Restoring the Carbon Balance

Originally aired January 11, 2017

The first in a three-part series from SSF and ASU’s Global Institute of Sustainability on Restoring the Carbon Balance. This session addresses the budget imperative: even on the trajectory set by the Paris Agreement, the planet will likely exceed its carbon budget within two decades — making Negative Emissions Technologies (NETs) essential. Leading experts examine the science, the urgency, and the conundrum that technologies cannot develop without policy drivers, and policy cannot lead without demonstrably affordable and scalable technologies.

Speakers

David Biello (Moderator)

Science Curator, TED Talks; Former Energy & Environment Editor, Scientific American

David Biello is the Science Curator at TED Talks and a former Energy and Environment Editor at Scientific American, where he spent years covering climate science, energy policy, and sustainability. He is the author of The Unnatural World and a widely recognized voice in science journalism, having won multiple awards for his coverage of global environmental change.

Jeffrey Sachs

Professor of Economics, Columbia University; Former Director, Earth Institute

Jeffrey Sachs is a world-renowned professor of economics and leader in sustainable development, serving as a senior UN advisor, bestselling author, and syndicated columnist. He is a former Director of Columbia University’s Earth Institute and one of the world’s leading authorities on the economics of sustainable development, poverty reduction, and the policy pathways needed to address climate change.

Kevin Anderson

Professor of Energy and Climate Change, University of Manchester; Former Director, Tyndall Centre

Kevin Anderson is Professor of Energy and Climate Change in the School of Mechanical, Aeronautical and Civil Engineering at the University of Manchester and a former director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. He is known for his rigorous and often challenging assessments of the gap between political commitments on climate change and the emissions reductions actually required to meet them.

John Shepherd

Emeritus Professor of Earth System Science, University of Southampton; Fellow of the Royal Society

John Shepherd is Emeritus Professor of Earth System Science within the Ocean and Earth Science department at the University of Southampton’s National Oceanography Centre and a Fellow of the Royal Society. He is a leading authority on ocean biogeochemistry, climate feedbacks, and geoengineering — and has played a key role in shaping the scientific understanding of negative emissions approaches and their feasibility at scale.