From Ambition
to Action

Partnering on Research

^{Over the past year Cambridge Zero has built many successful collaborations with new partners within the University and externally. Together, we have worked on key areas, from space telescopes for energy efficiency monitoring to the national security risks posed by climate change. Much of this research has already been published, enabling government, industry and communities to put new ideas into action. In total, the core Cambridge Zero team has authored or directly contributed to 23 research publications.}

Partnering with the Institute of Astronomy, we participated in a UK Space Agency National Space Innovation Programme (NSIP) project exploring how we can use thermal infrared telescopes in space to monitor energy output of buildings, and how governments, businesses and citizens can use this data to meet carbon emission goals. The results were presented at a major international conference in Switzerland in September 2021. 

In research commissioned by UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), Cambridge Zero staff explored public attitudes to the behaviour changes needed to achieve net zero by 2050. Working with Newgate Research, we held a series of deliberative discussions, presenting material on the changes likely to be required to meet the net zero targets. This work led to the report Net Zero Public Dialogue, published in March 2021.

Cambridge Zero was a partner in the Standard for Environment Risk and Insurance (SERI) project. Funded by Innovate UK and led by Icebreaker One, the project designed and tested ‘climate-ready’ financial products ahead of COP26. The Cambridge Zero team and the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) provided climate risk expertise, connected the project with our wider networks, and helped develop the use case for climate-ready building passports. The report is available here.

Cambridge Zero – together with the Alan Turing Institute, University of Exeter, British Antarctic Survey and Imperial College London – coauthored the pioneering report Climate aware and resilient national security: Challenges for the 21st Century. Commissioned by the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the report assesses the risks climate change poses to the UK’s security and describes opportunities to develop better tools to forecast and measure climate risks. The work has led to ongoing collaborations on the topic, including a joint funding bid to NERC.

Cambridge Zero led a policy briefing paper for the COP26 Universities Network on Net-Zero Solutions and Research Priorities in the 2020s. The paper, published in August 2020, identifies the key net-zero policy actions that can be taken now, as well as priorities for future research and is based on the work of 26 contributing authors from 10 UK universities, 14 of whom are from Cambridge.

Cambridge Zero Education Activities

^{One of Cambridge Zero’s major successes over the last year was the creation of the Future Leaders Programme. This leadership scheme emphasises professional skills development and meaningful impact through project-focused internships. The 2021 cohort comprises 14 paid summer internships, including four as part of the Cambridge Zero core team, three in partnership with the University’s Sustainability Team, one at the University Investment Office and six at the Centre for Climate Repair.}

We have also helped facilitate the expansion of Engage for Change, an innovative programme that equips students with the skills, tools, and confidence to be leaders in environmental action within the University of Cambridge. We have worked with the Cambridge Hub and the University’s Sustainability Team to double the size and duration of Engage for Change, so that the programme now accepts 60 students a year and runs for 12 weeks. 

We supported the launch of the Cambridge Climate Literacy Project – a new climate training programme that delivers the free-to-access Manchester Metropolitan University Carbon Literacy for Higher Education course. A group of 10 Cambridge students were trained by Manchester Metropolitan over four webinars and self-study modules to deliver the Higher Education toolkit at the University. After completing their training, these ‘student trainers’ have gone on to train their peers. In the past 12 months, Cambridge Zero has supported more than 130 students to gain certification.

Working in partnership with the University’s Careers Service, Cambridge Zero helped organise and deliver a Green Careers Fair to highlight career opportunities in environment and sustainability within a wide range of sectors. The Green Careers Fair took place in March 2021, and involved 22 employers and 245 registered students. 

Cambridge Zero worked with Cambridge Advance Online to develop a range of cross-disciplinary, climate-focused online courses. The first courses are planned for launch in 2022. We are also working with the Institute for Continuing Education to develop a new climate-related course for alumni, also due for launch in 2022. 

Dr Emily Shuckburgh, our Director, is co-editing a new book series with Dr James Biddulph, Executive Headteacher of the University of Cambridge Primary School, to be published by Cambridge University Press. Called Educational Visions, the series will inspire the visionary new thinking we need to enable teachers, schools and students to respond to the challenges and opportunities of the future. The first book in the series – Surviving and Thriving on Planet Earth – is already in development.

Policy Engagement

^{The Cambridge Zero Policy Forum is at the heart of our policy engagement activity. It was set up by Cambridge Zero and CSaP at the beginning of 2020, bringing together more than 80 senior academics from across the University to address climate change through a multidisciplinary lens.}

Now in its second year, the Forum is an engaged, high-energy policy-facing group, and a key element of the broader Cambridge Zero community. During 2020-21, the Policy Forum held a series of six workshops with subjects ranging from UK climate leadership post-Brexit to discussions on UK government department calls for evidence. The Forum also published A Blueprint for a Green Future, an ambitious, multidisciplinary report on how we can ensure a green recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

To support and enrich the work of the Policy Forum, Darwin College and CSaP, Cambridge Zero launched the MacKay Research Associates programme, named after Professor Sir David MacKay. The programme provides early-career postdoctoral students working on topics related to Cambridge Zero’s research agenda with opportunities to engage with – and benefit from – the Cambridge Zero Policy Forum. We appointed three Research Associates – whose work spans the Department of Plant Sciences, the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk and the Department of Public Health and Primary Care – for one-year posts in 2021.

Cambridge Zero also worked closely with the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) to amplify Cambridge’s policy impact. Over the past 12 months, this involved close cooperation around support for COP26, aligning planning and exploring opportunities for partnering on projects including collaboration on research proposals, Policy Forum events, educational initiatives, and engagement with businesses and relevant trusts and foundations. 

The Cambridge Zero Director made significant contributions to UK government policymaking, in particular through membership of the Treasury’s Net Zero Review Tech and Innovation Advisory Group, BEIS’s Net Zero Expert Group, and as a ‘Friend of COP26’ advising the COP26 President. She provided oral evidence to the Treasury Select Committee inquiry on Decarbonisation and Green Finance and the BEIS Select Committee inquiry on Net Zero and UN climate summits.

She serves on many other climate-related commissions and advisory boards, including the Institute for Public Policy Research's (IPPR) Environmental Justice Commission, Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Independent Climate Commission, Fenland Peat Commission, Green Finance Institute Advisory Board, Accounting for Sustainability Advisory Board, Disasters and Emergency Committee’s Climate Change Group, and the UK National Health Service (NHS) Net Zero Advisory Board. 

Industry and business engagement

^{Over the year, Cambridge Zero has worked closely with the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), and with the Maxwell Centre on industrial engagement and knowledge exchange.}

Together with the Maxwell Centre and Cambridge Cleantech, we worked on a series of three events and workshops for academics, business solutions providers, the broader community and policymakers, to facilitate knowledge exchange. 

We created the Cambridge Zero Demonstrator Lab at the Maxwell Centre with £50k UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) World Class Laboratories Fund allocation for 2020-21 and in-kind support from the Maxwell Centre. The Lab will recruit interdisciplinary cohorts of researchers to work part-time on challenge-led sprintshop projects. Crucially, the new Lab will enable us to speed up the demonstration of new technologies developed through University research and pilot new solutions to help meet the University’s 2038 zero carbon commitment.

Cambridge Zero staff have also worked on a new local business engagement strategy, consulting with local business networks, Cambridgeshire Chamber of Commerce and the Cambridge City Council climate leaders’ group.

We have collaborated closely with the Centre for Climate Engagement (CCE) at Hughes Hall to engage with non-executive directors (NEDs) on strategic climate action at board level. The CCE provides the secretariat for the Climate Governance Initiative (CGI) in collaboration with the World Economic Forum and hosts Chapter Zero in the UK, a membership network for NEDs on climate engagement.  During the past year, CCE also helped to deliver a successful CGI Global Summit and produce a briefing paper on greenhouse gas removals with the Centre for Climate Repair and CSaP.

^{Encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation} 

To build our support for innovation and enterprise, Cambridge Zero presented to the Judge Business School’s Enterprise Tuesday. We are working with Carbon-13 to develop a carbon challenge competition and, at national level, the Director of Cambridge Zero sat on the steering committee of the Tech for Our Planet challenge programme for start-ups. 

We also facilitated several nominations for the Earthshot Prize, which is awarding five, £1m prizes each year for the next ten years, providing at least 50 new solutions to the world’s greatest environmental problems by 2030.

Public engagement

^{In November 2020, Cambridge Zero launched Climate Change Festival}

Developed and delivered with Cambridge University Press, the Festival’s 82 free online climate-themed events for all ages spanned eight days and included live panel sessions, pre-recorded talks, demonstrations, stories and games led by leading thinkers from science, academia, policy and community groups from around the world, reaching an audience of more than 3,000 people.

We have grown a dynamic social media programme to engage with internal and external communities. With more than 5,000 followers across platforms (not including YouTube), we have used our social media platforms to promote Cambridge Zero’s activities and develop conversations with stakeholders around climate-related news, developments and events. 

^{In July 2019, the University of Cambridge became the first university in the world to announce a 1.5°C Science-Based Target for carbon reduction. This commits the University to reducing energy-related carbon emissions to absolute zero by 2048, with a steep 75% decrease on 2015 emissions by 2030. The ambition is to always be 10 years ahead of this and hence to reach absolute zero by 2038.}

Since this announcement, a huge range of sustainability actions have been taking place across the University to reduce carbon and enable delivery of this commitment. 

Over the last year the University has:

• Completed a major project to build an anaerobic digestion (AD) plant at Cambridge University Farm. The AD plant uses slurry to produce methane which is burnt to generate electricity.

• Completed stage three of a project to switch to energy efficient LEDs in the Botanic Garden Growth Facility, replacing the lights in five chambers, adding to six already changed. In total, the eleven chambers fitted with LEDs will save over 100 tCO₂e per year, compared to the old fluorescent tubes.

• Increased the proportion of the University’s energy demand generated by renewable energy to just over 17%. This was achieved through the implementation of the University’s first Power Purchase Agreement – a deal to buy energy directly from British wind farms. 

• Commenced work on an exemplary deep retrofit project at the Entopia Building at 1 Regent Street – set to be the headquarters of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. The retrofit is projected to achieve an 80% saving in whole life carbon emissions compared to a standard office refurbishment.

More details can be found in the University’s 2020-21 Annual Environment Sustainability Report.

Supporting the University's Carbon Reduction Strategy

Cambridge Zero worked closely with the University Sustainability Team and Colleges to deliver the Carbon Reduction Strategy and advance the Collegiate University’s carbon reduction ambitions. 

We worked together on a range of engagement activities, including how to give students more engagement opportunities and how to address students for whom sustainability is not a primary interest.

As part of his annual address in October 2021, the Vice-Chancellor announced the University’s aim to divest from all direct and indirect investments in fossil fuels by 2030 as part of the University’s plan to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2038. Cambridge Zero helped the Investment Office to develop net zero investment proposals; these were endorsed by the University Council. 

Supporting the City and the Region

Cambridge Zero worked with the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Independent Commission on Climate (CPICC) to produce a risk assessment of the future impacts of climate on the region. Published in March 2021, the CPICC Report provides an important overview of risks to the region including extreme heat, drought, and flooding due to changes in summer temperatures and seasonal precipitation. 

The report was published alongside the CPICC’s initial recommendations for the region. Cambridge Zero also organised a workshop with emergency, social, and infrastructure service providers in the region to help better plan for the impacts of climate change, which informed a response to a recent Government consultation on the development of a new National Resilience Strategy. Our partnership with the CPICC was highlighted by CPICC Chair Baroness Brown of Cambridge as an example of best practice in local adaptation planning during the launch of the UK’s third climate change risk assessment.