A BlueYard Conversation: Manhattan Projects against Climate Breakdown — Agenda and Speakers

BlueYard Capital
4 min readJun 25, 2019

A BlueYard Conversation: Manhattan Projects against Climate Breakdown — Agenda and Speakers

The Anthropocene has put planet Earth’s climate in a precarious and potentially disastrous footing. Fossil fuels are discharging millions of years of stored carbon into the atmosphere and, together with other human-accelerated greenhouse gases, they are increasing temperatures which will lead to drought, extreme weather and sea level rise. This will continue to exacerbate societal and economic friction amid a growing global population. To help foster radical thinking on combating climate breakdown, we are bringing together climate thought-leaders and founders with audacious technologies and ideas that could benefit the planet and society in profound ways.

Our next BlueYard Conversation on September 17th will center on how we collectively can apply ‘Manhattan Project’ thinking to deal with the sheer size of the climate problem. The event will take place at the BlueYard office in Berlin. We are excited to announce further details on the agenda and confirmed speakers for our next BlueYard Conversation. We are looking forward to welcoming a wide range of folks from leading climate researchers, fusion-power and other key clean energy startups, company leaders from the biggest carbon capturing opportunities to city & governmental representatives.

Agenda

WHY WE NEED MANHATTAN PROJECT SCALE INITIATIVES TO FIGHT CLIMATE BREAKDOWN: A SCENE SETTER

Welcome & intro, Hampus Jakobsson (Blueyard)

Sir David King (SYSTEMIQ Limited)

WORLD WAR CLIMATE: ADAPTING TO MITIGATE SOCIAL TURMOIL AND GEOPOLITICAL FALLOUTS CAUSED BY CLIMATE BREAKDOWN

“What architects can do to combat climate breakdown”, Bjarke Ingels (BIG)

“How to help cities and countries act”, Tomer Shalit (ClimateView)

“Where politics comes in”, Erin Burns (Carbon 180)

“A group conversation on driving change”, with Tomer Shalit (Climate View), Bjarke Ingels (BIG), and Erin Burns (Carbon180). Moderated by Jane Darby Menton (University of Cambridge)

REDEMPTION FOR THE ORIGINAL SIN: THE PROMISE OF CARBON CAPTURE AND REDUCTION

“Turning travel emissions into… stone”, Louise Charles (Climeworks)

“Hacking the carbon cycle — waste to biochar”, Henrietta Kekäläinen (Carbo Culture)

“A group conversation on direct air capture and derivative products”, with Louise Charles (Climeworks), and Henrietta Kekäläinen (Carbo Culture). Moderated by Erin Burns (Carbon180)

“A global market incentive for carbon removal”, Paul Gambill (Nori)

“A global marketplace for reforestation”, Diego Saez-Gil (Pachama)

“Cap and trade: Carbon emerging as a mainstream asset class”, Mike Azlen (Carbon Cap)

“A group conversation on carbon markets”, with Diego Saez-Gil (Pachama), Paul Gambill (Nori), Mike Azlen (Carbon Cap). Moderated by Benjamin Görlach (Economics and Policy Assessment)

“Re-architecting computers for massive energy reduction”, Alexandra Wright-Gladstein (Ayar Labs)

“Why cement is a big deal for humanity’s carbon footprint”, Tom Schuler (Solidia)

“Why steel can change the course of civilization — again”, Donald Sadoway (MIT)

“A group conversation on the impact of materials” with Alexandra Wright-Gladstein (Ayar Labs), Tom Schuler (Solidia), Donald Sadoway (MIT). Moderated by Judith Dada (La Famiglia)

FROM FISSION, FUSION TO SPACE-BASED SOLAR POWER HARNESSING

“Harnessing solar power from space”, John C. Mankins (Mankins Space Technologies)

“A conversation on clean, safe energy production”, John C. Mankins (Mankins Space Technologies). Moderated by Karl-Georg Schlesinger (Marvel Fusion)

“Why splitting atoms now — again?”, Troels Schönfeldt (Seaborg Technologies)

“Non-traditional methods for funding breakthrough science — including cold fusion”, Matt Trevithick (Google)

“A group conversation on fusion: “Bottling a sun on planet earth”, with Daniel Brunner (Commonwealth Fusion Systems), Bart Markus (First Light Fusion), and Moritz von der Linden (Marvel Fusion). Moderated by Ceri Brenner (Scientific and Technology Facilities Council)

MEDDLING WITH THE WORLD’S THERMOSTAT: CLIMATE ENGINEERING — DAMNED IF WE DO, DAMNED IF WE DON’T?

“Bracing for change: technological interventions to cool climate — is this really where we are?”, Kelly Wanser (SilverLining)

A conversation on climate engineering: Governance of acting at planetary scale” Kelly Wanser (SilverLining). Moderated by Stefan Schäfer (Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies Potsdam)

DRIVING HOME CHANGE — CLOSING THOUGHTS

Wrap up by Bryony Worthington (Environmental Defense Fund Europe)

Dinner and drinks to follow.

The video link to conversation can be found here.

The dinner and catering for the day will be either vegetarian or vegan, and locally/seasonally sourced to reduce the carbon footprint of the event.

We have reached capacity for this event. We appreciate your understanding if we were unable to host you this time, but keep an eye out for future events.

BlueYard is committed to keeping our events safe and open to all. View our Code of Conduct here.

--

--

BlueYard Capital

BlueYard backs founders building the interconnected elements that can become the fabric of our future.