Partner Profile: Célia Julia Sapart | |
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“...(W)e should not only drastically decrease our emissions, but we should also find solutions to move away from the use of fossil carbon. We should “defossilize” our economy, and CCU is a key solution in that sense!"
This issue features Dr. Célia Julia Sapart, Climate Scientist, Director Communications and Climate Science at CO2 Value Europe.
Dr. Sapart is a Swiss climate scientist, and a specialist in greenhouse gas emissions and
historical climate reconstructions. After 13 years of academic climate research, including several
long expeditions to polar regions and more than 25 scientific publications, she is now engaged at
the front line of the climate action as the Director Communications and Climate Science at CO2
Value Europe. Her role is to investigate the climate mitigation potential of CO2 Capture and
Utilization (CCU) technologies and to develop communication strategies to raise awareness and
acceptance of CCU. She has also written an interactive children's book to raise awareness on solutions to
mitigate climate change: "Sol au Pôle Nord".
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How is it that you are fluent in four languages?
I have always liked languages and, even though my home country, Switzerland, is quite small, we speak four languages there. I speak two of them, French and German, and I have learned English during my studies with many scientists. And, it is love that made me learn Dutch, which is now very useful as I live in Belgium.
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In what field is your PhD?
I worked in the field of climate reconstruction using ice core data. I had to create a machine to measure methane isotopes in the small bubbles enclosed in ice cores from Greenland. The goal was to reconstruct the history of the important greenhouse gas methane over the last 2000 years. These data help us understand the cycle of this gas, and how and when human activities have started to influence both the composition of the atmosphere and also of our climate. This understanding is crucial to making accurate climate projections.
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How did you happen to go to polar regions multiple times and live in Fairbanks, Alaska for a year? What was that like?
I discovered the Arctic for the first time when I was 21 years old in Alaska. There, I discovered permafrost, fjords, the bay of Alaska and the incredible wilderness of this region. And of course, I discovered the long, long nights during the winter. I really liked this atmosphere as everything slowed down. We lived much closer to nature and these very long evenings were great opportunities to play music with friends and colleagues and drink delicious hot cocoa. People were really warm-hearted there. My first steps in the Arctic made me fall in love with these regions and when I left Alaska, my only wish was to go back to the far North. I have had the great luck to do so many times since then. I have worked on top of the Greenland Ice Sheet, in the North of Scandinavia, in the Baltic Sea and I crossed the Arctic Ocean on an ice breaker in 2014–one of the most beautiful memories I have from the Far North.
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Where is your favorite place that you have lived?
I left home at age 19 to follow my passion for the ocean. I have been an expat for half of my life already, and in addition to my expeditions, I have lived in five different countries. But, after this very long and lovely journey, I am starting to feel that my favorite place might be my home country, Switzerland. I liked all the countries that I have lived in for different reasons, and I met such amazing people, but I am starting to miss my own dear mountains and lakes, and of course my friends and family as well.
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You have a remarkably diverse career. Earlier on, your work was very technical & scientific, and you have dozens of scientific publications. You wrote an interactive children’s book and now you are in charge of communications. What drove the career transitions?
From an early age, I knew that I wanted to explore the oceans and the ice, and understand how nature functions. Becoming a climate and ocean researcher and being able to travel to both poles were definitely my biggest childhood dream. I feel very grateful that this dream came true.
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But in 2017, things changed. I went on a winter expedition on an icebreaker to Antarctica. The conditions were really harsh, but the ice was often in such a bad state that we had to face increased risks each time we were going out on the ice. At some point, my colleagues and I got stuck in a rubber boat, while the wind was freezing us in place. At that moment, something really broke down in my head. I realized that we were risking our lives there to bring back some data that only a few people will care about, while our planet as a whole is breaking down because of climate change and biodiversity loss. From that moment, I could not focus on my research anymore and I was obsessed with finding solutions to mitigate climate change and communicate the situation to as many people as possible and raise awareness on the situation to engage as many people as possible to act.
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At that time, I wrote a children’s book, “Sol au Pôle Nord,” inspired by my expeditions and a bit by my own life. I was giving presentations at schools for many years, but I wanted to write this book to be able to reach the younger kids with some engaging images drawn by my friend, the artist Karo Pauwels.
At that same time, I was also regularly talking in front of politicians and entrepreneurs. In 2019, I read about CO2 Value Europe, this newly funded European organization, with a vision that really appealed to me. I contacted them and almost three years later, I am very thankful and proud to be one of the heads of the association.
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Can say more about CO2 Value Europe and what your role is there?
CO2 Value Europe is a non-profit European organization supporting the development of a circular carbon economy based on CO2 utilization, also known as Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU). We promote sustainable industrial solutions that convert CO2 into valuable products, in order to contribute to the net reduction of global CO2 emissions and to move away from fossil resources. My role in the organization is to lead the communication team and coordinate our international Scientific Advisory Committee, as we base all our activities on scientific evidence. We want to make sure to only promote solutions that are good for the environment. I really appreciate working at the intersection of the scientific, political and industrial sectors as I think this trilogy is absolutely essential to efficiently mitigate climate change and create a more sustainable, resilient and just society.
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What are some of the misconceptions you have encountered around carbon capture & utilization?
The biggest misconception is the confusion between Carbon Capture and Storage (CSS) and Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU). The first one is a linear approach in which CO2 emissions are stored in the ground where it is geologically feasible. On the other hand, CCU is a circular approach that aims at using CO2 as a feedstock to produce what we need in our everyday life. Everything around us is made of carbon (us included), so speaking about decarbonizing our economy does not make sense. The real problem today is that, for more than two centuries, we have brought, at an increasing pace, huge amounts of fossil carbon to the surface of the earth and thus into the atmosphere. This is the main cause of the abrupt climate change we are facing. So we should not only drastically decrease our emissions, but we should also find solutions to move away from the use of fossil carbon. We should “defossilize” our economy, and CCU is a key solution in that sense!
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What inspires you?
Watching the ocean, realizing the strength of nature and looking at all the regions that have been restored after having been totally destroyed by human activities. I think for example about the Loess Plateau in China. It gives me hope and it motivates me to continue the hard work despite the frustration and fear I sometimes feel as a climate scientist. But overall, I see so many things changing in the right direction in recent years that I still have faith, even though enormous efforts are still required.
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What is your next project?
At CO2 Value Europe, we will have many exciting projects and campaigns coming up this year to raise awareness on CCU at all levels and engage our politicians to support the scaling up of a circular carbon economy.
Next to my work at CO2 Value Europe, my biggest project is the creation of a theater play based on my childrens’ book, which will open in April of 2022 at the Théâtre Am Stram Gram in Geneva, Switzerland. The goal of this project is to raise awareness of solutions to mitigate climate change and to reach a larger audience. Next to the play, we are organizing an Agora* on climate solutions to inspire children and engage them to act. I have been asked to play the scientist in the story. I will be acting on stage for the first time in my life, so I am a bit nervous, but above all very excited to share this with the public.
*AGORA: a market for world news, with artistic surprises everywhere, where you can talk, walk, dance, reflect, have brunch, discover films and OANI (Unidentified Artistic Objects) to try to grasp where we are in terms of equality.
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19th International Conference on Carbon Dioxide Utilization
June 26-30, 2022
For nearly thirty years, the ICCDU has provided a global meeting place for chemists, engineers, and environmental policy planners to come together and discuss the latest developments in the field of CO2 capture and utilization. For more information or to register, click here.
The deadline for abstract submissions is March 1, 2022.
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