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« Back to NewsNew study reveals insight into which animals are most vulnerable to extinction due to climate change
8 March 2024
A new study led by researchers at the University of Oxford has used the fossil record to better understand what factors make animals more vulnerable to extinction from climate change. The results, published today in the journal Science, could help to identify species most at risk today from human-driven climate change.
From The Conversation: Global warming may be behind an increase in the frequency and intensity of cold spells
4 March 2024
Climate Physics The Conversation
Beatriz Monge-Sanz from the Department of Physics discusses a less obvious consequence of global warming which is attracting growing attention from scientists.
Oxford researchers launch updated carbon offsetting principles
28 February 2024
An interdisciplinary team of Oxford University researchers have today released an update to flagship guidance on credible and net zero aligned carbon offsetting, which has been used by hundreds of organisations since its publication in 2020.
Urgent call for UK Government to develop a heat resilience strategy
31 January 2024
A new Parliamentary report spearheaded by Oxford University researchers has urged the UK Government to introduce a national heat resilience strategy to prepare the UK for the widespread impacts of a warming world.
COP28 Expert Comment from across Oxford University
14 December 2023
There has been considerable debate and discussion over the best path forward, but there was general agreement among Oxford researchers about the devastating impact of fossil fuels and the need to phase out their use, while supporting nature-based solutions, developing renewables and switching to clean energy.
Oxford scientist to lead international transdisciplinary consortium towards delivering NetZero Healthcare
12 December 2023
Biomedical engineering Climate Funding Medical science
The European Union Horizon Europe (with joint funding from UK Research Innovation) has awarded the NetZeroAICT Consortium major funding to develop a novel technology with great potentials to promote climate neutral and sustainable health care.
Oxford Engineering student wins 'Prototypes for Humanity' innovation award at COP28
12 December 2023
Award Climate Engineering Space
'Prototypes for Humanity' recognises innovators in science and engineering, working on solutions for social and environmental issues.
End-of-the-world scare stories have the opposite effect: celebrated conservationist EJ Milner-Gulland accentuates the positive
22 November 2023
Biology Climate Food security & biodiversity
Professor Milner-Gulland, who leads three programmes at the Oxford Martin School, has been a conservationist for more than 30 years. But, she maintains, end-of-the-world scare stories will make people fear it is too late, there is nothing they can do, and they will bury their heads in the sand.
Nature-based solutions are essential for Brazil to meet its 2050 net zero pledge
1 November 2023
Biology Climate Food security & biodiversity Research
The study by researchers in the Department of Biology also concluded that halting deforestation is the single most important mitigation measure Brazil can take towards net zero emissions by 2050 while preventing biodiversity loss.
New training centre will bridge the gap between environmental science and AI to address global environmental challenges
31 October 2023
AI and data science Climate Funding Physics Sustainability & the environment
Backed by over £15 million funding, the new UKRI AI Centre for Doctoral Training in AI for the Environment (The Intelligent Earth Centre) will combine the University’s strengths in artificial intelligence, machine learning, Big Data, and environmental sciences.
New research finds that warm summers and wet winters yield better wine vintages
12 October 2023
Wine quality is notorious for varying from year to year, but what makes for a “good year”? A new study has found that weather plays a critically important role in determining wine quality. By analysing 70 years’ worth of wine critic scores from the Bordeaux wine region in relation to that year’s weather, the researchers showed that higher quality wine is made in years with warmer temperatures, higher winter rainfall, and earlier, shorter growing seasons—conditions that climate change is predicted to make more frequent.
Ancient carbon in rocks releases as much CO2 as the world’s volcanoes
5 October 2023
Climate Earth sciences Research
A new study led by the Department of Earth Sciences has overturned the view that natural rock weathering acts as a CO2 sink, indicating instead that this can act as a large CO2 source, rivalling that of volcanoes. The results, published today in the journal Nature, have important implications for modelling climate change scenarios.
From The Conversation: How weather ‘blocks’ have triggered more extreme heatwaves and floods across Europe
15 September 2023
Climate Physics The Conversation
Professor Tim Woollings from the Department of Physics discusses the 'blocking events' that have resulted in Europe’s weather getting stuck in long periods of hot, wet or cool weather this summer.
From The Conversation: One of 2023’s most extreme heatwaves is happening in the middle of winter
8 August 2023
Climate Physics The Conversation
Matthew Patterson, Postdoctoral Research Assistant in in Atmospheric Physics, discusses the recent extreme heatwave in the Chilean Andes.
DPhil student selected for Atlantic Council's Women Leaders in Energy and Climate Fellowship
20 July 2023
Award Climate Energy Engineering Research Women in science
Maitha Al Shimmari, a research student in Oxford's Department of Engineering Science, joins the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center's fifth cohort of leading women under the age of 35 in the fields of energy and climate research.
UK in top 10 ‘dangerously unprepared’ for heat, if global 1.5ºC target is missed: Oxford report
14 July 2023
The UK, Switzerland and Norway top the list of countries heading for dramatic increases in uncomfortably hot days - if temperatures break the international 1.5ºC target, according to new research from Oxford. But, the researchers maintain, such countries are ‘dangerously unprepared’.
New Centre for Energy Materials Research officially launched
10 May 2023
A new state-of-the-art facility, the Centre for Energy Materials Research (CEMR), was officially launched yesterday by the University of Oxford’s Department of Materials. This will provide world-class capabilities to support the development of the next-generation materials urgently required to address the climate crisis.
From The Conversation: ‘Statistically impossible’ heat extremes are here – we identified the regions most at risk
26 April 2023
Climate Physics The Conversation
Nicholas Leach, Postdoctoral Research Assistant in the Predictability of Weather and Climate group, Department of Physics, writes about the Pacific Northwest heatwave of 2021 and what it says about the probability of extreme heatwave events.
From The Conversation: How extreme weather threatens to bring down UK’s power lines and halt supply to homes
21 April 2023
Climate Energy Physics The Conversation
Matthew Wright, DPhil student in Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics at the Department of Physics, writes about the need to ensure the UK’s energy system is prepared for and resilient to future weather extremes.
Joint appointment of Professor of Sustainable Energy Engineering and ZERO Institute Director
9 March 2023
Paul Shearing has been appointed as Professor of Sustainable Energy Engineering and will lead the new Zero-carbon Energy Research Oxford (ZERO) Institute.