Major research investment into national land use transformation

• University of Leicester and The James Hutton Institute are part of a winning consortium of 34 organisations awarded a £6.25 m government grant to establish a ‘Land Use for Net Zero’ (LUNZ) Hub.
• The LUNZ Hub aims to provide all four UK administrations with the rapid evidence they need to develop policies that will drive the UK land transformation required to achieve Net Zero by 2050. 
• Consortium includes experts from research, farming and industry across issues including green finance, renewable energy, planning, soil health, afforestation and water management.
• The announcement comes as the LUNZ hub is launched at an event in Leicester today (16 January).

A first of its kind consortium of 34 leading research and stakeholder organisations has been established to help all four UK administrations address land use and agriculture as a major greenhouse gas emitting sector.

The ‘Land Use for Net Zero’ (LUNZ) Hub, co-led by The James Hutton Institute and the University of Leicester, with £6.25 million funding from UK Research and Innovation, will provide UK and devolved nations timely evidence around land use, from renewable energy to soil carbon and green finance, to help drive the land transformations needed to achieve Net Zero by 2050. 

It will also play a pivotal role in helping to communicate more widely the critical importance of land and how it’s used as a major carbon sink or source.  

Agriculture and land use have a major impact on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as well as a wide range of other environmental, societal and economic outcomes, but progress towards decarbonisation is lagging behind other sectors.  

The declaration recently announced at COP28 on sustainable agriculture, resilient food systems and climate action states the UK government’s intent to act on land use and climate change by increasing public financial support and scaling science-based solutions, and LUNZ will be a key conduit for these actions.

Hub co-lead of the winning Consortium, Professor Lee-Ann Sutherland (The James Hutton Institute), explained:

“The science behind land use is highly complex.  It is influenced by a range of economic, social and environmental factors, and complicated further by a changing evidence base, novel market forces, the emergence of new data and models, and disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence. Our aim is to bridge the gap between researchers and policy makers and our work will be focused on meeting specific policy-maker needs, giving them the evidence they need in the format and timeframe they need it.  

“Our Consortium has developed a series of innovative mechanisms to do just that – an Agile Policy Centre, Net Zero Futures Platform, and Creative Methods Lab – each tailored to generate clear, robust answers to urgent questions.”

Equally novel is the approach to stakeholder participation in the Hub, as Hub Co-lead, Professor Heiko Balzter (University of Leicester), explained:

“Creating a fair, realistic path to Net Zero in the land use sector can only be achieved with the involvement of a wide range of stakeholders throughout the process– to provide their expertise, share the Hub’s outputs and ensure its proposals work in practice as well as theory.  

“Our consortium reflects this – ranging from those at the cutting edge of climate change modelling to farmers groups, advisory organisations, non-governmental organisations and an arts collective.  Their range and profile will ensure the Hub’s impact extends throughout society – so everyone can engage in land use transformation – from the food they buy to their holiday, housing and investment decisions.”

At the heart of the challenge is understanding how transformative change can be achieved and predicting the impact of proposed approaches against multiple environmental, societal and economic outcomes.  A central strand of the Hub’s approach will be the development of plausible and innovative net zero scenarios and associated pathways – novel tools based on advanced modelling methodologies that can predict the impacts of different policy interventions across a variety of metrics.

Science, Research and Innovation Minister, Andrew Griffith, said:

"We aren’t making any more of it so ensuring Britain’s land is used as sustainably as possible in farming, planning and beyond is crucial to fulfilling our environmental ambitions while protecting our iconic countryside and woodlands

"Our more than £6m investment backs experts in areas like farming, finance, and planning to come together and develop long-term, sustainable solutions in land use that produce food, grow the economy and cut carbon emissions."

Environment Minster Rebecca Pow said:

"The way we use our land has important impacts across society, helping to produce the food we eat, provide habitats for wildlife and contributing to net zero by acting as a carbon store. The Land Use for Net Zero consortium will help us to develop the knowledge needed to make the best possible use of our land.

"Balancing the priorities in land use while working towards net zero requires careful consideration of the needs of different sectors, which is why we need this kind of collaboration and knowledge sharing to ensure that we can make land use work for people and for net zero."

• The 'net zero target' refers to a UK government commitment to ensure the UK reduces its greenhouse gas emissions by 100% from 1990 levels by 2050. If met, this would mean the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced by the UK would be equal to or less than the emissions removed by the UK from the environment. (House of Lords Library)

• The Hub is co-funded by UKRI, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (on behalf of England and Wales), the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and the Scottish Government. It has been co-designed with DEFRA and the Welsh and Scottish governments.  

• The LUNZ Hub is funded for 40 months, starting 1 November 2023.