Using the Oceans to Address Climate Change

There is scientific consensus that, in addition to emissions reduction, limiting global warming to acceptable levels will also require the active removal of billions of tons of carbon dioxide per year from the air. Is it possible to speed up the Earth’s processes for regulating carbon dioxide from their natural timescale of hundreds of thousands of years to decades? Professor Eisaman will introduce us to the burgeoning field of “carbon dioxide removal” and describe efforts in his lab to accelerate the natural role of the oceans in regulating the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Matthew Eisaman is an Associate Professor at Yale University in the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences and the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture. His current research is focused on novel methods of electrochemical ocean carbon dioxide removal, including its com-mercialization, effects on marine ecosystems, the im-portance of social license, and the potential for colo-cation and co-benefits with other carbon capture approaches. He has worked on a wide range of climate change solutions, and is broadly interested in how Earth’s natural processes can be leveraged and accelerated to minimize the worst effects of the climate crisis.