Abstract:  Countries, subnational jurisdictions, and companies that have set out net-zero emissions targets now face the challenge of laying out specific roadmaps for how they will meet those targets. In most cases, these long-term strategies involve figuring out where and how to remove carbon in order to compensate for some amount of remaining emissions from hard-to-abate sectors like agriculture. Civil society is discussing climate justice risks from carbon dioxide removal as a whole, in terms of the potential for mitigation deterrence, as well as environmental justice risks from particular approaches. Meanwhile, scientists have been studying the technical potentials of various carbon dioxide removal methods, but we also know that social and political factors are going to be critical in scaling up carbon dioxide removal. This talk discusses specific examples from research conducted in the United States that point towards how social science research can help identify community concerns, priorities, and potential benefits from carbon dioxide removal projects and policies. It describes what social science has learned to date about the social dimensions of carbon removal, and outlines priorities for future interdisciplinary research to inform carbon removal policy on multiple scales.

Holly Buck (University at Buffalo) will present in the
2022 Perspectives on the Climate Change Challenge Seminar Series:

• Most Mondays, Spring Semester 2022, 2:45-4:00pm
• Available via Zoom (ID: 953 9733 0144; Passcode: 024210)
   

This university-wide seminar series is open to the public, and provides important views on the critical issue of climate change, drawing from many perspectives and disciplines. Experts from Cornell University and beyond present an overview of the science of climate change and climate change models, the implications for agriculture, ecosystems, and food systems, and provide important economic, ethical, and policy insights on the issue. The seminar is being organized and sponsored by the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering and the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability.