Spotlight: Tackling the climate emergency

University of St Andrews 

• The University of St Andrews is developing a Green Hydrogen Accelerator which will provide dedicated space for world-leading research into the efficient production of hydrogen from water and its use in energy storage and chemicals production.  

• The facility will house a large-scale electrolyser for green hydrogen production and carbon capture units to enable the development of green hydrogen technologies that will play a key role in decarbonising the energy and chemical industries. 

• The £13 million facility is supported by a £2 million award from The Wolfson Foundation. 

University of Edinburgh 

• FastBlade, a facility at the University of Edinburgh, is the world’s first test facility that uses regenerative hydraulic technology to offer high-quality, low-cost fatigue testing of tidal blades and other composite structures for research and product development. 

• FastBlade’s pioneering technology will stress test blades made from composite materials – which must withstand harsh ocean conditions for 20 years – more quickly, and using significantly less energy than any other facility of its kind. 

• By providing developers with better data on how tidal turbine blades deteriorate over time, the research will help optimise the design of more durable, efficient structures. FastBlade will also offer client businesses and engineering students and apprentices the chance to develop their digital and data skills in its state-of-the-art research centre. 

Alliance for Research Challenges 

• The Scottish Research Alliance for Energy, Homes and Livelihoods (SRAEHL) is a cross-sector collaborative research alliance, led by University of St Andrews, supporting Scotland’s ambitious climate goals through an equitable and just transition. 

• SRAEHL is focussed on three themes of financial pathways, sustainable households and decarbonising heat and recognises that one of the most fundamental challenges in meeting climate targets is bringing people in Scotland, across its regions and living under highly diverse socioeconomic conditions and facing compounding inequalities, onboard as agents of change.  

• SRAEHL facilitates networking and collaboration across diverse stakeholders, ranging from local communities across the Scottish Isles to industry and business actors; Scottish Government; universities; social enterprises; and beyond with the aim of creating a platform for co-design that breaks down silos of knowledge and expertise to tackle challenges. 

• The Alliance also provides seed funding for collaborations in the three theme areas as well as providing support for ECRs through the Emerging Research Leaders programme.  

Abertay University 

• Research at Abertay University and the James Hutton Institute, in collaboration with Arbikie Distillery, has led to the development of two world first climate positive spirits.  

• The spirits avoid more carbon dioxide emissions than they create with a carbon saving of over 1.53 kg CO2e per bottle. The drink derives its environmental performance from utilising the humble garden pea. 

• This environmental performance — significantly better than traditional wheat gins — is mainly achieved by utilising unused components of the peas to create home-grown animal feed. It also takes advantage of the peas’ natural ability to source essential nitrogen for growth from the atmosphere, negating the need for environmentally-damaging synthetic fertilisers and improving soil fertility and function for the next crop in the rotation, thereby further reducing the need for synthetic fertilisers. 

SRUC 

• Regenerative agriculture is a form of agriculture designed to help address the critical issues around environmental sustainability on farms. As environmental concerns become more pronounced globally, finding new ways to reduce on farm emissions, address climate change, and tackle biodiversity losses is growing in importance. 

• SRUC have produced three practical guides for farmers which draw on the knowledge of those who farm the land to optimise natural processes that underpin agricultural production as well as improving ecosystem health and providing benefits that cascade throughout the wider countryside. 

• The guides, focusing on three farming systems: arable, extensive and productive, highlight precision farming and regenerative agriculture practices, which farmers may be able to successfully integrate within their business to improve farm resilience. 

University of Stirling

• The Scotland Hydro Nation Chair (HNC) programme is providing leadership and driving collaboration to deliver sustainable water management in Scotland, with a mission of addressing Climate Change mitigation and adaptation. 

• Three over-arching key missions lead the focus of the Hydro Nation Chair Research programme:  

• • embracing the circular economy, including Identifying and deploying alternative technologies for nutrients recovery;  

• • eliminating emissions from infrastructure, such as developing and enhancing adoption of construction materials made from recycled waste; and  

• • enhancing the natural environment, including restoring key habitats, including peatlands, woodlands and hedgerows promoting carbon sequestration and biodiversity 

• Since launching in 2022, the HNC programme has brought in state-of-the-art technologies to establish the carbon emission baseline and supported 25 early stage research projects that deliver next-generation solutions, including the development of bio-electrical filtration technology, resource recovery and circular economy technologies, and water efficiency solutions. 

University of Aberdeen 

• Researchers at University of Aberdeen  in agri-food practice, have developed the innovative Cool Farm Tool (CFT), an award-winning free app used by growers and agri-food businesses worldwide to easily calculate the environmental impact of their practices. 

• The app allows growers to calculate their carbon footprint and environmental impact (GHG emissions, soil quality, biodiversity, water use), based on robust scientific data and methods. The tool enables decision making at farm and field-level using “plug-in” parameters to test “what if” scenarios relevant to farm and practices, including coffee, cocoa, and fruit.  

• Now the tool, run by the not-for-profit organisation Cool Farm Alliance, has helped tens of thousands of farmers in more than 150 countries around the world assess their carbon output and take steps to reduce it. 

Robert Gordon University 

• Robert Gordon University researchers are developing geothermal cooling systems as cost-effective solutions to reduce heat stress for vulnerable populations living in informal housing in Kenya. The interdisciplinary project involving architects, social scientists, health scientists, computer scientists and engineers seeks to find solutions to heat stress, a major and growing public health concern stemming from climate change and increasing temperatures 

• Geothermal cooling, combined with a solar powered fan, provides a cost-effective sustainable option using the lower ground temperature in hotter seasons, even without access to power supplies 

Universities of Strathclyde and Dundee 

• Design Hopes, led by Universities of Strathclyde and Dundee this collaborative AHRC funded project utilises design-led research to identify barriers and opportunities for change within the healthcare system to reduce its national carbon output. This includes creating new products and services, prototyping and testing tools, and behaviours and systems needed to meet, and move beyond, urgent Net Zero goals. 

• A range of projects have been supported including: 

• • design of a Green Ward Toolkit which will equip NHS staff with essential knowledge, tools and resources for implementing new sustainable practices. 

• • A service design project, Flow, has been created to improve patients’ journeys through healthcare practices, reducing hospital visits and the duration of hospital stays, and lowering travel needs. 

• •  In collaboration with NHS Scotland theatre staff, researchers have developed a range of fully sustainable and biodegradable reusable textile products, including innovative theatre caps and scrubs. 

University of Aberdeen 

• JUST systems, Led by University of Aberdeen this multi-million pound project puts people and communities at the centre of the move to Net Zero and aims to develop practical pathways and actions that build on community aspirations for sustainable, liveable and resilient places. 

• Using a systems approach and looking at the need for a just transition as a whole, the project aims to identify opportunities to accelerate decarbonisation while addressing societal challenges on fuel poverty, sustainable local economies, wellbeing and social justice. 

• The inter-disciplinary collaborative project will work across social sciences, engineering, law, geosciences and the humanities to find systems solutions that address complex carbon and societal challenges. 

University of Edinburgh 

• University of Edinburgh researchers have played a pivotal role in informing global climate change mitigation policy for over two decades. Among the first to demonstrate the link between human-caused greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, their research formed the scientific foundation of the 2015 Paris Agreement.  

• Six years after the Paris Agreement, Edinburgh research contributed to the 6th IPCC report. Described by its authors as a “code red for humanity”, the report said a 1.5°C rise in temperatures and, along with it, more flooding, droughts and wildfires, is now inevitable by 2040. 

• The impact of the research has been a galvanising effect on policymakers, leading countries such as the UK to accelerate their commitments to achieving net-zero CO2 emissions by transitioning to a post-carbon economy. 

• The contribution of Edinburgh researchers continues with an appointment to the Bureau of expert scoping for the 7th IPPC Assessment report due in 2029. (Seventh Assessment Report — IPCC).