Unbound Directory: 
The 'Yellow Pages' of CDR

Dr. Wil Burns is a founding Co-Executive Director of Institute for Responsible Carbon Removal, which is based at the School of International Service at American University. He is also the Associate Director of the Environmental Policy & Culture Program at Northwestern University. He previously served as the Director of the Energy Policy & Climate program at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC. He also serves as the Co-Chair of the International Environmental Law Committee of the American Branch of the International Law Association. He is the former President of the Association for Environmental Studies & Sciences, and former Co-Chair of the International Environmental Law interest group of the American Society of International Law and Chair of the International Wildlife Law Interest group of the Society. He has published over 80 articles and chapters in law, science, and policy journals and books, and has co-edited four books. He holds a Ph.D. in International Environmental Law from the University of Wales-Cardiff School of Law. Prior to becoming an academic, he served as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs for the State of Wisconsin and worked in the non-governmental sector for twenty years, including as Executive Director of the Pacific Center for International Studies, a think-tank that focused on implementation of international wildlife treaty regimes, including the Convention on Biological Diversity and International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. His current areas of research focus are: climate geoengineering; international climate change litigation; adaptation strategies to address climate change, with a focus on the potential role of microinsurance; and the effectiveness of the European Union’s Emissions Trading System. Selected publications in the field of climate geoengineering by Wil Burns: • Agroforestry: Enhancing the Prospects for Ameliorating Climate Change, 1 EARTH MATTERS 3-27 (2024) • Governance of Ocean-Based Carbon Dioxide Removal Research under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 75(1) UNIVERSITY OF MARINE LAW REVIEW 38-70 (2023) • The Aspen Institute’s Guidance for Ocean-based Carbon • Dioxide Removal Projects, 17(1) JOURNAL OF OCEAN TECHNOLOGY vi-vii (2022) • Antacids for the Sea? Artificial Ocean Alkalinization and Climate Change, 3 ONE EARTH 154-56 (2020) (co-author: Charles Corbett) • Climate Engineering Under the Paris Agreement, 49 ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REPORTER 11113-11120 (2019) (co-author: Neil Craik) • Governing geoengineering research for the Great Barrier Reef, 19(7) CLIMATE POLICY 801-11 (2019) (lead author: Jan McDonald) • Geoengineering the Oceans: An Emerging Frontier in International Climate Change Governance, 15 AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF MARITIME & OCEAN AFFAIRS 67-80 (2017) [lead author: Jeff McGee) • Bioenergy and carbon capture with storage (BECCS): the prospects and challenges of an emerging climate policy response, 7(4) JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES AND SCIENCE 527-34 (2017) [co-author: Simon Nicholson] • A Response to Reynolds, et. al., Five Solar Geoengineering Tropes that have Outstayed their Welcome, FCEA Comments Paper (November 2016) • The Paris Agreement and Climate Geoengineering: A Primer for Delegates to the UNFCCC, Centre for International Governance Innovation, Special Report (October 2016) [co-author: A. Neil Craik] • The Paris Agreement and Climate Geoengineering Governance: The Need for a Human Rights-Based Component, Centre for International Governance Innovation, CIGI Papers No. 111 (October 2016) • Human Rights Dimensions of Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage and Human Rights: A Framework for Climate Justice in the Realm of Climate Geoengineering, in CLIMATE JUSTICE: GLOBAL AND REGIONAL CHALLENGES IN GOVERNANCE 23-45 (Randall Abate, ed., 2016, Environmental Law Institute) • Governing Climate Engineering, in NEW EARTH POLITICS 342-46 (Simon Nicholson & Sikina Jinnah, eds. 2016, MIT Press) [co-author: Simon Nicholson] • Climate Geoengineering and the Role of Public Deliberation: A Comment on the US National Academy of Sciences’ Recommendations on Public Participation, 5 CLIMATE LAW 252-94 (2015) [co-author: Jane A. Flegal] • CLIMATE CHANGE GEOENGINEERING PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES, LEGAL ISSUES, AND GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORKS (William C.G. Burns & Andrew Strauss, eds., 2013, Cambridge University Press) • Introduction to Climate Geoengineering, 2 CARBON & CLIMATE LAW REVIEW 87-90 (2013) • Geoengineering the Climate: An Overview of Solar Radiation Management Options, 46 TULSA LAW REVIEW 283-304 (2012) • Climate Geoengineering: Solar Radiation Management and its Implications for Intergenerational Equity, 4 STANFORD JOURNAL OF LAW, SCIENCE & POLICY 38-55 (2011)

Seafields are domesticating Sargassum to unlock its intrinsic value for industry and climate