Uni gets millions to find ways to reach net zero

A university has received £5.7 million in funding to research how businesses and other organisations can efficiently reach net zero carbon emissions.

The University of Bath's Centre for People-Led Digitalisation received the funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

The research centre will work with organisations including Bath & North East Somerset Council.

Professor Linda Newnes, who leads the centre, said the research would be shared with organisations across the UK and beyond to help them "enact positive change".

The team will carry out test cases with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority in Dounreay, Bath and North East Somerset Council and the Cellular Agriculture Manufacturing Hub, also based in Bath.

In a statement the university said it will help the council "decarbonise" its offices and also research new food production techniques with the manufacturing hub.

Announcing the new investment, professor Louise Heathwaite at the UKRI said: "The journey towards net zero carbon emissions is one of our most urgent and complex national challenges.

"It's important to understand the effects at a systems level of the many different component parts working together - for example, avoiding planting trees where the carbon store in the soil at depth is already stable."

Researchers in Bath will work alongside teams at the universities of Sheffield, Strathclyde and Loughborough

Follow BBC Somerset on Facebook and X. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.