The Sociotechnical Dynamics of Negative Emissions, Carbon Removal, and Solar Geoengineering

Webcast Link: tiny.utk.edu/EESovacool

Despite a long history of climate agreements, greenhouse gas emissions have continued to grow over time. Negative emissions technologies, also known as carbon removal, are being assigned an increasingly critical role with the range of strategies and trajectories that aim to reduce global temperature change and remove carbon dioxide from the Earth’s atmosphere. Dr. Benjamin Sovacool, professor of Earth and Environment at Boston University, provides a meta-analytical framework where social science, engineering, and physical disciplines merge for a comprehensive mapping of these energy and climate transitions. 

Solar geoengineering technologies could serve as an emergency measure to slow the risk of global warming. Other options, such as marine cloud brightening or cirrus cloud thinning, are endorsed for their potential to remediate the risk of pending “tipping points.”  But their emergent benefits, risks, and impacts on justice, equity, and future climate pathways are uncertain. 

This forum, cohosted with the Institute for a Secure and Sustainable Environment, will explore the environmental, technical, social, legal, ethical, and policy dimensions of greenhouse gas removal and solar radiation management. 

Sovacool is the founding director of the Institute for Global Sustainability at Boston University, as well as a Professor of Energy Policy at the Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex Business School in the United Kingdom. He works as a researcher and consultant on issues pertaining to energy policy, energy justice, energy security, climate change mitigation, and climate change adaptation.