Events

ONE Annual Lecture: Carbon dioxide removal: Are science and policy keeping up with the market?

Prof Gide

• Start  Tuesday 03 Feb 2026 4:30pm
• Finish    Tuesday 03 Feb 2026 6:00pm
• Venue  Lecture theatres 1 & 2 - Life and Mind Building
• Postcode OX1 3EL
• Register for event

Even with stringent and rapid reductions in emission of greenhouse gases it is clear, and has been since the Paris agreement in 2015, that we will need to remove hundreds of billions of tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere to keep warming below 2oC.  More than 200 companies are now pursuing this CO2 removal (CDR -Carbon Dioxide Removal), using a wide range of approaches.  More than $10bn has been invested in a voluntary CDR market which, by some projections, will grow to $100bn per year.  Most approaches to CDR are novel, untested, and still at small scale.  Whether they actually deliver the quantity of CDR claimed, and whether that removal is permanent and in addition to natural carbon uptake remain open questions.  Accurate and robust measurement and verification of CDR also remains a significant challenge.  And the consequences of CDR approaches to the wider environment are under-investigated.

CDR presents both a challenge and a dilemma to environmental scientists and regulators.  We urgently need to develop approaches to CDR at large scale if we want to prevent dangerous climate change, but the precautionary principle guides us to pursue such major interventions with care.  This challenge becomes more acute as countries build CDR into their future emission commitments and as compliance markets develop, requiring regulation that both promotes CDR innovation and protects the environment.  This lecture will ask: what do we need to do, as the demand for CDR credits grows, to ensure that credits have real climate value and are not causing unintended environmental harm?

The lecture will be followed by a panel discussion with Dr Steve Smith and Dr Jessica Omukuti, chaired by Professor Rosalind Rickaby, and will conclude with a drinks reception.

The Oxford Networks for the Environment (ONE) brings together expertise from across the University to address major environmental challenges spanning climate, energy, food, water and biodiversity.

Future events

ONE Annual Lecture: Carbon dioxide removal: Are science and policy keeping up with the market?

Tuesday 03 Feb 2026

The future of climate tech through the lens of synthetic biology

Wednesday 04 Feb 2026

HT26 Energy Seminar – Week 4: The Fairness Factor

Tuesday 10 Feb 2026

HT26 Energy Seminar – Week 5: MircroGrids: opportunities for microgrids to increase renewable energy deployment and overcome grid constraints for real estate developments

Tuesday 17 Feb 2026

HT26 Energy Seminar – Week 6: Delivering 100% renewable energy system for the UK

Tuesday 24 Feb 2026

HT26 Energy Seminar – Week 7: Women led: Clean energy transitions in rural Kenya

Tuesday 03 Mar 2026

View all events