Engineering biology and climate change mitigation: A policy agenda (Jonathan Symons, Thomas A. Dixon, Jacqueline Dalziell, Natalie Curach, Ian T. Paulsen, Anthony Wiskich & Isak S. Pretorius)
Date: Wednesday 6 March 2024 1:00pm - 2:00pm
Venue: ART-25WWC-C120/121
Zoom link: https://macquarie.zoom.us/j/82519073926?pwd=V3Y2M0VuVzRWL3lmTStmanR1ZVZSZz09
Speaker: Jonathan Symons & Thom Dixon
Moderator: Francesco Stolfi
Discipline: Politics & International Relations
Abstract
Engineering biology (EngBio) is a dynamic field that uses gene editing, synthesis, assembly, and engineering to design new or modified biological systems. EngBio could be a powerful instrument in achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions. Internationally, there is significant public sector support for basic EngBio research. Yet, under current policy settings, EngBio is unlikely to fulfil its climate mitigation potential. Public and private commercialisation has focused on health, security and chemical applications that align with entrenched commercial and national interests. Few existing policy interventions aim to develop and deploy climate focused EngBio applications. It is this specific challenge of bringing climate focused EngBio applications to deployment which, we argue, requires additional policy work. What form should such policies take, and what EngBio applications should they target? In answer to these questions, this paper reviews EngBio’s potential contributions and the types of policy measures that might promote them. It aims to provide an overview of the field’s prospective role to assist climate policymakers to shape regulations and target resources and, in so doing, to facilitate democratic deliberation on desirable futures.