David Dempsey, our project leader, is an associate professor with the University of Canterbury’s department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He uses computer models to understand what the Earth is doing – for example, to produce earthquake forecasts. As part of this project, he’ll help model geothermal reservoirs and suggest ways to keep the carbon we pump underground permanently stored. Learn more about and connect with David here.

Rebecca Peer is a senior lecturer with the University of Canterbury and co-leads the Sustainable Energy Research Group. Her work looks at how energy, water and other resources are used today, and how that might change in the coming decades. Passionate about reducing greenhouse emissions, she’ll guide research to determine a cost-effective roadmap showing how Aotearoa could deploy carbon removal technologies and meet our climate goals. Learn more about and connect with Rebecca here.

University of Canterbury associate professor Jannik Haas co-leads the Sustainable Energy Research Group. His research has taken him around the world, answering big questions on energy infrastructure optimisation – including how much sustainable tech we’ll need to build, where and when. He will lead research to produce a roadmap showing how Aotearoa could deploy carbon removal technologies and meet our climate goals. Learn more about and connect with Jannik here.

Professor John Reid (Ngāti Pikiao, Tainui, and Tauiwi), with the University of Canterbury, brings extensive knowledge of farming and Indigenous economies. He views carbon removal as an opportunity for Māori to achieve their economic, social and cultural aspirations. John will help investigate how a Māori organisation operating farms and forests could introduce a range of carbon removal technologies. He will lead work to quantify the overall impact on emissions plus the wider effects on the business and whenua (land) – from boosted pasture growth to altered water quality. Learn more about and connect with John here.

Terry Isson, a senior lecturer for the University of Waikato, is interested in how carbon cycles from the atmosphere to the land and back, across centuries and millennia. He conducts research investigating “enhanced weathering” – the application of rocky minerals on New Zealand pasture for absorbing emissions. For this project, Terry and his team will develop the chemistry required to measure how much carbon is being absorbed from the air, in order to calculate the overall impact, balancing the rock mining and transport. Learn more about and connect with Terry here.

Researcher Graham Coker of Scion has more than 30 years of forestry experience. His work aims to boost tree growth, by optimising the management of their nutrition. Graham will assist new research that adds crushed carbon-absorbing rock to commercial forestry – investigating the potential carbon removal rates and tree growth enhancement, plus impacts on the air, soil, freshwater and marine environments. Connect with Graham here.

Allan Scott is a professor with the University of Canterbury’s department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. As building materials such as concrete are responsible for billions of tonnes of greenhouse gas each year, Scott seeks to find more sustainable options. He’s also passionate about the construction materials we could make on other planets, including Mars. For this project, he will lead work to develop a replacement for cement made from waste wood ash, which could absorb carbon from the air.  Learn more about and connect with Allan here.

University of Auckland associate professor Mila Adam is a geophysicist and Earth scientist. She has been interested in emissions removal throughout her career – as a Master’s student, she investigated how we might monitor the carbon injected deep underground. For our project, she will recreate the conditions of geothermal reservoirs in the laboratory. Mila and her colleagues will test for the right conditions to get carbon to solidify – essentially making new rock on existing rock – thus trapping it underground for millennia. Learn more about and connect with Mila here.

Michael Rowe – an associate professor with the University of Auckland – is a geochemist, studying the chemical processes of the Earth. Passionate about the project’s potential, Michael will help lead research on how we can encourage the carbon to be locked away deep underground for thousands of years. He will analyse rocks taken from nature and used in experiments simulating the environment of a geothermal reservoir, learning about the ideal conditions for carbon to solidify. Learn more about and connect with Michael here.

Professor Andy Nicol joins us from the University of Canterbury's School of Earth and Environment. He has extensively studied the faults in the Earth’s crust that cause earthquakes, including how they form and develop. When working for Earth Sciences New Zealand (formerly GNS), Andy began to research options for the long-term storage of carbon. For our project, he will build 3D computer models of subsurface systems in our quest to find locations capable of holding carbon underground. Learn more about and connect with Andy here.

Andrew La Croix is a senior lecturer in sedimentary geology at the University of Waikato. He has been interested in the concept of removing carbon in underground geological systems for a decade. For our project, he will lead research exploring the areas of New Zealand best placed to store large amounts of carbon. His team will create a map out of publicly available info and model the effects of adding carbon to deep underground systems. Learn more about and connect with Andrew here.

Earth Sciences New Zealand geologist Matt Hill brings years of experience in “the science of where”, including mapping natural hazards in our cities. By combining different data sets, he has identified more suitable locations for quarries and wind farms. He has previously studied hotspots for the type of on-farm carbon sequestration we’re developing. As our project progresses, Matt will help his wider project colleagues with similar mapping. Learn more about and connect with Matt here.

Senior lecturer John O’Sullivan co-directs the University of Auckland’s Geothermal Institute. His research uses computer models to better understand geothermal reservoirs, including their potential to generate energy and sequester carbon. He has assisted geothermal energy companies wanting to transform their power stations from carbon-releasing to carbon-neutral. With our goal to take this one step further, John and his team will model the effects of adding additional carbon to the geothermal fluid pumped underground. Learn more about and connect with John here.

Mahi Ngātahi Law director Adrienne Paul (Ngāti Awa) specialises in Māori land, property and resource management law. A practising lawyer, she is particularly interested in how the law impacts Indigenous rights and ways to improve cultural engagement. Over the coming years, she’ll work with our iwi partners to explore what Te Tiriti (the Treaty of Waitangi) and each iwi’s tikanga (Māori customary law and practices) has to say about carbon removal. Learn more about and connect with Adrienne here.

Barry Barton, a professor at the University of Waikato, is an expert in energy, natural resources, and climate law. In recent years, he has studied how climate-related legislation and policy have influenced industries and affected the supply of critical minerals, and investigated carbon capture and storage. For our project, he’ll help dig into relevant national and international law to understand how Kiwi companies will need to measure and monitor carbon removal and explore relevant environmental regulation. Learn more about and connect with Barry here.

Legal scholar Jennifer Campion is a senior lecturer at the University of Waikato, with a background in commercial litigation. She’s particularly interested in how the law shapes energy use and impacts climate change. For our project, Jennifer will map the environmental legislation and policies that will regulate carbon removal, including the options we’re developing. She will also help investigate how organisations would need to measure and verify the carbon they remove from the air. Learn more about and connect with Jennifer here.

Karan Titus is a postdoctoral fellow with the University of Canterbury. For his PhD, he explored the idea of using a geothermal power station for carbon removal, by burning leftover forestry waste and capturing its emissions. This 'green' carbon dioxide could then be mixed into the geothermal fluid and piped deep underground where it can permanently bind with rocks. Given his promising results, he and fellow researchers will now scope how the technology could be implemented at real geothermal power plants. Learn more about and connect with Karan here.

Vikash Singh has joined the University of Canterbury as a postdoctoral fellow. Having witnessed the growing impact of climate change across India, he is passionate about finding greener building materials. During his PhD, Vikash developed and tested more sustainable methods of producing concrete, which is typically a high-emitting process. He’ll now turn his hand to our task of creating a cement-like material from wood ash. Learn more about and connect with Vikash here.

University of Auckland postdoctoral fellow Ryan Tonkin brings a background in geothermal modelling. He will model the impacts of adding carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to a geothermal reservoir – predicting how much carbon could be held in the space. His work will also shed light on whether adding this carbon to the reservoir might affect natural emissions or the operations of the power plant.  Learn more about and connect with Ryan here.

University of Canterbury PhD student Catalina Klausen Gaete was a professional electrical engineer from her home country, Chile, before joining our project. For her thesis, she modelled how to manage Chile’s first high-voltage line as it transmits renewable electricity around the long, thin country. With a passion for improving the world, Cata was a great fit for the project’s energy modelling work. She will project how Aotearoa New Zealand’s energy generation and demand will change out to 2050, plus assess the most suitable carbon removal technologies that will allow the country to reach its net-zero goals. Connect with Cata here.

Curt Knott is a PhD student at the University of Auckland. His youthful determination to improve the environment led him to study geology at Western Oregon and Northern Arizona universities, where he became interested in geothermal energy and carbon capture. As part of this project, Curt will perform experiments recreating the conditions of a geothermal reservoir. He will help determine how rocks in these hot, high-pressure systems will change after they react with the additional carbon dioxide we send underground. Learn more about and connect with Curt here.

PhD student Rodrigo Zamorano Morales came to the University of Canterbury from Chile, after falling for New Zealand during a holiday. For more than a decade, Rodrigo worked as a groundwater engineer, while also teaching and furthering his studies. For his Master’s thesis at the University of Chile, he explored the effects of a mining accident, modelling how the toxin mercury would migrate through an aquifer and suggesting engineering systems that could prevent the spread of and remove the toxin. Tapping into this expertise, Rodrigo will help us to understand how dissolved carbon dioxide might move if pumped into an unused aquifer. Connect with Rodrigo here.

Ali Rezaei has come from Iran to complete his doctorate at the University of Waikato and assist our project. During his undergraduate and Master’s studies, he used data and computer modelling to learn more about the natural resources of his homeland: from oil fields to geothermal reservoirs. Expanding those skills, he will create a map of New Zealand showing the areas with higher potential to store carbon dioxide in the subsurface – and then do more extensive evaluation of the better options. Connect with Ali here.

Olivia Wannan is the project and communications specialist, supporting the researchers during the project. She’ll manage communications, help with media enquiries and assist with administration. A former climate reporter, she is keen to showcase the importance and innovation of the work being undertaken. Connect with her via email or ring 027 203 2218.