Scholars
Sara Nawaz
American University
Based in
Canada
North America
Sara Nawaz is the Director of Research at American University’s Institute for Responsible Carbon Removal. She is an environmental social scientist who studies social dimensions of carbon removal, investigating how carbon removal technologies and policies might be designed in just and responsible ways, including how to involve societal groups in these processes.

Focus areas of expertise
Climate policy and politics Net Zero Climate Justice Public opinionPublications
Articles
Nawaz, S., McLaren, D., Caggiano, H., Hudson, A. D., & Scott-Buechler, C. (2024). Carbon removal for a just transition. Climate Policy, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2024.2418305
Buesseler, K., Bianchi, D., Chai, F., Cullen, J.T., Estapa, M., Hawco, N., John, S., McGillicuddy, D., Morris, P.J., Nawaz, S., Nishioka, J., Pham, A., Ramakrishna, K., Siegel, D., Smith, S., Steinberg, D.K., Turk-Kubo, K.A., Twining, B., Webb, R., Wells, M., White, A., Xiu, P., Yoon, J.-E. (2024). Next steps for assessing ocean iron fertilization for marine carbon dioxide removal. Frontiers in Climate, 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2024.1430957
Nawaz, S. & Lezaun, J. (2024) Grappling with scale: Latent assumptions in expert imaginaries of marine carbon dioxide removal. Global Environmental Change, 805:102806. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2024.102806
Nawaz, S., Scott-Buechler, C., & Caggiano, H. (2024) An independent public engagement body is needed to responsibly scale carbon removal in the US. Environmental Research Letters, 19(1): 011002. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad1081
Goldberg, D.S., Nawaz, S., Lavin, J., Slagle, A.L. (2023). Upscaling DAC Hubs with Wind Energy and CO2 Mineral Storage: Considerations for Large-Scale Carbon Removal from the Atmosphere.
Environmental Science and Technology, 57:21527–21534. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c03492
Satterfield, T., Nawaz, S., & Boettcher, M. (2023) Social considerations and best practices to apply
to engaging publics on ocean alkalinity enhancement, in: Guide to Best Practices in Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement Research, edited by: Oschlies, A., Stevenson, A., Bach, L. T., Fennel, K., Rickaby, R. E. M., Satterfield, T., Webb, R., and Gattuso, J.-P., State of the Planet, 2-oae2023 1–22. https://doi.org/10.5194/sp-2-oae2023-11-2023.
Nawaz, S., & Satterfield, T. (2023) Towards just, responsible, and socially viable carbon removal: Lessons from offshore DACCS. Environmental Science and Policy, 151(103633). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2023.103633
Nawaz, S., Lezaun, J., Valenzuela, J., & Renforth, P. (2023) Broaden Research on Ocean Alkalinity
Enhancement to Better Characterize Social Impacts. Environmental Science & Technology, 57(24): 8863–69. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c09595
Nawaz, S., Peterson St-Laurent, G., & Satterfield, T. (2023). Public evaluations of four approaches to ocean- based carbon dioxide removal. Climate Policy, 23(3), 379–394. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2023.2179589
Satterfield, T., Nawaz, S. & St-Laurent, G. P. (2023) Exploring public acceptability of direct air carbon capture with storage: climate urgency, moral hazards and perceptions of the ‘whole versus the parts.’ Climatic Change, 176(14). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-023-03483-7
Nawaz, S., Satterfield, T. & Phurisamban, R. (2022) Does ‘precision’ matter? A Q study of public interpretations of gene editing in agriculture. Science, Technology and Human Values, 48(6). https://doi.org/10.1177/01622439221112460
Nawaz, S., & Satterfield, T. (2022) On the nature of naturalness? Theorizing ‘nature’ for the study of public perceptions of novel genomic technologies in agriculture and conservation. Environmental Science and Policy, 136, 291-303. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2022.06.008
Nawaz, S., & Satterfield, T. (2022). Climate solution or corporate co-optation? US and Canadian publics’ views on agricultural gene editing. PLoS ONE, 17(3 March), e0265635. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265635
Hagerman, S., Satterfield, T., Nawaz, S., St-Laurent, G. P., Kozak, R., & Gregory, R. (2021). Social comfort zones for transformative conservation decisions in a changing climate. Conservation Biology, 35(6), 1932–1943. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13759
Gregory, R., Kozak, R., Peterson St-Laurent, G., Nawaz, S., Satterfield, T., & Hagerman, S. (2021). Under pressure: conservation choices and the threat of species extinction. Climatic Change, 166(1–2), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-021-03102-3
Nawaz, S., Satterfield, T., & Hagerman, S. (2021). From seed to sequence: Dematerialization and the battle to (re)define genetic resources. Global Environmental Change, 68:102260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102260
Nawaz, S., & Kandlikar, M. (2021). Drawing lines in the sand? Paths forward for triggering regulation of gene-edited crops. Science and Public Policy, 48(2), 246–256. https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scab014
Nawaz, S., Klassen, S., & Lyon, A. (2020). Tensions at the boundary: Rearticulating ‘organic’ plant breeding in the age of gene editing. Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, 8(1), 34. https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.429