We live in a time of unprecedented change. The way we live our lives and do business is impacting the planet and driving environmental change on a scale unique in the Earth’s history. We are consuming our natural resources at unprecedented levels whilst polluting our environment, affecting our air, soils, water and biodiversity. This is increasing the challenges linked to extreme weather and a changing climate which can have devastating impacts on the environment and human life and hinder economic growth. To meet these challenges, and recognising our leadership potential, in 2019 the UK became the first major economy to commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.
The net zero series sheds light on the work already undertaken by UKRI’s flagship programme -the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund to address the key challenges that will help the UK build back greener. It will bring together world-renowned researchers and innovators across the breadth of our funding disciplines to discuss the need for innovative solutions to heat our homes, travel to work, develop and transform our industries, cater to our diet, enjoy our leisure time, and prosper from a cleaner, healthier environment in parallel with growing our economy.
We will run a monthly webinar from April to November featuring ISCF challenges, UKRI councils and project leads, as well as renowned external experts from academia, industry and technology fields.
In September we will be discussing Sustainable Energy: To succeed in limiting global warming, the UK urgently needs to use energy efficiently while embracing clean energy sources to make things move, heat up and cool down. How can we deliver cheaper, clean energy systems across the world? In what ways will energy, tech and auto firms converge and how will this impact the evolution of smart grids? What will be the business models that will succeed in 21st century energy markets?
All topic and dates:
- 20 July – Sustainable Industry
- 21 September – Sustainable Supply Chains
- 19 October – Sustainable Materials
- 16 November – Sustainable Energy
View recordings of previous topics on YouTube: