Building Capacity for Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal Experts
In 2022 and 2023, COMPASS partnered with the ClimateWorks Foundation to lead a series of workshops and engagement opportunities focused around mCDR, or marine carbon dioxide removal. Over the course of the partnership, COMPASS assembled a cohort of mCDR experts and led a series of workshops, including a Message Box workshop and communication workshops focused on engagement with journalists and policymakers.
The Opportunity
It’s no secret that climate change is a complex and far-reaching threat to society and the environment. As we work to mitigate the effects of a warming planet, simply turning off the tap of carbon emissions won’t be enough—we’ll need to start removing from the environment, and specifically the atmosphere, some of the carbon that has already been emitted.
Marine carbon dioxide removal, or mCDR, is intended to help do just that. mCDR is a broad term that refers to a suite of strategies—including (but hardly limited to) ocean alkalinity enhancement, iron fertilization, and kelp production—that all, via different mechanisms, work to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. mCDR is a complex, multifaceted field, and at the beginning of its journey. Many of the mechanisms of mCDR are still actively being researched, but if implementation across geographies and scale is going to occur, responsible and strong engagement from experts will be needed to communicate the efficacy and potential risks of varying strategies.
In 2022, COMPASS embarked on a partnership with the ClimateWorks Foundation to conduct an introductory series of engagement workshops for scientists and technical experts working in the mCDR space. Experts ranging from many different sectors including private investment, government agencies, and research institutions learned about how to effectively distill their message (using, of course, the Message Box) and communicate with diverse audiences including policymakers and the media—two audiences that will dramatically influence the acceptance and adoption of various mCDR strategies as we gain a greater understanding of how they can help address the climate crisis. Following the policy engagement workshop in DC, COMPASS also coached and accompanied scientists to policy meetings with agencies and on Capitol Hill. Finally, in 2024, COMPASS led a second media workshop for mCDR scientists at the 2024 Ocean Sciences Meeting.
Our Approach
To participate in the workshop series, mCDR experts applied to join via an open call. Over the course of several months, researchers applied to participate in the workshop series, resulting in a cohort of roughly 20 experts.
Experts came from a variety of backgrounds, including scientists studying diverse topics like the nuts and bolts of how different mCDR strategies may work, the social implications of mCDR, and, monitoring, research, and verification, or MRV, which is, essentially, the process by which researchers and regulators evaluate whether mCDR is effective, particularly in comparison to the claims made by its proponents. Once the cohort was assembled, COMPASS led three separate workshops:
- Developing Your Message: the introduction to COMPASS’s approach to effective communication, this virtual workshop convened the cohort for the first time, and focused on utilizing the Message Box as a basic tool to focus and refine the messages experts wished to share with specific audiences. In anticipation of the next two parts of the workshop series, experts were given the opportunity to workshop their messages and learn about one another’s work.
- Communicating with Journalists: in conjunction with the 2023 American Geophysical Union Ocean Visions Summit, and again at the 2024 Ocean Sciences Meeting, a subset of the cohort joined COMPASS for a workshop focused on communicating effectively with members of the media. Facilitated by experts from a variety of publications and outlets, workshop participants had the opportunity to again practice delivering their messages in journalism settings, including mock interviews, elevator pitches, and more peer feedback. Media experts at the 2023 workshop included (see biographies here and here):
- Casey Crownhart, MIT Technology Review
- Shannon Osaka, Washington Post
- Chris Joyce, National Public Radio (retired)
- John Upton, Climate Central
- David Malakoff, Science Magazine
- Communicating with Policymakers: in advance of 2023’s Capitol Hill Oceans Week, COMPASS held this workshop to help mCDR experts better communicate the implications and importance of mCDR to those working in policy. The mCDR policy space is in a nascent phase, and ground-level engagement by experts will be vital as research into and implementation of these strategies grows in scale. Similarly to the journalism workshop, participants were given the opportunity to share their message in policy-focused scenarios, such as briefings and meetings on Capitol Hill or with agency experts. Experts ranged from a diverse array of government backgrounds—such as agency, the White House, and state-level government. Following the workshop, participants were offered coaching as they engaged with different facets of the federal government, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and congressional offices. Policy experts (see biographies here):
- Lauren Linsmayer, California Ocean Science Trust
- Whit Saumweber, Center for Strategic and International Studies, University of Rhode Island
- David Goldston, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Ariana Sutton-Grier, United States Geological Survey
Next Steps
If mCDR is going to help address the impacts of climate change, responsible communication of their benefits, risks and unknowns is a necessity. Everyone has a stake in removing carbon dioxide from our atmosphere, but there are many questions that have yet to be answered: what are the downstream effects of mCDR on communities and the public? Which strategies are the most efficient, and least resource-intensive? How can mCDR policy help it coexist with other industries (like fisheries and energy) that rely on the ocean?
Through its work in the mCDR space as of yet, COMPASS is well-positioned to act as a resource for experts and funders wishing to expand the understanding and adoption of mCDR as a legitimate climate mitigation and adaptation strategy. There is a lot to communicate around carbon dioxide removal, and as the field grows in scope and scale—which, per research, will be required to achieve net-zero emissions—ethical engagement with diverse audiences will be required to ensure that it’s a tactic to address climate change that works.
Additional Resources from COMPASS
- From Practice to Action—in this interview, learn about workshop participants Adam Subhas (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute) and Sarah Mastroni’s (Ocean Visions) experiences engaging with congressional staff on Capitol Hill following the Communicating with Policymakers workshop.
- Just Communication and Engagement Around New Climate Technologies with Dr. Sarah Nawaz—learn more about why ethical communication around carbon removal is so necessary, especially in such a nascent phase.
- Ethics, Partnership, and Social Science in Ocean-Based Carbon Dioxide Removal—in a broadcast of a virtual panel facilitated by COMPASS at Capitol Hill Oceans Week 2023, experts discuss the frameworks within which mCDR research and governance needs to exist in order to ensure that risks, responsibilities, and rewards are communicated both ethically and effectively.
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