Please join us for an E-IPER dissertation defense by Celina Scott-Buechler, who will present "Greenhouse Gas Removal as Just Transition? Social Equity and Public Engagement for Emerging Climate Solutions."

In-person: Y2E2 299

Virtual: Zoom webinar

ABSTRACT

Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and greenhouse gas removal (GGR) are emerging and often contentious areas of climate action. As these technologies move rapidly from research to implementation, they raise critical questions about who benefits and who bears the burdens of their deployment. Using mixed-methods social science research, this dissertation examines how public and community perceptions shape the future of these technologies and the policies that enable or constrain them, revealing that support is largely conditional upon procedural justice, community benefits, historical experiences with industrial development, and guardrails to avoid deterrence of ambitious emissions reductions.

Chapter 1, “Communities conditionally support deployment of direct air capture for carbon dioxide removal in the United States,” combines a national survey with focus groups across four U.S. communities to evaluate perceptions of Direct Air Capture (DAC). Chapter 2, “Navigating uncertainty: Direct air capture and just transition perspectives in Gulf Coast communities,” explores community perceptions of DAC in the Gulf Coast region, which is quickly becoming the world’s DAC hub, examining community perceptions of DAC’s ability to contribute to a just transition (or not). Chapter 3, “Removing carbon, restoring trust: public perceptions of industry and community roles in U.S. carbon dioxide removal policy,” presents findings from a nationally representative survey on public perceptions of CDR governance, focusing on siting justice, moral hazard and decarbonization deterrance, and the fossil fuel industry’s role. Chapter 4, “Support for methane removal linked to knowledge, risk, and governance,” offers the first assessment of public perceptions of atmospheric methane removal approaches, which are even more nascent than CDR, using survey data from Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Finally, chapter 5, “Mapping community concerns to implementation challenges: a mixed-methods assessment of climate solutions in California communities,” examines community perceptions and implementation challenges across a broad range of “climate mitigation infrastructure,” including large-scale renewable energy, transmission, and carbon dioxide removal methods.