The Asilomar International Conference on Climate Intervention Technologies will have the goal of minimizing risk associated with scientific experimentation on climate intervention or climate geoengineering.  The conference will take place March 22-26 2010, at the Asilomar Conference Center.   The conference will focus exclusively on the development of risk reduction guidelines for climate intervention experiments.

The goals will be to 1) identify the potential risks associated with climate intervention experiments, 2) propose a system to assess experiments for their potential categorical risks and suggest precautions necessary for the experiments and 3) propose voluntary standards for these studies for the international science community.

The conference was conceived and is funded by the Climate Response Fund.  The scientific organization of the conference is led by the Climate Institute. 

In September 2009 the UK Royal Society released the report of a year-long study of research needs for geoengineering, “Geoengineering the Climate:  Science, governance and uncertainty”.  This report called for development of guidelines for such research.  In December 2009 the US National Academy of Science will release the report of its two-year study of America’s Climate Choices.  They hosted a workshop in June 2009 on climate intervention/ geoengineering that resulted in a call for research. Experience has shown that guidelines developed by the scientific community in collaboration with other interested communities and accepted by funding agencies for their review of proposals can effectively manage the risk associated with experimentation.

A “Provisional Statement of the Conference Proceedings” will be developed during the conference. The document will be discussed during the final session of the meeting to achieve consensus. The Scientific Organizing Committee will redraft the statement and its recommendations so that it will reflect the discussions and consensus of the Conference. A final full report will be published and posted online.

Dr. Margaret Leinen is helping to facilitate a workshop for building women's leadership skills in Earth Science. Other noteworthy co-facilitators are Dr. Susan Solomon, Dr. Pamela Matson, and Dr. Tim Kileen.

Mitigating Climate Change: Will Direct Removal of CO2 be Necessary?
Time: 10:30AM
Location: Building 3, Room 3240 (main USGS conference room)
Host: Steve Kirby

Dr. Margaret Leinen will give two talks at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco in the Moscone Center.

Tuesday Dec. 16th. - 11:50am
"Regulation of Ocean Iron Fertilization (OIF): a Model for Balancing Research, Environmental and Policy Concerns"
Moscone Center 2014

Wednesday Dec. 17th ; 5:05pm
"Conceptual Approaches to Testing the Efficiency and Impact of Ocean Iron Fertilization (OIF) for Enhancing CO2 Storage in the Ocean"
Moscone Center 2022

Full talk title and abstracts are below:

Tuesday Dec. 16th. ; 11:50h ; room MC 2014 ; session B22C-07
Regulation of Ocean Iron Fertilization (OIF): a Model for Balancing
Research, Environmental and Policy Concerns
Leinen, M, LaMotte, R

The potential of enhancing carbon sequestration by the biosphere for
climate mitigation often raises questions of offsetting effects. These
questions become more important as the scale of the enhancement
increases. Ocean iron fertilization is accompanied by additional
questions related to use of the ocean commons. The London Convention
(LC) and London Protocol (LP), international treaties adopted in 1972
and 1996 respectively, were designed to prevent use of the ocean for
disposal of toxic, harmful and radioactive pollutants. Recently the
LC/LP has been called upon to decide whether climate mitigation
activities, such as subseafloor injection of CO2 and OIF, are legal
under the framework and, if so, how they should be regulated. The
broad consultation with the science community by the LC/LP in
developing their perspective, and the involvement of the NGO community
in these deliberations, provides a model for the process that the
international policy community can use to develop science-based
regulatory guidelines for carbon mitigation projects involving the
commons. And the substance of that emerging regulatory framework --
built on a national-level permitting process informed by
internationally agreed guidelines and standards -- may also serve as a
model for the oversight of other emerging technologies that take place
in the global commons.



Wednesday Dec. 17th ; 17:05h ; room MC 2022 ; session OS34B-04
Conceptual Approaches to Testing the Efficiency and Impact of Ocean
Iron Fertilization (OIF) for Enhancing CO2 Storage in the Ocean
K Whilden, *M Leinen, D Whaley

Recent experiments to determine the efficiency of carbon sequestration
during natural and artificially stimulated phytoplankton blooms
suggest that bloom events can transfer as much as 50% of the new
phytoplankton production to depths below 500 m. Such efficiencies
would make OIF a cost-effective mechanism for CO2 mitigation. In order
to further quantify sequestration and to determine its impact on the
ocean environment, the scientific community has proposed larger (up to
200 × 200 km) OIF experiments and has suggested that they be monitored
for longer periods of time than previous experiments (up to 70 days).
In addition, new technologies for measurement and more sophisticated
modeling to both design the experiment and project its impact have
been proposed. We will report on a proposed project conceptual design
for such an experiment.

A seminar on Oceans Law. Climos to participate and discuss the regulatory and environmental aspects of Climos' activities.
Agenda

A panel of International leaders in the fields of renewable energy, public policy and institutional investment.
Website

CSO Dr. Margaret Leinen seminar for College of Ocean and Atmospheric Science, invited lecture in conjunction with Leinen being given Distinguished Alumni Fellow award by College.

The Singularity Institute and SciVestor are partnering to present an intensive one-day workshop, preceding the Singularity Summit, on emerging technologies that will change the world.

The Singularity Summit gathers the smartest people around to explore the biggest ideas of our time. Learn where humanity is headed, meet the people leading the way, and leave inspired to create a better world.

Meeting our energy challenge will require a coalition including policymakers in all levels of government, non-governmental organizations, engineers, entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, academics, and student activists. Energy Crossroads is dedicated to promoting this coalition by convening a major conference of relevant stakeholders.
Website

As the price of oil and amount of energy consumption continue to climb, interest and investments in alternative energy companies are also rising, making the deal landscape increasingly crowded and competitive.

With an abundance of new technologies in development, which alternative energy and efficiency innovations are really poised to make a difference on a global scale? And how can venture capitalists, corporations, start-ups, government officials and others play a role in (and profit from) their implementations?

Dow Jones’ Alternative Energy Innovations conference brings together the key players in the alternative energy and management space to give attendees. 

Dr. Margaret Leinen Speaking at Session on Ocean Iron Fertilization.  More than 8,000 of the world’s leading decision makers in sustainable development: from governments, NGOs, business, the UN and academia. Together in one place for 10 days: to debate, share, network, learn, commit, vote and decide. The objective: ideas, action and solutions for a diverse and sustainable world.

Dan will be speaking in one of the opening sessions, entitled "Driving Innovation in a New Global Market," with Dan Reicher from google.org. Expanding the Carbon Market and bringing together new project developers, project hosts and entrants. CFA will be addressing emissions trading, carbon abatement solutions and new technologies.

Also, Dan will be hosting a side event at Carbon Forum America, entitled:

Panel on exploring ocean uses where there is scientific and policy uncertainty.
Website

Following on from the successful European edition, Voluntary Carbon Markets New York is the only event to focus on the US voluntary carbon markets. The event will provide an in-depth overview of this exciting market, look at the attempts to standardize the market, the risks of investing in the market, the future developments of the market in terms of its relationship with a future mandatory market.
Websites