The Climate Compatible Growth programme has received £57m of additional funding for its research into sustainable energy and transport systems in the Global South.
CCG’s extension will accelerate the roll-out of improved, climate-resilient infrastructure in developing countries. It will provide even more countries across sub-Saharan Africa and Asia with the UK expertise needed to support improved, climate-resilient infrastructure.
Climate Finance is a contentious issue on the global stage. While the need to do something about global heating is increasingly acknowledged the resources needed to act meaningfully are not forthcoming, especially the resources to enable low-and middle-income countries to develop in a net zero manner.
Recently, however, the UK government did take a step in the right direction. As part of the country’s ODA commitment to addressing climate change, an extension of the Climate Compatible Growth (CCG) research programme for a further five years was announced. Building on the commitment of £38m to fund the first phase of this consortium research programme from 2021 to 2025, the second phase has been awarded a further £57m to continue to 2030. According to the official government statement, "CCG’s extension will accelerate the roll-out of improved, climate-resilient infrastructure in developing countries. It will provide even more countries across sub-Saharan Africa and Asia with the UK expertise needed to support improved, climate-resilient infrastructure.”
Directed from Loughborough University and delivered by a consortium of eight universities and two NGOs, CCG supports investment in sustainable energy and transport systems to meet development priorities in the Global South. Through collaborative research and targeted training, CCG builds the capacities of academic researchers and government officials to develop evidence-based plans for sustainable, low-carbon economic development. Ultimately these national communities of practice will produce finance-able proposals for large scale green infrastructure so that their countries can develop without contributing to climate change.
Two of CCG’s key activities are lead from Cambridge. Professor Jonathan Cullen (Department of Engineering) leads the Resource Efficiency Collective research group that investigates the material requirements for deploying low carbon energy and transport technologies in developing countries, including analysis of critical mineral supply chains. The aim is to measure the embedded carbon in new ‘green’ infrastructure, and to account for other materials required in the planning process.
The programme’s partnerships with key actors in low-and middle-income countries are led by Dr Lara Allen from the Cambridge Centre for Inclusive Innovation in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology (CEB). Presently there are fully fledged Climate Compatible Growth networks in six partner countries: Kenya, Zambia, Ghana, Lao PDR, Vietnam and India. Two new partner countries (Nepal and Malawi) will be added over the next year. Led by Dr Elizabeth Tennyson, previously a post doc in Sam Stranks' Lab, the CCG networks are run in collaboration with the Centre for Global Equality (CGE) and a partner university in each country. This three-way collaboration between a civil society organisation (CGE) and universities in the UK and partner countries enables a dual focus on research and practical implementation so that real, on-the-ground impact is achieved.
“The Climate Compatible Growth programme has given us an excellent opportunity to develop our inclusive innovation approach to enabling research for sustainable development, and to trial this framework across different disciplines and geographies”, says Lara. “It is quite unusual for a research programme to put so much emphasis on impact, and to recognise from the start the extent to which equitable partnerships and genuine co-creation are key to whether or not the potential of research is realised in the real world. It is also very unusual for a programme to run for so long. After four years we are starting to see really encouraging positive results – changes at the individual, institutional and ecosystem levels that look to be long term and sustainable. With the extension of the programme to 2030, we can really test how well this approach works.”
Written by Lara Allen - Centre for Global Equality.
