UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Wil Burns, co-founding director of the Institute for Responsible Carbon Removal at American University, is the featured speaker for the next Climate Conversation Café. Set for 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 19, in 134 HUB-Robeson Center on Penn State's University Park campus, the free presentation will be hosted by the Penn State Climate Consortium and the Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy Initiative (EEEPI). Registration is required for those attending online.
The talk, titled “Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal to Combat Climate Change: Science and Governance,” will focus on potential risks and benefits posed by ocean-based options for carbon dioxide removal, Burns said. Discussion will include regulatory efforts by international treaty regimes and the potential role of the Paris Agreement, a climate treaty adopted at the UN Climate Change Conference in 2015.
Goals under the agreement “will require both aggressive emissions-reduction initiatives and large-scale deployment of carbon dioxide removal/negative emissions technologies,” Burns said.
“While much of the early research on carbon dioxide removal methods focused on terrestrial approaches, there has been increasing attention to the potential role of the world’s oceans, given both sustainability considerations and the fact that oceans already serve as a huge carbon sink, with much additional potential for storing carbon,” Burns said in an abstract. He cited options in “marine carbon dioxide removal” such as ocean iron fertilization and ocean alkalinity enhancement.
Before joining American University, Burns was associate director of the Environmental Policy and Culture program at Northwestern University and founding director of the Energy Policy and Climate program at Johns Hopkins University. He also has taught at the University of Chicago, Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley.
Earlier, Burns was assistant secretary of state for policy in Wisconsin and worked in the environmental nonprofit sector for more than 20 years. He earned his doctoral degree in international law from the University of Wales-Cardiff School of Law — now Cardiff University School of Law and Politics — and has authored more than 90 publications.
About the Penn State Climate Consortium
The Penn State Climate Consortium is dedicated to fostering collaboration and accelerating climate change research to develop actionable solutions for a sustainable and just world. By promoting excellence in research, supporting local-to-global initiatives and guiding climate policy transitions, the consortium aims to inspire creativity and broad engagement in addressing climate challenges.
About EEEPI
Established in 2011, EEEPI operates as a University-wide initiative at Penn State with support from the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute and the Institute of Energy and the Environment. EEEPI seeks to catalyze research in energy and environmental systems economics across the University and to build a world-class group of economists with interests in interdisciplinary collaboration.