DecarboN8 at COP26

DecarboN8 joined the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow. Below is a list of events we spoke at with video links (where available) followed by our reflections on the COP and how we hope it will shape transport policy moving forward.

Reflections on COP26


Events and Recordings

EXHIBITION: the Place-Based Carbon Calculator

DecarboN8 / CREDS / COP26 Universities Network

Visit Malcolm Morgan at the exhibition for a live demonstration of the Place-Based Carbon Calculator (PBCC). The PBCC is an interactive map which provides evidence-based estimates the average carbon footprint per person for neighbourhoods in England. 

Time: Wednesday 3rd November 2021, Time TBC

Venue: Green Zone, 1st Floor, Glasgow Science Centre, G51 1EA

Try the Place-Based Carbon Calculator

WORKSHOP: Exposing False Solutions: how dangerous distractions are undermining real zero in a hurry

The Peoples Summit for Climate Justice

Our climate commitments demand deep emissions cuts in the 2020s, but many widely discussed so-called climate solutions are actually dangerous distractions from what we actually need to do to deliver rapid progress.

Join DecarboN8’s Greg Marsden and Kevin Anderson plus leading experts from Friends of the Earth for this interactive workshop, which will help you understand some of the most dangerous distractions from delivering ‘real zero’ in a hurry, covering offsetting, alternative fuels, carbon capture & storage, and transport decarbonisation.

Time: Sunday 7th November 2021, 16:15-17:45

Venue: Renfield Training & Conference Centre, 260 Bath Street, G2 4JP

PANEL: Real Zero in a Hurry: key messages on transport decarbonisation

DecarboN8 / COP26 Universities Network

The DecarboN8 Research Network has spent the last two years bringing experts from all sectors together to find out: how can we shift from three decades of drift on climate policy in the transport sector to rapid, deep and early reductions in emissions in line with the carbon budgets implied by the Paris Agreement?

Joan Aitken will ask Professor Greg Marsden (University of Leeds) and Professor Kevin Anderson (University of Manchester) to distil the key messages and lessons learned from DecarboN8. Then Alison Irvine (Transport Scotland) and and Ben Still (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) will provide their perspectives on the challenge of making transport decarbonisation happen. 

Time: Monday 8th November 2021, 14:00-15:15

Venue: The Ramshorn, 98 Ingram Street, Glasgow, G1 1EX

WATCH THE RECORDING HERE

PANEL: Tools for Community Action

DecarboN8 / COP26 Universities Network

UK universities have produced a new generation of user-friendly online tools presenting easily-understandable, neighbourhood-level data about where our carbon footprints come from, and what can be done to reduce them. What are the opportunities to use them to engage communities in the challenge of decarbonising their places?

At this event Malcolm Morgan (University of Leeds) will introduce the Place-Based Carbon Calculator (England), and Ruth Wolstenholme the new ‘Climate Lens’ version of the Place Standard tool (Scotland). Daisy Narayanan (Edinburgh Council) will talk to Andy Boyle (Leeds Climate Commission) and other Place-based Climate Action Network community organisers from Scotland about the possibilities these tools offer.

Time: Wednesday 10th November 2021, 11:00-12:15

Venue: The Ramshorn, 98 Ingram Street, Glasgow, G1 1EX

WATCH THE RECORDING HERE

PANEL: People make transport: communities enabling greener travel

Sustainable Transport Alliance

The UK’s leading sustainable transport NGOs will champion the importance of communities in creating a cleaner, greener transport future at COP26, as attention increasingly turns to transport as the biggest source of greenhouse emissions in the UK and the fastest rising globally. 

The Sustainable Transport Alliance will showcase examples and insights, including from Professor Greg Marsden, on how local initiatives can engage and empower people to achieve climate-safe, healthy and inclusive transport systems and behaviours.

Time: Wednesday 10th November 2021, 17:00-18:10

Venue: Tower Base South (Green Zone), Glasgow Science Centre

WATCH THE RECORDING HERE