Category : Industry News

The University of Oxford has launched the Oxford Net Zero initiative to address the critical issue of how to reach global ‘net zero’ by achieving equitable, science-based solutions.

The initiative will draw on the university’s expertise in climate science and policy, as well as leading academics from across the university’s disciplines, including Geography, Physics, Economics, Biology, Law and Earth Sciences.

The team will be led by research director Professor Sam Fankhauser, who is joining Oxford from his current position as director of the LSE’s Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and director Professor Myles Allen, physicist and head of the Climate Research Program in Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute.

Oxford Net Zero is a growing network and collaboration of leading researchers from across the university to provide advice and expertise in the global ‘race’ to net zero. The group convenes and undertakes research to support policy interventions, and this month has been boosted by a £2.2 million ($3 million) investment from the University’s new Strategic Research Fund (SRF).

Novartis announced last week that it signed five virtual power purchase agreements (VPPAs), which are expected to collectively add more than 275 megawatts of clean power to the electrical grid. This move makes Novartis the first pharmaceutical company set to achieve 100% renewable electricity in its European operations through VPPAs.

“At Novartis, environmental sustainability is aligned with our purpose to reimagine medicine to improve and extend people’s lives,” said Montse Montaner, Chief Sustainability Officer at Novartis.

“Energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions are the cornerstones of our strategy for reducing emissions. These agreements mark a major milestone on the Novartis environmental sustainability journey to be carbon neutral across its operations by 2025 and across its value chain by 2030.”

The International Renewable Energy Agency and the Global Wind Energy Council have teamed up to accelerate the adoption and deployment of windpower and other renewables worldwide to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

This agreement was signed by IRENA Director-General Francesco La Camera and GWEC chief executive Ben Backwell.

“Wind energy as a scalable, clean and affordable technology will be critical to supporting countries, companies and other parties on the road to net zero and a green recovery,” said Backwell. La Camera added that “wind energy “is a cornerstone of the global energy transformation”.

IRENA’s Global Renewable Outlook report shows that a Paris Agreement compliant future by 2050 requires transformative changes to policy, behaviour and international cooperation. 

Renewable technologies such as onshore and offshore wind, as well as energy efficiency measures, can deliver more than 90% of the emission reductions needed while providing net employment and economic gains in the process.