A discussion on the urgency of scaling greenhouse gas removal, exploring its challenges, and the role of philanthropy in tackling climate change.
Just imagine if we had a way of limiting the worst effects of climate change?
What if we could put greenhouse gases back where they came from?
This is no longer a choice but a necessity
So how are we going to achieve it?
We are already in a new world and will overshoot the ‘safe’ limit of 1.5 degrees of warming this decade and deep emissions cuts are coming too little, too late to stabilize the climate. All the Inter-Governmental Committee on Climate Change (IPCC) mitigation pathways to 1.5 degrees recognise that removing greenhouse gases at scale (gigatons) is critical, yet we currently have no proven solutions scalable to this level, with a huge gap between what is needed and what is currently possible.
This session will share the current state of the greenhouse gas removal (GGR) challenge, discuss the range of opportunities for GGR as well as the need for urgency and current risks of failure. Philanthropy has often played a critical role in catalysing change and being able to spot opportunities and take risks where others can’t. Panelists will share their perspectives on tackling the key roadblocks and opportunities in this space – from funding novel research and technology to policy and regulation. Greenhouse gas removal at scale must become a reality and it is intended that this session will start a series of discussions, involving and engaging people with the importance and scale of the challenge facing our planet.
Event details
Date: Thursday 24th October 2024
Time: 6:00 PM to 7:15 PM
Venue: The Conduit – 6 Langley St, London WC2H 9JA
If you would like to attend, please click the button below to register:
Speakers
Stig Arff
Stig is Chairman & Founder of Carbon Technology Research Foundation, CEO & Founder of Fremr. He established CTRF to discover and pursue brilliant scientific research & innovation into the application of biotechnology to deliver enhanced, scalable solutions for carbon removal and storage. His early career years were within research and industry when he first became aware of the problem of climate change and today is struck by the accuracy of those early predictions. Whilst our knowledge of the science and the urgent need for action to limit temperature overshoot has increased by orders of magnitude, and the public and politicians are increasingly aware of the problem, still not enough has been done to advance solutions. He has a PhD in physics from the University of Oslo combined with an MBA from the Norwegian School of Management (BI). For the past two decades Stig has worked within the finance sector, and has established several successful business ventures.
Frances Wang
Frances leads the Carbon Dioxide Removal Programme and the Short-lived Climate Pollutant Programme at Quadrature Climate Foundation. Prior to QCF, she was the Associate Director for Carbon Dioxide Removal at ClimateWorks Foundation, a multi-million dollar philanthropic initiative to remove excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and the ocean using catalytic innovations and policy. Before this, Frances held several research positions including at McGill University, Oxford University, and the United Nations Environment Program in Switzerland. In her spare time, Frances serves on the board of Carbon Removal Canada and is a technical advisor to Frontier Climate. She is the author of multiple academic and U.N. flagship publications. Frances holds an M.Sc. in Environmental Change and Management from Oxford University and a B.A. in Economics from McGill University.
Dr Steve Smith
Steve is the Executive Director of CO2RE. Based at the University of Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, he is also Executive Director of the Oxford Net Zero initiative. Previously, he co-led the Climate Science Team at the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, where he played a role in the legislation of the UK’s net zero target, and on developing the Government’s approach to Greenhouse Gas Removal. He holds a PhD in atmospheric physics from Imperial College London and is a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society. Steve’s research lies at the intersection of climate science and policy. He has published on topics including the governance of carbon dioxide removal, and metrics for comparing the emissions of different greenhouse gases. He is an author of the UNEP Emissions Gap Report and co-developer of https://zerotracker.net. Also active in communicating climate change to children and wider audiences, Steve helped write Climate Crisis for Beginners by Usborne Books and contributed to the Ladybird book on Climate Change.
Moderator
Eli Mitchell-Larson
Eli is the Chief Science & Advocacy Officer and co-founder of Carbon Gap. He is driven by a vision of a world in which we remove more carbon from the atmosphere than we emit, where we act as stewards, not extractors, of the lands and oceans that absorb and store carbon, and in which all life on Earth can thrive and prosper. He believes that Carbon Gap can close the knowledge, policy, and ambition gaps between where we are and what science tells us is necessary to deliver a healthy climate. He is an associate at Oxford Net Zero at the University of Oxford. His research focuses on scaling technologies and policies that can deliver global net negative emissions through equitable, responsible, and durable carbon removal. Eli was the lead drafter of the Oxford Principles for Net Zero Aligned Carbon Offsetting and the World Economic Forum’s Net Zero to Net Negative guide to carbon removal. Prior to establishing Carbon Gap, Eli advised Fortune 500 companies on net zero strategies and responsible carbon removal procurement at Carbon Direct, was COO of SunFarmer, a social enterprise that designs, deploys, and finances solar installations in Nepal, and an impact investor at New Island Capital, deploying over $90 million into utility-scale renewables and sustainably managed redwood timberland and organic farmland. Eli holds a B.S. in Geology & Geophysics and Environmental Studies from Yale University and a combined MSc & MBA in Environmental Change and Management from the University of Oxford.
This event is in partnership with The Conduit.