In this episode, Professor David Beerling is joined by Professor Nick Pidgeon of Cardiff University to explore some of the novel insights from the social sciences work of the LC3M programme – and what it can tell us about possible ethical dilemmas and public responses to the idea of carbon removal and enhanced weathering.

They begin by explaining the ethical dilemma of mitigation deterrence – an idea that arose first in connection with insurance. The hypothesis is that, by providing a technology such as carbon removal for avoiding some aspects of climate risk this in turn might lead us or politicians to lose motivation to enact some of the difficult mitigation decisions which we know are essential in the fight against climate change. Although hard to prove directly it is a key ethical worry for many who study carbon removal.

Nick describes some of the results of the LC3M empirical studies using surveys and deliberative workshops to understand public responses. People often accept new technologies for the benefits they bring, but only subject to certain conditions. In the case of carbon removal technology, it’s clear from our research that one critical condition is that deployment must always go hand-in-hand with extensive and transparent conventional mitigation efforts. Otherwise, people will quickly become uncomfortable, even outraged, if they suspect mitigation deterrence and greenwashing.

They conclude the podcast with reflections on some of our findings regarding attitudes towards the mining and resource extraction aspect of enhanced weathering. Nick explains these will differ by region, local geography and experiences with mining, and the histories of past extraction in a region.

In this episode, Professor Nicholas Pidgeon joins Ms Molly James to explore the role of actors and institutions in the emerging sociotechnical system of ERW. From agriculture to the mineral industry, the participation of diverse sectors can raise important questions about conflicting interests and distributional outcomes.

Molly discusses her most recent paper which came from interviewing nearly forty actors across the lifecycle of ERW. She elaborates on the use of institutional theory to surface the interests, assumptions, values, and beliefs of actors and what this can tell us about the emergent institutional arrangements.

Together, they reflect on the characteristics of the current sociotechnical system and what this means for ERW.

In this episode, Professor Nick Pidgeon is joined by Dr Elspeth Spence to discuss how publics perceive enhanced weathering across the countries with field trial sites that are run by The Leverhulme Centre for Climate Change Mitigation.

Nick sets the scene, establishing the importance of social sciences as part of the development and deployment of new technologies, including the need to consider ethical issues and worries about moral hazard. He then explains the range of methods used to measure public perceptions around enhanced weathering as part of the project including surveys, workshops, and stakeholder interviews.

Elspeth and Nick discuss the challenges in using various methodologies and the importance of local expertise to help inform the design of materials to be suitable in a range of countries. They discuss what factors influence perceptions from a psychological perspective and the concerns people hold about enhanced weathering, and how these are reflected in workshops.

Together, they reflect on the value of interdisciplinary collaboration for enhanced weathering particularly for working in the Global South before finally considering appropriate risk communications for enhanced weathering.