Climate change
Research Topic
Language: English
This is a research topic created to provide authors with a place to attach new problem publications.
Research problems linked to this topic
- The greenhouse effect is involving global heating and climate change within the world.
- Climate change and its consequences have severely affected Nepalese agriculture.
- Freshwater fish populations are facing multiple stressors, including climate change, species invasion, and anthropogenic interference.
- Climate change is the greatest public health threat of the 21st century and is associated with environmental degradation and deleterious health consequences.
- Arboviral diseases are a global growing problem due to climate change, urbanization, population density, global transportation.
- The growing concern about global climate change and its adverse impacts on societies is putting severe pressure on the construction industry as one of the largest producers of greenhouse gases.
- Carbonaceous particles, as one of the main sources of atmospheric aerosols, have great influence on the climate change, such as ice formation, precipitation and polar ice melting.
- Scientific and societal unknowns make it difficult to predict how global environmental changes such as climate change and biological invasions will affect ecological systems.
- Climate change has been posited as the biggest threat to crop productivity in agro-systems, yet its impact on the water footprints of crop production for many regions remains uncertain.
- With climate change, global warming has increased adverse effects on living things in our country.
- Climate change is a major environmental concern and the melting processes of the glaciers and snow-packs are sensitive to climate change.
- Climate change is affecting biodiversity worldwide, with evidence mounting about its impacts on different ecologies, groups of species and stages of a species lifecycle
- CO2 capture, storage and utilization (CCUS) is one of the dominant strategies to mitigate climate change but high capture cost is still a common challenge of existing techniques
- Oceanic conditions play an important role in determining the effects of climate change and these effects need to be monitored.
- What impact would the introduction of carbon border taxes have on regional trade flows?
- How can international governance, emerging technologies (including climate tech) and digital agreements be used to achieve Net Zero and support environmental sustainability?
- What sustainable vehicle alternatives can policing turn to that are capable of meeting requirements for performance and weight?
- What are more carbon-efficient practices that the police should look to adopt when responding to incidents?
- To what extent is climate change affecting health and safety of workers and communities how is this expected to change over time? How can the effect of climate change on the safe operation of industrial assets best be determined?
- What is the relationship between chemicals and environmental and human stressors, such as climate change and biodiversity loss? What will the impact be on ecosystem services, both now and in the future?
- How can policing establish sustainable science and technology development and procurement practices that contribute to policing’s Net Zero commitments?
- What are the downstream impacts of climate change on criminality and policing’s operating model?
- Assess how marine protected areas can act as nature-based solutions to the effects of climate change by sequestering carbon
- Further our understanding of how climate change is affecting the health of the ocean as a result of acidification and warming seas
- To what extent is the market and actors within it able to withstand environmental and climate shocks to deliver a continuous and reliable service?
- Estimating the climate change impact of the space sector, across the entire value chain. Analysing and proposing methods and mechanisms to reduce this impact. Estimating how space sector products (e.g., earth observation) can support broader climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts. What is the role of government in this context?
- How will new and emerging aviation technology such as unmanned aircraft, advanced air mobility, provide environmental benefits or disbenefits and what environmental assessment techniques should be applied?
- How can we evaluate best practice intervention for addressing climate change and gender equality?
- How can education and care sectors best respond to environmental climate related risks or future pandemics to limit the impact on education?
- How do we harness technological advances to support our sectors reduce exposure and vulnerability to climate risk?
- How do we better understand the impacts of climate change on water, habitats, and species?
- How do we better understand the impact of the past, the pressures on the present, and the changes of the future when understanding water and the environment?
- What are the appropriate controls and mitigations that need to be built into new carbon capture infrastructure?
- How can the effect of climate change on the safe operation of industrial assets best be determined?
- How will future global trends such as climate change and biodiversity loss impact the security and resilience of UK and global transport systems?
- What new environmental techniques should be utilised in the analysis of road schemes that are not currently set out in Transport Analysis Guidance?
- How can monitoring and weather forecasting techniques be improved and implemented to reduce the impacts of climate change on transport infrastructure?
- How will changes in the UK’s climate including frequency of extreme weather events impact the operation of the transport network?
- What are the interdependencies between addressing different environmental impacts (e.g., CO2 and noise)?
- How can we develop a more detailed understanding of the benefits that modernising UK airspace will bring, including carbon reductions, noise impacts, reduced delays, increased resilience, and increased capacity to allow for growth?
- What is the current level of maritime emissions and how is this expected to change in the future?
- Where do interactions exist between climate adaptation in transport infrastructure and other net zero or natural environment policies? Are there any co-benefits/trade-offs and how can we implement solutions that deliver on all these priorities?
- What data and evidence are required to support risk-based investment in transport infrastructure to ensure the industry is sufficiently prepared for extreme weather events? Are there any evidence gaps in the existing data?
- What is the current role of material/construction innovation in adapting transport infrastructure to extreme weather events and are these solutions readily available? What future developments are anticipated in material/construction innovation and how long before these may become mainstream?
- What behaviour change will be required by the public and industry to adapt to the impacts of climate change on transport infrastructure.
- How can the effectiveness of adaptation programmes within the transport infrastructure industry be measured and evaluated?
- How can the vulnerability and role of habitats alongside transport infrastructure be better understood regarding climate change, pests, and disease? How can we increase resilience?
- How do network providers, internet service providers and mobile connectivity providers plan and consider the risks of climate change within the UK to the longevity of infrastructure? Are their considerations and plans sufficient for the expected extent of climate change?
- How can we design and embed robust, cross-cutting indicators of, and improve our understanding of, human, animal, plant, and environmental health in systems under pressure from climate change?
- What is the current and potential future impact of climate change on creative businesses, their operations and productivity?
- How can we monitor emissions arising as a result of digital consumption?
- What does the latest evidence show in terms of how best to deliver net zero and also bring health benefits, such as improved air quality? Can better metrics be developed for monetising the health benefits of the move to net zero homes that can be used in business case appraisals?
- What is the risk to AHT assets from climate change and how can these risks be mitigated?
- Are some countries further ahead, and by what degree, in climate tech resilience than others?
- What is the impact of coronavirus on the multilateral and international alignments on climate change consensus? What opportunities are afforded the UK in its efforts to tackle the global threat
- How will the economic impact of coronavirus affect governments’ ambitions for climate change targets and biodiversity? What opportunities are afforded the UK in its efforts to tackle the global threat
- How can we develop and exploit new methodologies to ensure cost-effective monitoring of climate change and adaptation actions and impact on climate risk? How do we measure resilience to test the success and cost effectiveness of actions, and incorporate resilience indicators into decision making?
- What are the interactions between housing quality, safety, and zero carbon? Where might synergies, tensions, or unintended consequences arise when tackling these priorities?
- What are the skills challenges and opportunities related to net zero, and how do they differ by geography?
- How does the scale of contribution needed to achieve net zero vary for different types of places?
- What might be the impacts of the drive to reduce housing stock emissions on housing supply and affordability? What is the evidence, including unintended consequences?
- With growing preference for greener investments, how should sustainability goals be balanced with ensuring all sectors can continue to access financial markets?
- What measures could help minimise the risks of de-forestation, biodiversity, and habitat loss in producer countries, without creating excessive trade distortion?
- What can comparative advantage tell us, in the context of production shifts arising from climate change?
- How can we most effectively implement nature-based solutions, such as tree planting and peatland restoration, to address climate change, support progress to net zero carbon emission, reduce biodiversity loss and prevent poverty?
- What are the positive and negative environmental impacts of increasing renewable energy production (wind, solar, geothermal, and so on) and other actions taken to decarbonise the economy?
- How should mitigation of other greenhouse gases and pollutants be compared to and combined with CO2 mitigation (i.e., what is the balance of action and what are the appropriate metrics to compare them), and what do these mean for the timing of the requirement for net zero emissions?
- Can other land-based approaches to greenhouse gas removal, such as enhanced weathering and biochar, help achieve net zero without negative environmental impacts?
- What are the interventions needed to reverse climate change or at least hold it steady to begin to mitigate the multiple stresses it causes?
- What are the competing pressures, trade-offs, and synergies of different land-uses in relation to climate change in a post COVID-19 world?
- Using climate-smart management, how do we best protect marine biodiversity that might change as a result of climate change?
- How can we predict the potential impacts of a changing climate on actions and strategies to mitigate climate change (for example how will future climate change impact the delivery of carbon sequestration by different habitats)? What tools are available to allow for effective planning of climate change mitigation strategies that are resilient to a changing climate?
- What will be the ecological, economic, and social impacts of sea level rise? How effective are our current responses?
- How will the changing climate affect the persistence and movement of chemical contaminants in the environment?
- How can we better understand future flood and coastal erosion risk? Including assessing the impact of climate change, and wider social, political, or economic factors
- How can we build resilience of biodiversity and society to climate change through ecosystem restoration, better land management, and land use?
- What is the impact of rising sea level on coastal systems, natural, and human? Can natural systems help to mitigate against coastal incursion and degradation?
- How can we assess and mitigate systemic risks involving environmental factors? What are the best approaches for monitoring that tracks system dynamics based on key ‘watchpoints’ to trigger mitigation actions?
- How will changing freshwater budgets impact river flow, water availability, the risk of flooding, and natural systems?
- What actions would most effectively and efficiently improve the status of the natural environment and secure economic, social, and health benefits domestically and globally?
- Global drivers of declines in nature are well documented but we need to understand how drivers interact in the UK and globally, as well as the global impacts of UK activities. We also need to understand how our actions to address declines (such as policy responses, intervention and environmental management) impact drivers
- What is the status of our natural environment, is it being effectively monitored to note change in the UK and globally? We require robust, reliable data and information that can be used to assess status and trends in the natural environment (genetic and species diversity and trends, invasive species, habitats extent, condition and character, as well as soils and ecosystem services and functions)
- How to measure ecological connectivity and design coherent ecological networks through nature restoration?
- How will different groups of society, particularly in rural communities, be affected by changes associated with the move towards Net Zero and the goals of the 25 Year Environment Plan? How can positive effects be adopted more widely and negative impacts be mitigated?
- How can local planning for nature-based solutions be best reconciled with regional and national strategies? What are the most effective ways to combine place-based participatory approaches with evidence and analysis of the likely effectiveness of nature-based solutions?
- How can we effectively use nature on our land to help provide the services we need (carbon uptake, flood defence, resilience through biodiversity, clean air and water, recreation for public health and so on) and balance the provision of these services?
- How do climate risks interact with socio-economic factors and vulnerabilities? Where do inequalities lie, and how can access to adaptive benefits be maximised for the most socially vulnerable/disadvantaged in society?
- What criteria should we use to determine acceptable sectoral climate resilience scenarios across government departments, and when building preparedness externally?
- What are the broader environmental consequences of changes to the housing and planning system, and what is needed to support a lower-carbon future?
- What are the impacts of greenhouse gas removals and negative emission technologies on climate and the environment? What are the trade-offs of negative emissions techniques and other interventions?
- How can a more strategic approach to land use be developed through aligning climate change objectives (adaptation and mitigation) with objectives for biodiversity and ecosystem services? How can the environmental co-benefits of mitigation actions be identified and quantified?
- How will agriculture affect the resilience to climate change of surrounding habitats and communities- for example water availability, flooding, land use change, chemical harm on ecosystem functions related to climate resilience?
- How is climate change affecting the emergence and transmission of infectious diseases, and how can we become more resilient to these outbreaks?
- How will crop, livestock, and woodland resilience alter in the future, impacting optimal agricultural and forestry practices for the UK? What practices and policies can we develop to drive adaptation?
- How can society and government act to protect and enhance nature, thereby sustaining the ecosystem services (including mitigation and adaptation to climate change) it provides, under a changing climate?
- What are appropriate adaptation actions to climate change across government, now and as change progresses, and when is it reasonable to implement these? How can we better understand the risks and opportunities around the policy drivers for adaptation (and mitigation)? How do we avoid maladaptation and ensure resilience to a range of possible futures?
- How can the UK develop measurement of carbon fluxes from different habitats and farming systems which are in different conditions and using different management approaches? This is especially relevant for peatland and coastal habitats
- How do we better consider and adapt to the effects of climate change at regional and local levels, to develop a better understanding of conflicting demands?
- How will natural habitats and systems respond to accelerating rate of change, including woodlands, soils, freshwater ecosystems, and marine systems? What will be the implications of these responses on managing the risks and impacts of climate change, and what inevitable changes will we have to accept in our ecosystems?
- Climate projections (for example UK Climate Projections 18) indicate increased climate variability and extreme events (storms, heat waves, drought) in the future. How will these changes impact natural and human systems? How can we protect against damage caused by such increased variability?
- How can we address barriers to action on adaptation, including behavioural change, and how can government policy best encourage these changes?
- How can standard methodologies measuring greenhouse gas emissions be applied to the creative industries and its sub-sectors? Which, if any, aspects of standard emissions measurement needs to be adjusted to creative industries activities while ensuring consistency and cross sector comparisons?
- What initiatives and activities work in reducing the sector’s environmental and climate impacts?
- Assess and explain the impact of AHT sectors on climate change and contribution to net zero objectives. What works to mitigate the sectors’ impact to climate change and achieve these objectives?
- What are the biggest environmental risks impacting on the educational system and student outcomes, and how can they be mitigated?
- How can behavioural science be used to encourage people and organisations to make more sustainable travel choices?
- What role does international travel play in people’s understanding of their personal carbon footprint? How do people think about occasional large-emitting activities versus day-to-day small changes?
- How can we improve the management of our ecosystems, including biodiversity loss, chemical pollution, environmental degradation, and the introduction of alien species, to reduce the risk of infectious zoonotic, animal, and plant diseases?
- How will the prevalence and incidence of animal and plant pathogens in domesticated organisms and wildlife adjust to climate change? How can we better integrate cross-sector surveillance and response to ensure the risk of large-scale epidemics or pandemics in humans (such as COVID-19), animals, and plants are minimised?
- What is telecom’s role in achieving net zero and the impact of changing climate? To what extend is telecoms a driver of energy efficiency within and across sectors?
- Consistent and long-term environmental monitoring: Time-series increase in value for ecology and policy making as they grow in length. Decades of data are required to answer emerging questions around, for example, climate change impacts on biodiversity and the efficacy of management measures
- How can we model existing data from human, animal, plant, and environmental health indicators to better understand the interconnection and potential impacts of climate change?
- Human performance - Are there opportunities to improve or augment human performance to reduce cognitive or physical burden? How do we cope with the impact of changes in climate impact on human performance? How do we design clothing and equipment to mitigate these constraints?
- What are the impacts of climate change, including society’s efforts to mitigate it and adapt to it, on the food system?
- How can we better understand novel uses or applications of AI in the geospatial ecosystem, such as in the analysis of Earth Observation and Population Movement data, 3D visualisation, and climate modelling?
- How long does it take for the CO2eq emissions from the production, shipping, installation and use of fibre to result in a net emission saving overuse of copper?
- How might future extreme weather, such as flooding and storms, heatwaves, and wildfires, affect the reliability and durability of: (i) underground fibre ducting; (ii) overhead cabling; (iii) mobile masts; (iv) hybrid wireless solutions such as satellite connectivity; (v) system wide vulnerabilities?
- How can we best support the scale up of the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) industry and DfT’s chosen strategic ambitions for the UK SAF sector?
- How can we encourage more sustainable travel behaviours?
- How can we best model and understand the impacts on a global level of environmental policy actions?
- What evidence exists to enable the DfT to further enhance its ability to forecast aviation GHG emissions and non-CO2 impacts and model the impact of potential policy action?
- What are the relative merits of existing, emerging, and future technologies in helping to decarbonise aviation? What adaptations will be required for the aviation sector to successfully adopt new zero-emission technologies?
- Are telecoms networks a net contributor or mitigator of GHG emissions, and will their net emissions grow or shrink in the future?
- How will climate change/energy insecurity impact the UK’s telecoms networks? To what extent are our networks (directly or indirectly) vulnerable to climate change e.g. voltage instability during heat waves? For further relevant questions on network resilience see BDUK section 3.
- What is the potential decarbonisation benefit that maritime autonomy can offer?
- What are the skills, capabilities, and knowledge gaps within the transport infrastructure industry to effectively implement adaptation to climate change now and in the future?
- What are the most effective and equitable transport related actions that can be taken to reduce emissions of (and exposure to) transport related air pollution (from particulates and NOx) in vulnerable communities, while helping growth, access to jobs and accessibility in more deprived areas?
- What are the most effective ways to identify and measure climate risk to communities?
- What wider factors do we need to consider to ensure that the geography of adjustment to a net zero economy works to the advantage of ‘left behind’ places?