Bath university to research 'whole systems' approach to reaching net zero
The University of Bath's Centre for People-Led Digitalisation (P-LD), along with partners, are to research how businesses and local authorities can take a so-called 'whole systems' approach to reaching net zero.
This looks at a problem or situation as a whole, rather than just individual parts, and the work comes after the centre has received a share of £10m in funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
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Working with partners from the Universities of Sheffield, Strathclyde and Loughborough, the P-LD team will take a people-led, practical, systems-based approach and carry out four test cases.
The four cases are firstly, with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority in Dounreay, Scotland and with Bath and North East Somerset council on two cases - the decarbonisation of office buildings and on Mobility as a Service (MaaS).
The fourth test case is with Bath university's cellular agriculture manufacturing hub (CARMA) project and concerns novel food production.
Professor Linda Newnes, who leads the centre for people-led digitalisation in Bath, said: "We are eager to begin this project and set to work alongside some great partner organisations, as test cases to explore how they can unlock the benefits of putting people at the heart of decisions being taken in the road toward net zero.
"Once the test cases are complete, we will share our learnings to help businesses, industries and organisations across the UK and beyond enact positive change."
Within each of these test cases, researchers will seek to create useable models, which decision-makers can embrace and want to adopt.
"The journey towards net zero carbon emissions is one of our most urgent and complex national challenges, so it’s important to understand the effects at a systems level of the many different component parts working together, for example, avoiding planting trees where the carbon store in the soil at depth is already stable," said Professor Louise Heathwaite, natural environment research council (NERC) executive chair and UKRI executive champion for Building a green future.
"Through these projects UKRI aims to drive outputs that support a just, prosperous, sustainable and resilient net zero transition, removing barriers to interventions whilst at the same time avoiding unintended consequences."
This is UKRI's latest investment through its 'Building a Green Future' strategy, which aims to unlock solutions essential to achieving net zero in the UK by 2050.
