The UEA is helping to found a £5 million climate change research centre

21 March 2019, 16:24 | Updated: 21 March 2019, 16:26

A £5 million research centre has been part founded by the UEA to look at addressing climate change.

The University of East Anglia is collaborating on the centre led by Cardiff University with the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST), Manchester and York Universities, and charity Climate Outreach.

They will work on ways to cut emissions and live in a more sustainable, low carbon society.

It will focus on four challenging areas of everyday life that contribute substantially to climate change, including the consumption of goods and physical products; food and diet; travel; and heating/cooling in buildings.

The UEA team is drawn from its Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, the School of Environmental Sciences and the Norwich Business School.

Professor Andy Jordan is leading work on how politicians, businesses and the public can lead the necessary transformations, he told Heart:

"So far, emission cuts have mostly been achieved by decarbonising electricity supply. But if we're going to tackle demand, and particularly in high-impact but challenging areas like food, transport, heating, and material consumption, we can't do this by technological change alone.

We can only do this by transforming the way we live our lives, challenging norms, and reconfiguring organisations and cities."

CAST will have a strong practical focus, and will experiment with approaches to bringing about social change at all levels of society, applying behaviour change techniques designed to break people's habits, for example, such as encouraging more active travel or more agile work arrangements.

Professor Olga Tregaskis, from UEA's Norwich Business School and Wellbeing Research Group, will examine organisational innovations to create new ways of ways of working and organisational cultures that deliver more sustainable workplace practices.

The researchers will work with local governments to develop and apply approaches designed to bring down emissions, and better engage the public in tackling climate change.

They will also work with politicians and policy-makers at a national level in the UK and internationally to co-produce research findings that lead to real change.

The funding secured will enable a long-term programme of research, bringing together global expertise from across the UK and internationally.