Decarbonising both heating and cooling across residential, business and industry sectors is fundamental to delivering the recently announced net-zero greenhouse gas emissions targets. Such a monumental change to this sector can only be delivered through the collective advancement of science, engineering and technology combined with prudent planning, demand management and effective policy. The aim of the proposed H+C Zero Network will be to facilitate this through funded workshops, conferences and secondments which in combination will enable researchers, technology developers, managers, policymakers and funders to come together to share their progress, new knowledge and experiences. It will also directly impact on this through a series of research funding calls which will offer seed funding to address key technical, economic, social, environmental and policy challenges. The proposed Network will focus on the following five themes which are essential for decarbonising heating and cooling effectively: Theme 1 Primary engineering technologies and systems for decarbonisation Theme 2 Underpinning technologies, materials, control, retrofit and infrastructure Theme 3 Future energy systems and economics Theme 4 Social impact and end users' perspectives Theme 5 Policy Support and leadership for the transition to net-zero

This work has two principal aims: a) to develop a roadmap that will help the Research Councils and others to plan their research activities in ways that will contribute to the achievement of the UK's energy policy goals; and b) to conduct a programme of research that will assess how effectively different countries conduct their energy research and development (R&D) activities in different technology areas with a view to learning lessons for the more successful execution of policy. The roadmap will consist of a top-level document which will act as a bridge between higher level energy strategies and more specific R&D plans for individual technologies. The aim is to improve the coherence of energy policy on the one hand and energy research activities on the other. The top-level document will be supplemented by web-based roadmaps for individual technology areas such as carbon capture and storage or different forms of renewable energy. Demand-side technologies, for example for transport and buildings, will also be covered. Given the interplay between technology and human behaviour, especially on the demand side, social scientists as well as scientists and engineers will be involved. The roadmaps will address both technological needs and needs for training and capacity-building. The roadmaps will be produced through interviews with policymakers and R&D funders and through a mixture of facilitated technical workshops and strategic workshops engaging a wider range of stakeholders. The first task in the research programme is to map out "systems of innovation" for different energy technologies in different countries. We intend to cover a small number of EU countries, the US and China. The mapping will cover institutions and their roles, networks and research capacity. The task will be carried out through documentary analysis and interviews in the relevant countries. We will also look at systems of innovation internationally, for example through education and training, and the activities of multinational companies. The second task will be to develop and analyse measures for the effectiveness of R&D activities in different systems of innovation. Many countries intend to achieve fundamental transitions in their energy systems, for example by moving to low-carbon technologies. We will draw on a new branch of innovation theory, "transitions theory", to develop measures of effectiveness. Finally, we will review hypotheses and findings from the analysis of the effectiveness of R&D activities with experts and draw conclusions about how the success of energy R&D programmes and their contributions to energy policy can be improved.

Project SINATRA responds to the NERC call for research on flooding from intense rainfall (FFIR) with a programme of focused research designed to advance general scientific understanding of the processes determining the probability, incidence, and impacts of FFIR. Such extreme rainfall events may only last for a few hours at most, but can generate terrifying and destructive floods. Their impact can be affected by a wide range factors (or processes) such as the location and intensity of the rainfall, the shape and steepness of the catchment it falls on, how much sediment is moved by the water and the vulnerability of the communities in the flood's path. Furthermore, FFIR are by their nature rapid, making it very difficult for researchers to 'capture' measurements during events. The complexity, speed and lack of field measurements on FFIR make it difficult to create computer models to predict flooding and often we are uncertain as to their accuracy. To address these issues, NERC launched the FFIR research programme. It aims to reduce the risks from surface water and flash floods by improving our identification and prediction of the meteorological (weather), hydrological (flooding) and hydro-morphological (sediment and debris moved by floods) processes that lead to FFIR. A major requirement of the programme is identifying how particular catchments may be vulnerable to FFIR, due to factors such as catchment area, shape, geology and soil type as well as land-use. Additionally, the catchments most susceptible to FFIR are often small and ungauged. Project SINATRA will address these issues in three stages: Firstly increasing our understanding of what factors cause FFIR and gathering new, high resolution measurements of FFIR; Secondly using this new understanding and data to improve models of FFIR so we can predict where they may happen - nationwide and; Third to use these new findings and predictions to provide the Environment Agency and over professionals with information and software they can use to manage FFIR, reducing their damage and impact to communities. In more detail, we will: 1. Enhance scientific understanding of the processes controlling FFIR, by- (a) assembling an archive of past FFIR events in Britain and their impacts, as a prerequisite for improving our ability to predict future occurrences of FFIR. (b) making real time observations of flooding during flood events as well as post-event surveys and historical event reconstruction, using fieldwork and crowd-sourcing methods. (c) characterising the physical drivers for UK summer flooding events by identifying the large-scale atmospheric conditions associated with FFIR events, and linking them to catchment type. 2. Develop improved computer modelling capability to predict FFIR processes, by- (a) employing an integrated catchment/urban scale modelling approach to FFIR at high spatial and temporal scales, modelling rapid catchment response to flash floods and their impacts in urban areas. (b) scaling up to larger catchments by improving the representation of fast riverine and surface water flooding and hydromorphic change (including debris flow) in regional scale models of FFIR. (c) improving the representation of FFIR in the JULES land surface model by integrating river routing and fast runoff processes, and performing assimilation of soil moisture and river discharge into the model run. 3. Translate these improvements in science into practical tools to inform the public more effectively, by- (a) developing tools to enable prediction of future FFIR impacts to support the Flood Forecasting Centre in issuing new 'impacts-based' warnings about their occurrence. (b) developing a FFIR analysis tool to assess risks associated with rare events in complex situations involving incomplete knowledge, analogous to those developed for safety assessment in radioactive waste management. In so doing SINATRA will achieve NERC's science goals for the FFIR programme.

The aim of the project is to identify institutional and organisational arrangements at the regional level that tend to lead to the 'good' management of policy trade-offs associated with increasing productivity, and to make recommendations based on this. These trade-offs are between productivity growth, inclusivity and sustainability. They arise because authorities have limited resources and have to prioritise: policies to maximise productivity may not maximise inclusivity or sustainability, policies to maximise inclusivity may not maximise sustainability and so on. Trade-off management is 'good' when it reduces the need for compromise between the three objectives, or to the extent that compromise is necessary, when it helps regional policy makers achieve their priorities. Recommendations will cover: 1. Changes to the way national and regional policy makers operate within the current system of institutions and organisations 2. Modest changes to that system that policy makers responsible for the design of the system are likely to accept, and 3. More radical changes to that system that could be adopted in the future. If policy makers act on these recommendations this will lead to strengthened institutions and thus to improved regional and local productivities. Ultimately this should lead to an improvement in the UK's productivity record. To achieve this the project will answer the following research questions: 1. What kinds of relevant institutional and organisational arrangements exist across the UK regions? How do the regional economies compare? 2. What kinds of trade-offs do these organisations consider important and how do they manage them? 3. What trade-offs between productivity growth, inclusivity and sustainability are actually achieved? 4. Which regional institutional and organisational arrangements, now or in the past, have tended to produce 'good' management of these trade-offs? Are there better practices in mainland Europe? To answer these involves a five stage process: Stage 1 (scoping): we will capture the state of the art on what explains differentials in productivity, interview and hold two workshops for key stakeholders to refine the research agenda, engage with a wider stakeholder group, and develop a typology of UK regions based on their economies, their institutional and organisational arrangements, and the outcomes over time. We will use this to identify eight regions for in depth comparison. Stage 2 (secondary data analysis): we will profile all UK regions using measures of productivity, jobs and other economic, social, and environmental targets and examine influences on productivity growth. We will also analyse local industrial and economic strategies, including performance targets. Stages 3 and 4 involve the collection and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative analysis - of all UK regions - will focus on the impact of governance structures, mechanisms and practices on variables associated with the three outcomes, using approaches that allow for so called "treatment" effects, and to distinguish correlation from causation. The qualitative analysis - of the 8 regions - will include formal analysis of strategic statements, networks, and the functions carried out within these networks, as well as interviews. We will identify what trade-offs are actually achieved and use formal analysis to tease out how institutional arrangements have affected these and the strategic choices - and what might make a difference in the future. We will supplement this with insights from an analysis of overseas regions and historical cases. Stage 5 involves drawing together the findings of the previous stages, discussing this with key stakeholders, developing a set of recommendations with them, and communicating with a wider stakeholder group.

Atmospheric concentrations of methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) have increased significantly over the past century due to anthropogenic activity, with the UK offshore oil and gas sector is estimated to produce around 13.2 million tonnes of CO2 and 1.2 million tonnes CO2 equivalent of CH4. Offshore atmospheric emissions reporting are partly industry-led, from the initial permit through to the self-regulatory reporting using EEMS (Environment and Emissions Monitoring System). BEIS (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy), regards EEMS as a key element in its environmental regulatory function and data within is used for government reporting requirements and policy development and application. Emissions are self-regulated and there is no independent check on how the emissions reported in EEMS relate to the actual emissions. This proposal offers a new methodology whereby the EEMS and initial permitting can be validated using observations from research aircraft. Currently offshore "atmospherics" permitting and reporting includes the emissions of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, nitrous oxide, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane and non-methane volatile organic compounds. Energy generation emissions are calculated from measured fuel use using emission factors based on total fuel combustion and / or stack sampling data. Flaring emissions are calculated based on total measured fuel combustion using emission factors. Venting emissions are based on total measured or estimated release volumes. Fugitive emissions are based on estimates relating to any recorded accidental release, and calculated losses based on the number of components and connections (thought to be the primary source of leaks) within an installation and its age. However, the methodology uses an age-related scale factor which becomes applicable when if the installation was built pre-1988. All of these approaches necessarily assume that there is a common set of standard factors, or installations can use their own factor from stack monitoring, that are universally applicable to all offshore oil and gas operating companies and their installations. Direct measurement or monitoring of emissions offshore is limited because of significant logistical, health and safety and cost issues. It is therefore restricted to major combustion sources such as gas turbines. For most sources, emissions are calculated, based on activity data, for example using fuel consumption data or measured flare volumes allied with standard or installation specific emission factors, using measured or estimated venting volumes, or using industry standard estimates for fugitive losses. These methodologies carry a substantial risk that significant emissions may be missed, and any additional monitoring tool is of considerable interest to the industry, the regulator and the body responsible for compiling UK atmospheric emissions data. Techniques developed by NCAS for monitoring gas plumes during the Elgin gas release, have demonstrated that airborne monitoring, coupled with innovative atmospheric modelling, can comprehensively survey large areas and many individual installations within hours (800 nautical miles covered in 4 hours at one altitude). This approach to emissions assessment estimates the total emission loads calculated from the elevation of various gases in the downwind plume. This approach has the potential to provide the regulator, BEIS, with new tools to validate emission levels, and has the potential to provide a monitoring method that is lower cost to the industry then regular stack monitoring surveys and more relevant to impact assessment. The project will work together with BEIS and RICARDO to demonstrate how an airborne methodology can aid existing regulatory approaches, provide data that supports improved emissions estimates and give BEIS the confidence that that operators are reporting sensible and achievable estimates in their permits and EEMS reporting.