Dr Steve Smith appointed Arnell Associate Professor of Greenhouse Gas Removal
Dr Steve Smith, researcher at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford, has today been appointed Arnell Associate Professor of Greenhouse Gas Removal. The new title was created courtesy of a generous gift from Jamie Arnell and family. The Arnells have pledged £1.5m for a decade of research into Greenhouse Gas Removal at the University of Oxford, beginning in 2026.
Dr Steve Smith is the Executive Director of two University of Oxford research initiatives - CO2RE and Oxford Net Zero, lead author of the international State of Carbon Dioxide Removal reports, and a recognised expert in the field. Previously, he co-led the Climate Science Team at the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, where he contributed to the legislation of the UK’s net zero target.
Greenhouse gas removal, or GGR for short, is any human activity which takes greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere and stores them away durably. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change describes GGR as “unavoidable” to achieve net zero, alongside deep and rapid cuts to emissions.
There is growing consensus in the scientific community that the 1.5 degree target set by the Paris Agreement in 2015 will be overshot, which in turn will worsen climate damages and increase the risk of tipping points in the Earth’s natural systems being crossed – such as the West Antarctic ice sheet disintegration, or mass death of coral reefs. The more our emissions overshoot, the more GGR will be required to bring them within safer boundaries.
“If we are to avoid the worst impacts of climate change we must dramatically accelerate both the move away from fossil fuels and the ramp-up of GGR, so I am thrilled to take on this Associate Professorship at such a crucial time,” says Dr Smith. “The UK’s net zero target alone will likely require 100m tonnes of CO₂ to be removed per year. Academic research has a vital role to play in developing the best means of doing so, and in ensuring we address these great challenges holistically, benefitting both people and planet.”
Jamie Arnell comments:
“Whilst every effort must be made to reach global climate targets, it now seems all but certain that we will overshoot them by some degree. It is therefore an imperative that we prepare accordingly, and establish the best means of taking our excess emissions back out of the atmosphere. That’s why I have made this donation to the University today, and I am delighted that Dr Smith will lead the charge.”
Professor Mette Morsing, Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, comments:
“On behalf of the Oxford Smith School I would like to thank Mr Arnell for his generous and farsighted donation to Greenhouse Gas Removal research at the University of Oxford. I also extend my congratulations to Dr Steve Smith, now Associate Professor of Greenhouse Gas Removal, whose ground-breaking research and exemplary leadership has also made this donation possible today.”
