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Sustainability and Climate Change

Woman holding a climate change placard in a crowd

Working for a cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable world

Our climate is rapidly changing, and the impact is felt around the world. To understand how we can protect our planet for future generations to come, Essex researchers are at the forefront of studying sustainability, and the climate and biodiversity crisis.

The interdisciplinary nature of climate change and sustainability has led to strong collaboration between our academics. Departments in the Faculty of Science and Health have worked with those in the Faculty of Social Sciences to develop solutions to improve the efficiency of businesses to reduce waste.

The Faculty of Social Sciences has also worked with the Faculty of Arts and Humanities to examine the law and the rights of people in communities affected by climate change, including marginalised communities and the global south, and Arts and Humanities colleagues work with those in Science and Health to look at the links between nature and mental and physical health and wellbeing.

Our collaborative approaches are leading to impactful projects that help the fight against climate change. And this goes together with our own institutional commitment to improving sustainability across our three campuses.

Selected projects

Nature

Improving Photosynthesis: RuBP Regeneration Using 3D Modelling for Marine Surveying of Chalk Reefs Using gene technology to improve crop morphology for protected environments An Internet of Things approach to smart agriculture

Business

Disinfection of healthcare equipment using IoT and ultraviolet light Impact of Electric Aircraft on Airport Operations and Infrastructure Transforming the garment sector (THRREADS) Demand forecasting and dynamic pricing for e-grocery fulfilment

Communities

Liverpool Multi-vector Energy Exchange (LMEX) ARISE: Advancing Resilience and Innovation for a Sustainable Environment Heavy traffic flow: Social, economic and environmental impact analysis for Gaborone in Botswana

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Our impact

Sustainability at Essex

At Essex we’re leading by example. On 9 December 2020, the University joined many organisations across the world in declaring a climate and ecological emergency. Our advisory group, made up of colleagues from across the University seeks to respond to this declaration and relies upon our research community to lead the way in new thinking and understanding.

We are carrying out improvements across all three campuses, with recent work including:

Improving roof insulation in our older buildings.
Installing solar panels on buildings including student accommodation.
Upgrading to energy-efficient LED lighting.
Creating a re-use scheme for our office furniture, so items such as desks, chairs and filing cabinets can have a second life.
Empowering staff and students to make sustainable choices. This includes providing vegetarian and vegan catering in outlets, providing water refill stations for those with reusable bottles, and providing recycling and food waste bins.