Mum, Will the Planet Die Before I Do? | Climate parenting podcast series with CUSP
In an exciting new partnership with Corner Shop Media Productions, Parents for Future UK and Zero Carbon Guildford, CUSP is co-sponsoring a new weekly podcast series hosted by seasoned journalists Babita Sharma and Katy Glassborow. Mum, Will the Planet Die Before I Do? explores our role as parents and carers in tackling the climate crisis.
Why UK’s ‘treasured free-market economy’ will not achieve net zero
Whatever the UK government says it’s doing—and not doing—one thing is clear, Tim Jackson writes, the “treasured free-market economy” is never going to compensate for our failure to insulate people’s homes against the cold, and the future against the ravages of climate change.
Biodiversity in a post-growth environment | Evidence submission to the EAC Possible Future Inquiry
In early Spring this year, written submissions were invited to aid the Committee in prioritising its future programme of work. CUSP director Tim Jackson submitted evidence, making the case for necessary innovations in governance and a realistic and responsible approach to the management of the economy: Sustainable Development Goals and the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity cannot be achieved without transformative change, the conditions for which have to be put in place now.
Video | Divestment: Economic, Historical, and Moral Perspectives
On 12 February this year, a number of student groups within Cambridge University's Christ's College hosted a panel with alumni of Christ's to share their expertise on various aspects of the divestment issue, addressing i.a. economic, historical, and moral perspectives for divestment. Chaired by Alyssa Gilbert, panellists include Tim Jackson, Fiona Harvey and Rowan Williams.
Energy and Productivity—A Review of the Literature | Paper
The UK is experiencing a period of low productivity growth. Although exacerbated by the financial crisis of 2008, the underlying trend is longer and more persistent. This report aims to expand conventional understandings of productivity by exploring the literatures which relate productivity to the availability, production and use of energy in the economy.
Unravelling the claims for (and against) green growth | Science Article by Tim Jackson and Peter Victor
It is clear that the larger the economy becomes, the more difficult it is to decouple that growth from its material impacts... This isn't to suggest that decoupling itself is either unnecessary or impossible. On the contrary, decoupling well-being from material throughput is vital if societies are to deliver a more sustainable prosperity—for people and for the planet. (This article is posted on the Science website).
Engagement in a new climate | Editorial for the Environmental Scientist
Environmental engagement is on television screens, in the streets and at your local book group; everyone's doing it. Whether you're engrossed in the latest nature documentary or watching the news in the evening, environmental communicators are everywhere and everyone.—This edition of Environmental Scientist focuses on the new radicalism in environmental engagement; with an Editorial by Tim Jackson.
2050 is too late—we must drastically cut emissions much sooner
At current rates of reduction, the UK fair carbon budget will be spent in just four years' time, Tim Jackson writes in his blog for The Conversation. "Every year that progress is delayed, the challenge only gets bigger", he argues, we don't only need a credible strategy on zero carbon targets, but also emission pathways, with a defined level of negative emission technologies.
“All Models are Wrong”—The challenge of modelling ‘deep decarbonisation | Paper
This briefing paper summarises the dilemma associated with using mainstream, macroeconomic models to guide disruptive, transformative change such as those that might occur under ‘deep decarbonisation’: a rapid transition to a net-zero carbon economy. Some form of macro-economic modelling framework is essential to enable policy-makers to exercise short- and long-term fiscal responsibility. Incremental models based on historical behaviour, however, are a poor guide to outcomes under circumstances of disruptive change.