UVic researcher named lead author for IPCC report on carbon removal, capture, utilization and storage
University of Victoria scientist Julia Baum has been selected as a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage. Baum is one of 150 international experts contributing to the report.
“I am honoured to be selected as a Lead Author for the IPCC’s new Methodology report. This effort will provide critically needed guidelines for countries on how to assess a suite of CDR types, including enabling consideration of a broader suite of coastal wetlands for their contributions as natural climate solutions. Such approaches will be increasingly important as countries work to bring their greenhouse gas emissions to net zero."
- Julia Baum, UVic President's Chair and professor of biology
The IPCC is the United Nations body responsible for assessing the science related to climate change. The Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage will provide comprehensive guidance on a wide range of carbon dioxide removal and storage approaches, from CO2 capture, utilisation and storage to emerging land-based and coastal solutions. It will also offer updated scientific methods for assessing technologies such as direct air capture, soil and biomass-based removals, coastal ecosystem approaches and the production of durable CO2-derived materials.
Baum is the director of Blue Carbon Canada, a national research program assessing the potential of coastal ecosystems, including salt marshes, seagrass meadows, kelp forests and marine soft sediments, to act as marine carbon reservoirs. Her team’s research is producing critically needed nationwide assessments of the capacity for Canada’s oceans to serve as natural carbon sinks in partnership with the Canadian government and environmental NGOs.
"Our meeting this week in Rome underscored the importance and urgency of the task ahead of us,” says Baum. “I look forward to working with the other authors and the IPCC to advance consideration of kelp forests and the rich carbon sources in sea beds into the new IPCC guidelines for greenhouse gas inventories.”
The report is planned for release in 2027. The first meeting of lead authors was held in Rome, Italy from April 14 – 16, 2026.