As efforts intensify to move marine geoengineering (or marine carbon dioxide removal) into mainstream climate policy discussions, frontline communities are increasingly being asked to bear the risks of unproven and potentially harmful experiments. This panel spotlights resistance to marine geoengineering from coastal and Indigenous communities on the front lines, foregrounding their leadership, local knowledge, and calls for climate justice in the face of growing pressure to legitimize marine carbon dioxide removal as a climate solution.
In recent years, proposals to manipulate the ocean to remove carbon dioxide – commonly referred to as marine carbon dioxide removal (marine CDR) or marine geoengineering – have proliferated. Often framed as necessary tools to meet global climate goals, these techniques remain scientifically uncertain, ecologically risky, and politically contentious. Yet pilot experiments are increasingly moving from the lab to the ocean, often targeting coastal or Arctic regions where communities have little say in how these projects are designed, tested, or approved.
This panel brings together grassroots organizers, Indigenous leaders, and environmental advocates to explore how frontline communities are resisting marine geoengineering in practice. Rather than treating ocean-based CDR as a neutral scientific endeavor, panelists will highlight how power, justice, and local sovereignty are central to debates about climate interventions. They will share firsthand accounts of organizing efforts that have challenged industry-led experiments, emphasized precaution over techno-fixes, and demanded accountability from governments and funders.
This event is aimed at climate activists, environmental justice advocates, funders, researchers, policymakers, and journalists attending Climate Week who are grappling with how to respond to emerging geoengineering agendas. It offers a vital opportunity to learn from the communities most directly affected – and most often ignored – in the rush to deploy speculative climate technologies.
Speakers:
Eesha Rangani, HOME Alliance
Sue Sayer, Seal Research Trust
Senara Wilson Hodges, Keep Our Sea Chemical Free
Aakaluk Adrienne Blatchford, Indigenous Environmental Network
Benjamin Day, Friends of the Earth U.S.
Lili Fuhr, Center for International Environmental Law
