The Centre for Sustainability, Responsibility, Governance and Ethics (SURGE)

‘A Beginners Guide to Impact Case Studies'

Gill Mooney, Research Impact Manager, Huddersfield Business School.

The session will also share practical tips and shared experiences from experienced Impact Case Study scholars; Professor Adrian Wood, Dr John Lever and Dr Alex Nikitas. 

‘Journeying towards Net-Zero at the University of Huddersfield’

Patrick Flavin, Sustainability@Hud, University of Huddersfield.

View the recording for this talk here.

‘The Meat Industry and Post Brexit Trade’

Dr Awal Fuseini, Visiting HBS Research Fellow and Halal Sector Manager ADBH

For over 30 years, the UK meat industry exported the majority of its products to the EU market due to its proximity and the ability to offer ‘just-in-time’ service at competitive prices. Brexit related red tapes and trade frictions have led to increased cost of exporting products and also extended the time taken for products to arrive in Europe. Before EU exit, the UK exported 35% of the 300,000 tonnes of lamb and mutton produced in the UK, with France alone importing 27,000 tonnes. According to data from the British Meat Processors Association (BMPA), during the first six weeks of 2021, export volumes were down by 50% of pre-transition volumes with many UK exporters expected to permanently lose 20-50% share of their export trade. Additional costs in the form of veterinary inspection fees, clearing agent fees and others are expected to cost the UK meat industry an estimated £90-120 million annually.

Despite the challenges, the EU remains a key trading partner to the UK. The following questions will be addressed during the seminar: How does the UK meat industry view the EU market post-Brexit? Are meat UK meat exporters looking at alternative export markets?

'A right to repair for a post growth society: Controversies, opportunities and challenges'

Dr Javier Lloveras, University of Vigo, Spain

The world is currently on track to produce 74 million tonnes of e-waste by 2030 - an amount doubling over the prior 16 years. Most of this e-waste is exported from high to low-income countries, having a devastating impact on some of the world’s most vulnerable communities and their natural environments. In this context, there is mounting pressure on manufacturers to allow consumers the R2R their devices. At the policy/regulatory level, some steps have been taken in the United Kingdom, the United States, or the European Union (EU) to turn the R2R into an object of policy. However, whether these institutional responses will go far enough remains to be seen. In fact, there is a growing concern about the possibility that the R2R’s most radical demands would be diluted in the process of negotiating its implementation and acceptance, especially those elements that challenge the growth paradigm and the expansive logic of capitalism. Questions on the R2R are typically framed in terms of green growth and associated ideas such as the circular economy. In this seminar, however, I seek to engage with the R2R from a postgrowth perspective. In particular, I will present my ongoing research into the R2R which combines insights from degrowth/postgrowth and science and technology studies (STS).

'Energy transition, critical Materials and resource efficiency; some regulatory challenges'

Professor Robert Lee, Birmingham Law School

Energy transition, critical materials and resource efficiency: some regulatory challenges.

As countries around the World look to reduce carbon emissions, the adoption of low carbon technologies, such as wind turbines, solar panels and electric vehicles, increases demand for a range of materials, most of them metals, upon which these technologies depend. The transition to net zero is threatened by the vulnerability of the supply chains for these critical materials, few of which are produced or processed in the UK. Taking examples from the plans for electric mobility and the phasing out of internal combustion engine vehicles, the seminar explores some of the legal and policy challenges of moving to more circular approaches which could manage and retain valuable resource within the UK economy.

'Beyond waste: exploring business and consumer engagement with the circular economy in the coffee shop industry.’

Dr Jennifer Ferreira, Centre for Business in Society, Centre for Business in Society, Coventry University.

The coffee shop has become a prominent feature in the modern retail consumptions cape, with the coffee shop industry experiencing significant growth in many countries across the globe since the early 2000s. Such patterns of growth have been accompanied by greater resource consumption and waste production in this retail sector. The circular economy has been heralded as a potential route to reduce energy consumption and waste production, with various efforts to encourage both business and consumers to reduce, reuse and recycle.

This seminar will report on findings from an investigation of how coffee businesses and their consumers in the UK and Germany have engaged with the circular economy. Based on fieldwork from across London, Manchester, Berlin and Munich this research shows there are a range of activities related to coffee shop consumption where businesses and consumer can, and do, engage in circular economy practices from individual reusable coffee cups, national coffee cup reuse schemes, the recycling of coffee grounds, to consumers seeking zero waste retail opportunities. The research highlights there are financial, structural, attitudinal and technological barriers to greater engagement in the circular economy, but that coffee shops can be important enablers for greater engagement, creating awareness of circular economy opportunities in different ways.