As the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report emphasizes, meeting the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement requires both rapid decarbonization of the global economy and large-scale deployment of carbon dioxide removal approaches. While terrestrial approaches, such as afforestation/reforestation, bioenergy and carbon capture with storage and direct air capture are expected to play a role, many researchers also see a role for the world’s oceans, given the fact that they already serve as a sink for approximately a third of anthropogenic emissions, and might be able to sequester much more in the future. In 2021, the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine released a report “A Research Strategy for Ocean Carbon Dioxide Removal and Sequestration” which assesses what is currently known about the benefits, risks, and potential for responsible scale-up of six specific ocean-based CDR strategies. The Report looks at the research needed to advance understanding of those approaches and address knowledge gaps, It also includes an extensive discussion of potential governance mechanisms at both the international and domestic level, as well as mechanisms to ensure stakeholder engagement.

This webinar, co-hosted by the Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy and the Environmental Policy & Culture Program at Northwestern University, will seek to provide an overview of the scientific, technological, legal and social elements of the study. Panelists will include both principals in the drafting of the report and reviewers.

Panelists:

Scott Doney, University of Virginia Department of Environmental Sciences

Emily Cox, Cardiff University

Wil Burns, Environmental Policy and Culture Program at Northwestern

Moderator:

Simon Nicholson, Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy