Robust decision making using dynamic adaptive policy pathways for direct air capture deployment in Canada

This project will develop a decision-support framework for direct air capture (DAC) that acknowledges the scale of the enterprise, the immersive nature of the system with other systems, and the substantial amount of uncertainty surrounding its deployment. We use a dynamic adaptive policy pathways approach, a method developed to address decision making under deep uncertainty, to generate a set of policy actions and contingency plans to navigate the development and deployment of DAC in Canada.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has found that negative emissions technologies, such as direct air capture, combined with carbon capture and sequestration may be key to keep climate change well below two degrees. This project will help Canada anticipate the resource and governance requirements needed to develop and deploy these new technologies over the coming years.

Vanessa Schweizer

Waterloo Climate Institute member contributions

Vanessa Schweizer and Eric Croiset are the principal investigators and Neil Craik and Juan Moreno-Cruz are co-investigators. These members are spearheading this important work thanks to Environment and Climate Change Canada's Climate Action and Awareness Fund (CAAF). This project was undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada. 

Vanessa Schweizer

Vanessa Schweizer

Associate Professor, Knowledge Integration; Associate Chair, Undergraduate Studies

Vanessa Schweizer's research focuses are cross-disciplinary knowledge integration and the design of scenarios for the human dimensions of large-scale environmental change; long-term decision-making such as forecasting and discontinuities; and the influence of occupational, interpersonal, and cultural conflicts on climate change attitudes.

Eric Croiset

Eric Croiset

Professor, Chemical Engineering

Eric Croiset's research interests include ​reaction engineering, solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), syngas/hydrogen production, carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), process simulation, reactions in supercritical water, green reaction engineering, large scale optimization of energy systems, and CO2 capture from large point sources.

Neil Craik

Neil Craik

Professor, School of Environment, Enterprise and Development

Neil Craik studies the role of procedural obligations in governance structures addressing transboundary and global commons environmental issues, the intersection of international and domestic environmental policy, climate and geoengineering governance and environmental impact assessment.

Juan Moreno-Cruz

Juan Moreno-Cruz

Associate Director, Waterloo Climate Institute; Associate Professor, School of Environment, Enterprise and Development; Canada Research Chair

Juan Moreno-Cruz's research interests include energy systems, technological change, climate policy, solar and carbon geoengineering technologies, and energy transitions.

External Partners

  • Natural Resources Canada
  • Carbon Engineering
Project details
Status:
Project time line
September 1, 2022 to September 1, 2026