In category: Sustainability

Rory’s talk sets academic evidence alongside the experiences of communities living near data centres, asks how the UK planning system identifies AI’s socio-environmental impacts, and considers to what extent that system addresses public concerns. It draws on research conducted for an ACCESS Flex Fund project on Environmentally Just AI. A report accompanying the research will […]

  Why did we redesign the site? ACCESS is a large project with four workstreams, each comprising numerous projects and outputs. When our website was built at the start of the project, it was lean and compact. But as ACCESS grew in size and complexity, so did the site. Although the ACCESS website has always […]

Dr Gerald E. Arhin is a Research Fellow at University College London, where he investigates the political economy of climate-compatible development. His work is based within the Climate Compatible Growth project, funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. His current research spans Ghana, Kenya, Zambia and Nepal, examining the political and policy dynamics […]

Dr Aryo Feldman grew up on the island of Jersey, where agriculture was part of the landscape and daily life. Much of the island is farmland, and with a father who worked in agricultural economics and international development, farming and food systems were always in the background. Still, it wasn’t until later that these early […]

Growing up in Benin City, Nigeria, Dr Irekpitan Okukpon was struck by the mounds of waste in the gutters and the casual way people discarded rubbish. That experience set her on a path that has carried her from Nigeria to South Africa and now to the United Kingdom, where she teaches and researches environmental law […]

Led by Professor Sarah Hartley (ACCESS Leadership Team, University of Exeter), this short project will examine the environmental impacts of AI through a social-science lens, providing a holistic understanding of the problem and making policy recommendations to address these impacts in a way that is environmentally and socially just.   Click here to read more about […]

Travel represents a major component of the carbon impact of universities through travel associated with research, student recruitment, international student travel and field courses. Many universities have declared environment and climate emergencies and have values-statements that reference ecological care. Yet shifting practices, systems and policies is challenging, as flying has become so entwined with research […]

Steve: Stewart, can you tell us why people are so concerned about air travel?  Stewart:  From a climate perspective, the way we travel has a significant impact. For example, the well-known travel website seat61 estimates that travelling by train rather than flying can reduce the carbon impact of travel by 80-90%.   The figures can be […]

  The ACCESS Guiding Principles team (Stewart Barr, Kate Burningham, Sarah Golding, Steve Guilbert and Sarah Hartley) compiled and published our Guiding Principles in March 2023. We’ve recently developed our own ACCESS Travel Guidance document as an extension to these. In this blog, we outline the context for developing this guidance. Our Guiding Principles focus […]

The research was undertaken by a non-governmental organisation and developed a range of tools which led to widespread behaviour change in the UK public. Condensing boilers that burn gas contribute greatly to UK greenhouse gas emissions. A way to reduce emissions is to reduce the flow temperature and optimise boiler efficiency. Nesta, a UK innovation […]