Events

THIS IS AN IN PERSON AND ONLINE EVENT Summary: Andy Burnham has resurrected the idea of the public ownership of energy from the margins into Downing Street, promising “stronger public control” over energy in his forthcoming ten-year plan. But does control mean ownership? This seminar presents preliminary results from new research on how ownership shapes the cost of capital in Britain’s [...]

THIS IS AN IN-PERSON AND ONLINE EVENT Summary: Tim will describe the journey to fusion energy. The work at UKAEA’s Culham Campus near Oxford has been at the forefront of this field for decades, including operating the international JET fusion machine until 2023. Fusion is now in a transition from primarily laboratory research to commercial activity, with rapidly increasing private-sector activity. [...]

THIS IS AN IN PERSON AND ONLINE EVENT Summary: Critical minerals sit at the centre of the UK’s ambitions for net zero, national security, and technological innovation. In response to global supply risks, the UK has committed to meeting 10% of annual demand for these minerals through domestic production by 2035. To date, policy and industry discussions have focused on the [...]

Now the UK’s statutory climate advisor, Emma Pinchbeck’s career has taken her from campaigning at WWF-UK through the renewables industry and Energy UK to the heart of government advice, and she has often found herself criticised by environmental campaigners and sceptical newspapers alike. Emma will reflect on that journey, the biggest obstacles still standing between the UK and net zero, and [...]

Summary: This seminar, based on outputs from a recent research sprint on Environment and National Security, will look at how energy security fits into the big picture of environmental security. It will explore how energy, food, water, climate and nature resilience are interlinked, and how environmental degradation leads to cascading risks for national security. Finally, it will look at how [...]

Electrification is not simply about replacing fossil fuels with clean electricity. Electric technologies can deliver the same services using far less energy, creating a powerful but often overlooked benefit: electroefficiency. In this talk, Professor Jan Rosenow will explore how electroefficiency could reshape energy demand and accelerate decarbonisation, and introduce the new Oxford Martin Electrification Accelerator.  

Summary: The global shift to clean energy is increasing demand for the critical materials needed for renewable technologies and electric vehicles. For mineral-rich countries such as Zambia, this creates opportunities for investment, economic growth and participation in emerging clean-energy supply chains. However, it also raises important social and environmental challenges. Drawing on research from the FCDO-funded Climate Compatible Growth (CCG) [...]

Summary: At its core, energy is leverage. It allows us to do more with less, and our ability to harness it has transformed society immeasurably since the Industrial Revolution. Now, as we become increasingly able to exchange energy for cognitive output, we have unlocked a new scaling vector for this leverage, one that could reshape global power structures over the [...]