Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial

Electric cars deliver 'no proven carbon savings' in UK, scientists say In a new study, described as a 'sanity check' for Britain's Net Zero ambitions, researchers from Queen Mary University say that the push towards EVs is fundamentally misguided.

Do EVs really cut emissions in the UK? ⚡🚗

A new study from Queen Mary University claims EVs deliver no proven carbon savings while the grid remains fossil-fuel heavy

But Dr Iain Staffell calls the headline “misleading,” arguing EVs still cut emissions vs petrol/diesel, even on today’s grid.

US repeals key ‘endangerment finding’ that climate change is a public threat Overturning the 2009 decision will lead to billions of extra tonnes of greenhouse-gas emissions over the next three decades.

The US EPA’s reversal of the endangerment finding undermines decades of climate regulation, with billions of tonnes of extra emissions expected.

Scientists, inc. @wwattribution.bsky.social's @frediotto.bsky.social warn it defies basic physics, while the rest of the world moves toward clean energy.

Toxic! - Swept Under the Rug - BBC Sounds Sifting through the dust, Mark Miodownik discovers the toxins polluting our living spaces.

Dr Tilly Collins (polytilly.bsky.social) and Professor Leon Barron joined BBC Radio 4’s Toxic! to explore the hidden presence of parasiticides in our homes.

Flea-treating producer Mel’s cat reveals surprising risks for human health and the environment when these chemicals are used en masse. 🐾⚠️

Some of world’s oldest trees hit by climate-fuelled wildfires in Patagonia Wildfires that left 23 people dead were made about three times more likely by global heating, researchers say

🔥 Deadly wildfires in Chile & Argentina killed 23, destroyed homes and devastated ancient forests.

The @wwattribution.bsky.social team found climate change made the extreme hot, dry, windy conditions 3x more likely. #ClimateCrisis 🌍

Today is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

We’re celebrating some of the women in our community whose work spans climate, biodiversity, infrastructure and policy - shaping research and real-world impact. 👇

#WomenInScience #IDWGS #EveryVoiceInScience

Annual Graham Woodgate Lecture on Interdisciplinarity - 5 May 2026 At the Nexus: tackling biodiversity loss and climate change through the lens of equity and justice by Dr Caroline Howe

Join us on 5th May for our 'Annual Graham Woodgate Lecture on Interdisciplinarity'. The guest speaker is Dr Caroline Howe of @ic-cep.bsky.social and the focus is the task of addressing environmental change through the lens of justice and equity. Registration required.

www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...

Climate change worsened rains and floods which killed dozens in southern Africa, study shows Researchers say human-induced climate change worsened recent torrential rains and floods in southern Africa

Human-caused climate change intensified devastating floods across southern Africa, killing 100+ people and displacing over 300,000. 🌧️

@wwattribution.bsky.social researchers found a year’s worth of rain fell in just 10 days, a once-in-50-years event made far more severe by a warmer climate.

This week biodiversity experts, academics and policymakers have come to Manchester for one reason: biodiversity.

Specifically, they’ve come to #IPBES12 to set the global agenda for how businesses measure and integrate nature into their plans 🧵

Wholesale gas costs blamed for rises in household energy bills Energy prices have eased since the height of the energy crisis in 2022-23 but pressure is still on the Government to tackle high bills

📈 UK households have seen electricity bills rise £169 since 2021 – 2/3 of that due to volatile wholesale gas prices, says new @ukerc.bsky.social analysis.

More renewables & fixed-price contracts could cut reliance on gas and stabilise bills. #EnergyPolicy #UKEnergy⚡

The New Routledge Handbook of Political Ecology The New Routledge Handbook of Political Ecology offers a state-of-the-art exploration of contemporary political ecology, grounded in the field’s radical foundations and its longstanding connections to...

📘 New publication!

The New Routledge Handbook of Political Ecology, edited by Dr Jessica Hope, Dr Elia Apostolopoulou & Dr Ariadne Collins, brings 52 chapters from Global South & North scholars on decolonisation, activism & socio-ecological systems.

Q&A: What UK’s record auction for offshore wind means for bills and clean power by 2030 - Carbon Brief A record-breaking amount of new offshore wind capacity has been secured at the UK’s latest auction for renewable energy projects.

Record offshore wind win for the UK: 8.4 GW secured in the latest CfD auction, enough to power 12 m homes 🌬️⚡

Professor Robert Gross notes opposition claims on gas costs are “unrealistically low” - renewables remain cheaper than new gas plants. #CleanPower2030 #OffshoreWind

Afghan women in the UK: amplifying their voice – a photo essay Over four years have passed since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan. Claudia Janke’s photographic series features seven Afghan women who have found safety in the UK after escaping at great…

Our MSc graduate Aqlima Amiri is one of 7 Afghan women featured in Claudia Janke’s photo series.

Using the Taliban-era Instant Box Camera, they reclaim their voices and show that education & courage can’t be silenced.

#AfghanWomen #RefugeeVoices

Australia’s worst heatwave since black summer made five times more likely by global heating, analysis finds Extreme heat ‘is getting worse and whether we like it or not … there’s ultimately a limit to what we can actually physically cope with,’ scientist says

Human-caused climate change made Australia’s January heatwave 5x more likely, new @wwattribution.bsky.social analysis finds

Heatwaves already cause more deaths than any other natural hazard in Australia

Prof @frediotto.bsky.social warns extreme heat is “changing very fast with global warming” 🌡️🔥

‘Wavy’ jet stream dumps record snowfall on Russia Extreme weather paralyses region as Arctic blast sweeps across Asia

Russia’s Far East has seen its heaviest snowfall in 60 years, burying parts of Kamchatka under metres of snow.

The same Arctic cold surge hit China and Japan, bringing rare snowfall to Shanghai.

Dr Theodore Keeping says a weakened polar vortex and “wavy” jet stream are to blame. ❄️

Dr Caroline Howe appointed Fellow of the British Ecological Society Dr Caroline Howe, Vice President of the British Ecological Society (BES) and Associate Professor in Environmental Social Science at Imperial College...

Congratulations to Dr Caroline Howe, Associate Professor at CEP and Vice President of @britishecologicalsociety.org, on being appointed a Fellow of the Society (FBES).

A prestigious recognition of her international leadership in ecology, policy and transdisciplinary research. 🌿👏

YouTube video by Imperial College London On the Sofa with the Centre for Environmental Policy

Curious what it’s like to study at CEP? 🎓

PhD student Georgia Ray & Senior Teaching Fellow Maria Vinograd discuss hands-on projects, global fieldwork & expert-led teaching that prepare students for real-world environmental impact 👇

#Sustainability #EnvironmentalPolicy #ImperialCollege

10 African scholars to watch in 2026 Spanning governance, security, economics, science and artificial intelligence, The Africa Report profiles 10 academics shaping conversations in Africa and far beyond this year.

Congratulations to Dr Jessica Thorn, named one of 10 African Scholars to Watch by The Africa Report.

A Namibian environmental scientist and Assistant Professor at CEP, her work spans food security, climate adaptation, biodiversity and environmental justice, shaping policy across Africa and beyond.

Pinning extreme weather on climate change: Best ideas of the century It never used to be possible to attribute individual weather events to climate change and map their full consequences. Thanks to the work of two pioneering climate scientists, it is now

From “you can’t link this to climate change” to courtroom evidence.

How early work by Myles Allen and Peter Stott – and later @wwattribution.bsky.social, led by Friederike Otto @frediotto.bsky.social – created a new field that now shapes news coverage, policy and climate lawsuits. 👇

Climate Compatible Growth: A High Impact Presence for CEP at COP30 in Belem Professor Mark Howells and Dr Vivien Foster from the Centre for Environmental Policy co-led a significant delegation to COP30 as part of the FCDO-funded Climate Compatible Growth programme. Over two w...

🌍 CEP’s Climate Compatible Growth team made a high-impact mark at #COP30 in Belém: shaping energy, grids & transport discussions, earning recognition from the COP30 President & Ed Miliband.

Read more 👇

More or Less - The Stats of the Nation: Older people, education, prisons and the weather - BBC Sounds Tim Harford explores the stats on pensioners, exams, justice and climate change

🌦️ Is the weather really getting weirder? Professor @frediotto.bsky.social joins BBC More or Less to untangle the numbers behind extreme weather.

Listen from 22:30 🎧:

The full study is available to read here: iwaponline.com/jwrd/article...

YouTube video by NV atCEPImperial When water is valued, sustainability follows: reducing leakage and promoting water reuse

💧 The UN says mismanaging water starts with failing to value it properly.

Using London as a case study, new CEP research shows factoring in water’s natural capital could have steered investment away from costly desalination toward sustainable solutions like leakage reduction & reuse. 🌍

🎉 Congrats to Muh Agung Saputra (CEP 2019 Graduate), joint winner of Imperial's Alumni Entrepreneur Award 2026!

His startup Surplus Indonesia is tackling one of the world’s biggest food waste crises, cutting waste, pollution & hunger. 🌱👏 #FoodWaste #Sustainability #Impact

‘Freedom is a city where you can breathe’: four experts on Europe’s most liveable major cities From Copenhagen’s cycle lanes and Vienna’s shared parks to Barcelona and London’s unfulfilled potential, better living is close at hand

From Copenhagen to Vienna, Europe’s greenest cities show what’s possible when people, not cars, come first. 🚲🌳

Dr Audrey de Nazelle warns London’s parks save lives, but traffic still kills. Healthy cities are a choice, not a fantasy.

‘Not normal’: Climate crisis supercharged deadly monsoon floods in Asia Cyclones like those in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Malaysia that killed 1,750 are ‘alarming new reality’

The deadly floods that killed 1,750+ people across Asia were not normal. @wwattribution.bsky.social scientists found #climatechange supercharged monsoon rains, making downpours up to 160% more intense.

As Dr Mariam Zachariah says, cutting fossil fuel use is essential to reduce future extremes.

UK using more wood to make electricity than ever, Drax figures show Giant biomass plant reveals burning of wood pellets made 9% of UK’s electricity in July, its largest ever monthly share

Britain’s reliance on #biomass power is hitting record highs: wood-burning supplied 9% of UK electricity in July and peaked at 17% during in September

As Dr @iain-staffell.bsky.social warns, meeting rising power demand while cutting polluting fuels is a key test for the UK’s energy system 🌳⚡

New African Planet Prize celebrates first research winners Three early-career African scientists working at the frontiers of planetary-boundary research have been named the winners of the inaugural African Pla...

Huge congratulations to Dr Jessica Thorn, a winner of the inaugural African Planet Prize 🎉🌍

Her pioneering work on climate, land and ocean resilience, from mountain adaptation to blue-economy ecosystems and land-use change, is shaping transformative pathways for communities across Africa.

GCHU: Can community-led planning make cities more adaptive and healthier? The Global Centre on Healthcare and Urbanisation Public Seminar series brings together members of the public, researchers.

How can community-led planning help cities adapt to the climate emergency and improve public health?

Kellogg College hosts a free seminar on 21 Jan 2026 featuring Dr Audrey de Nazelle (CEP) alongside Adam Briggs, Lucy Bush & Rosalie Callway.

📍 Oxford | 🎟 Free via Eventbrite

The climate crisis is gendered: the path forward from COP30

In the aftermath of COP30, Chen Ly, a second year PhD student at the @ic-cep.bsky.social, examines what the new COP30 Gender Action Plan means for action on climate change.

ow.ly/cuQi50XCEXc

Our alumni say it best. 🌱

From shaping policy to leading sustainability innovation, their journeys show what’s possible with an MSc from the Centre for Environmental Policy.

Thinking about postgraduate study?

Applications are open 👉https://www.imperial.ac.uk/environmental-policy/study/