK beginning to remove itself from the EU is a ‘defining
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“We need to take environmental discussions out of the technocratic closet and make them popular” was Baroness Kate Parminter’s take home message from this year’s Burntwood Lecture, held by the Institution of Environmental Sciences. In her lecture, Baroness Parminter, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson in the House of Lords for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, addressed the ‘separation anxiety’ that
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Alex Chisholm, the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (DBEIS), indicated earlier this year that the UK Government will publish its ‘Emissions Reduction Plan’ by the end of February 2017. The Emissions Reduction Plan will set out how the Government intends to meet post-2020 greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets, including the Fifth Carbon Budget, which
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The energy system is inherently geographical; the current system is dominated by centralised points of large-scale transformation, connected spatially to sites of consumption through infrastructure that transports and transmits electricity and natural gas via the National Grid and the national transmission network. Yet this system is based on fossil fuels. To meet the legally binding targets within the UK’s 2008 Climate Change
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On Tuesday, 8 November, the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) held the latest in our series of 21st Century Challenges Policy Forum discussion meetings, on ‘Achieving Sustainable Flood Risk Management in the UK‘. An audience of 100 professionals from a range of different sectors, from business and industry to academia, central and local government to Non-Governmental Organisations, convened at the
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A new guide produced by the Know Your Flood Risk campaign and co-authored by one of the speakers at the RGS-IBG’s forthcoming Policy Forum on flood risk management, encourages home owners to do more to protect themselves and their properties from flooding. The ‘Homeowners Guide to Flood Resilience‘ aims to ’empower people to be aware, prepare and take practical precautions
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A low-carbon economy – with a target of an 80% reduction in carbon dioxide levels, on 1990 levels, by 2050 – is a long-standing objective of UK energy policy. But what will a low-carbon economy look like and what will it be like to live there? A paper in Energy Policy by Gavin Bridge and colleagues (‘Geographies of energy transition:
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The panel for the next in the series of 21st Century Challenges: Policy Forum events is now complete. ‘Achieving Sustainable Flood-Risk Management in the UK‘ will take place at the Society on Tuesday 8th November, chaired by BBC Environment Analyst Roger Harrabin. The panellists are: Martin Rogers, Flood Management and Access Adviser, National Farmers’ Union Carly Rose, Associate Consultant, Mary
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Are we likely to meet our targets to increase the use of renewables to 15% of our total energy use by 2020, or to decarbonise our economy by 2050? In 2040, will we as citizens and will our elected Governments prioritise reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, or material wealth for consumers, with little regard for the environment? It is of
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