Professor Ed Brown, Research Director of the Â鶹ֱ²¥-led programme and Deputy Director of the programme, joined a consortium of leading voices to discuss potential solutions to tackle the lack of clean, sustainable household energy for cooking around the globe.
The high-level side event formed part of the United Nations' , held ahead of the on 18 - 19 September. It brought together leading experts and influential policymakers to outline specific commitments and contributions to advancing progress towards the UN’s (SDGs).
Currently, over a third of the world's population still rely on traditional solid fuels - such as charcoal or wood - for cooking, which carries significant health risks and accounts for around 2% of the world’s total CO2 emissions.
Professor Brown contributed to discussions that explored the intricacies of implementing a 'global roadmap' to guide the transition to universal access to clean cooking - with the overall aim of achieving net-zero CO2 emissions from cooking by 2050.
Professor Brown’s involvement further highlights Â鶹ֱ²¥’s position as a global leader in research and commitment to affordable and clean energy. Earlier this year, the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings placed Â鶹ֱ²¥ University first in the UK and 15th globally for advancing Affordable and Clean Energy – the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7.
The MECS programme – which is led by the Sustainable Transitions: Energy, Environment and Resilience Centre (STEER) within the School of Social Sciences and Humanities at Â鶹ֱ²¥ - aims to accelerate access to clean, electric cooking on a global scale.
MECS have recently worked with industry partners to form the , which brings together experts and advocates from across the world to address the need to reduce carbon outputs generated by traditional cooking methods.
A recording of Professor Brown speaking at the event can be found on the .