Marek appointed IPCC Lead Author for 2027 methodology report

Dr Ewa Marek will serve as a Lead Author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Methodology Report on carbon dioxide removal and carbon capture, utilisation and storage, due for publication in 2027.

The report will provide governments with an up-to-date scientific foundation for estimating emissions and removals associated with carbon dioxide removal and carbon capture, utilisation and storage methods. This will allow more informed decision making at the highest levels of government, strengthening how climate action is measured and reported worldwide.

The associate professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology (CEB) and leader of the Energy Reactions and Carriers research group was nominated by Cambridge Zero, an approved observer organisation, and selected by the IPCC Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories from a global pool of experts. More than 150 scientists will contribute to the report, which will be developed through a multi-stage drafting and review process involving both experts and governments before final approval in 2027.

Marek will draft the section on industrial processes, an area that overlaps with the research activities and interests of her research group, as well as her teaching within CEB.

She said: “This is an exciting opportunity to use academic knowledge in developing guidelines that will soon be used globally. I am working on a section where plenty of decarbonisation ideas could be implemented.”

She added that the role reflects a strong overlap between the IPCC work, her research group, and teaching activity across the Department.

“I have already been discussing IPCC guidelines in sustainability lectures for first-year Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology students, and I am also working hard to embed sustainable thinking into the Chemical Design course,” she added. “Topics in Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) and Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU) that I am currently working on for the report are very likely to also feed into a new Advanced Design course for Part III students, which starts in October.”

She said her ambition is on translating the growing research base on CDR and CCU into ‘practical, tiered methods’ that can be used within IPCC guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories.

“It’s going to be challenging but also extremely rewarding, as the goal of IPCC guidelines is to bridge the technological ideas with national ambitions and limitations,” Marek said. “The key topics I will try to help resolve are cross‑sector issues related to industrial emissions, and internally consistent and usable guidelines that can help us understand where, how and who is best placed to make impactful CDR/CCU efforts.”

Her appointment continues a growing contribution from the department to national and international policy. Prof Dame Lynn Gladden serves on the UK Government’s Council for Science and Technology, while Prof Róisín Owens has recently joined the Irish Government’s equivalent advisory body.

The full title of the report will be: The 2027 IPCC Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories.