The UK government has announced a £60 million fund, split over four research programmes, designed to help the country tackle climate change.
The four research projects, which fall within the UK government’s industrial strategy, are to examine issues including climate resilience, clean air, environmental data and landscape decisions. All four are to be led by the National Environment Research Council alongside other government and public bodies. Researchers will be able to pitch for funding in the coming weeks.
The largest pot of funding will go to a programme aimed at developing solutions to air pollution, with a total of £19.6m allocated. The programme will predict future air quality challenges, identify the most vulnerable groups in society, improve new technologies and policies for reducing air pollution, and create a system for providing robust consistent advice to decision makers.
The government has committed £18.7m to a project looking at the UK’s climate resilience, and how it can adapt to climate change.
A further £10.5m will go towards researching how land is used. The government said environment, biology, health, social, and arts and humanities specialists will all be involved in the research, which is aimed at better-informing the country’s use of land and improving health, well-being and the economy.
Finally £10.4m has been allocated to construct a digital picture of the natural environment by collecting environmental data from sensor networks across the UK, with the intention of enabling better decision-making.
Energy and innovation expert Peter Feehan of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said the announcement was integrated into core government policy.
“Climate change is a central philosophy of the government’s industrial strategy, as too is the objective of the UK becoming a global leader in all aspects of 'greentech' and the low carbon environment,” Feehan said.
“It follows on from other recent announcements, particularly the government’s ambition to see higher uptake of electric vehicles and a smarter, low carbon urban environment. It will be interesting to see and follow what innovation is brought forward and supported through the fund,” Feehan said.
The announcement comes in the wake of a United Nations report which called for significant action to limit temperature rises.
The UK government has made a series of pledges to encourage green innovation. In July it unveiled a ‘road to zero’ strategy which set out plans to provide infrastructure to support the widespread use of electric vehicles.
The industrial strategy was announced in January 2017. It includes significant research and development funding across a number of sectors to encourage innovation and the increased use of technology.
In July last year, the government also set out a plan to modernise the regulatory environment for electricity storage and boost research and development into battery technology.
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