35. Steve Smith on net zero pledges and CDR strategies & tech

Dr Steve Smith is the Executive Director of CO2RE, as well as Executive Director of the Oxford Net Zero initiative, based at the University of Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment. He also previously co-led the Climate Science Team at the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. In this episode, we take a holistic deep dive into Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) and discuss his expertise on net zero pledges, the political and economic strategies for CDR, and technology readiness. 

Links: 

• Steve’s Smith School profile and CO2RE profile 
• The Net Zero Tracker project - supported by students!
• The State of Carbon Dioxide Removal report

Chapters

• 1:27 Introduction and background
• 4:03 What is Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR)?
• 7:04 What is "Net Zero"?
• 10:36 What are 'hard to abate' emissions and how can CDR help?
• 14:11 Steve's work in the UK Climate Science Team
• 18:24 Are long-term strategies (like CDR) distracting us from more immediate climate action?
• 20:18 The Net Zero Tracker - his student science project
• 22:47 How cynical are you about Net Zero pledges?
• 25:05 How large a part does CDR play in global emissions pathways?
• 27:47 Scalabilty of nature-based solutions
• 29:59 Economics of the CDR industry
• 33:55 What's the long-term play for CDR tech?
• 37:46 What are the key considerations when evaluating CDR tech?
• 43:03 Energy and land-use of CDR
• 46:27 Spatial scale of CDR technologies
• 48:37 The State of CDR report
• 50:38 Tech dive: Enhanced weathering & Ocean alkalinity CDR
• 52:48 Tech dive: Direct Air Capture
• 56:19 What do you predict UK's Net Zero progress is by 2050?
• 58:55 Are you optimistic about the UK's Net Zero strategy?